Karaoke (play)

Karaoke
Created by	Dennis Potter
Starring	Albert Finney
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	4
Release
Original network	BBC One Channel 4
Original release	1996

Karaoke is a British television drama written by Dennis Potter with the knowledge that he was dying from cancer of the pancreas.

It forms the first half of a pair with the serial Cold Lazarus. The two plays were filmed as a single production by the same team; both were directed by Renny Rye.

Both plays were unique in being co-productions between the BBC and rival broadcaster Channel 4, something Potter had expressly requested before his death. The show was first aired on BBC1 in April 1996 on Sunday evenings, with a repeat on Channel 4 the following day.

The series stars Albert Finney, Richard E. Grant, Hywel Bennett, Roy Hudd and Julie Christie and features Saffron Burrows and Keeley Hawes in two early screen appearances.

The principal character of Karaoke is Daniel Feeld (played by Albert Finney), an English playwright in late middle-age who is working on the television production of his latest play, itself entitled Karaoke. The play concerns the relationship between a young woman, Sandra Sollars, her boyfriend Peter Beasley and Arthur 'Pig' Mailion, the owner of the sleazy karaoke/hostess bar where Sandra works.

One evening, while sitting in a restaurant, Feeld becomes convinced that a couple at a nearby table who resemble the fictional Sandra and Peter are repeating lines of dialogue from the play. Daniel later encounters the young woman (Saffron Burrows) and discovers that her name is indeed Sandra, and that she works in a club owned by one Arthur Mailion (Hywel Bennett). He relates the coincidence to a frightened Sandra, who runs away, leaving behind her handbag. Daniel subsequently relates the story to his agent Ben Baglin (Roy Hudd) and agent Anna Griffiths (Anna Chancellor), who assume that Daniel's apparent paranoia is due to his worsening health through heavy drinking and smoking.

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