Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.

Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Bergorks If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

johnjones-33051 Dennis Potter was one of the best UK TV drama writers, a position shared with Alan Bennett. Unlike the latter, Potters' work to my mind deteriorated as he grew older. All of his work features repressed sexuality that emerges in accord with situation and opportunity. In spite of what he had said about enjoying an unbounded sexual life, I believe though he may have yearned for such a life, his work was the nearest he ever got. The six-partner is set in a changing Britain, and uses the background of the Suez emergency, which was Britain's last act as an imperial power. It focuses on a military intelligence unit based in the War Office which has an ambiance indicative of the then (less so today) highly class structured society. Ewan McGreggor in a breakout role plays daydreamer Mick Hopper serving as a clerk/Russian linguist in a Whitehall based military intelligence unit during his last days as a national serviceman.He works with a bully of a Corporal Pete Berry (Douglas Henshall), a socially inept Welshman/office newcomer, Private Francis Francis (Giles Thomas) supporting four stereotypical upper-class officers in the preparation of basic intelligence gleaned from Russian newspapers and documents obtained from outside sources. During the time that the drama takes place, the team is having to prepare a revised Battle Order although what this is and for whom its to be prepared is not explained (A 'Battle Order' is the organisation of military forces and may be considered to be similar to an businesses functional 'Organisation Chart').The centre of the piece is the relationship each of the men have with Berry's wife the 'dumb blond' Sylvia Berry (Louise Germaine). As may be expected from Potter, it's the sexual relationships between the three men and the blond which are explored, each being different from the other. I use the term 'explored' loosely, they are clearly differentiated by extreme differences.Over the six one-hour episodes, a tangled web emerges from which each gets what s/he deserves or desires - you'll need to watch to see who gets what and how! The interrelationships between these four characters and aspects of Sylvia's private life in which see sells sexual favours to an organist who provides recitals on the organ at the cinema where Sylvia works (played by Roy Hudd) that are at the core of the piece. Plot development is more happenstance than design. Chance events provide the key plot elements and these seem obviously unlikely. Potter did not develop any real background to the characters, they just 'are'.At times, as in Potter's 'Blackeyes', I was of the impression that the nudity featured, both of Sylvia and a winged nude or 'Earth Angel' that Hopper dreams up while at work served no great purpose other than to titillate the audience and Potter especially. An 'odd couple' are included, played by Maggie Steed and Bernard Hill, being Aunt Vicki and Uncle Fred to Francis Francis in whose flat he has been invited to stay during his military service. This flat, as it happens, is downstairs to that occupied by Corporal Berry and Sylvia, his wife. The two couples don't get on.I don't think that the songs to which the characters lip-sync emerge either as subtly during or as relevant towards the piece as they did during Pennies From Heaven especially and tended to have a stand- alone quality, even though for the most part generally plot consistent and well staged.The work was for me entertainment by way of vignettes rather than a developing storyline and it is for that reason that I don't think it ranks among his best works. It's clearly imitatively of the structure used in Pennies/Detective, but lacking in storyline and plot development. Unlike those two BBC dramas, this was produced for Channel 4. I wonder if the BBC would have produced it if given the option? I suspect not.The work produced by Potter towards and at the time of his early death is not, and perhaps ought not be expected, to be of his best but it remains watchable, entertaining and well produced all the same and is of a quality exceeding most British TV of the time.

Richard Aitken Let's get something straight; Dennis Potter is the greatest writer of television drama in the UK and his work will never be surpassed by anyone. Potter loved music and as with Pennies from Heaven and The Singing Detective, Lipstick on your collar is heavily marked by the imaginary use of songs of the era. This was the reason I was attracted to Potter in first place but his work is so much more. It explores identity in Britain (specifically in the 1950's) and how attitudes were changing from the old guard and the young peoples' desire to be free of the decorum and stuffiness of the British establishment who still thought they were still an important colonial power - hence his exploration of Suez.It is more than a social history lesson, it follows the lives of 3 soldiers and the women they love but it shows their hidden sexual desires and their open ones. As usual the women in these situations wield positions of power over the weak men who dream of them in idyllic fashions and how they react and feel at home with "a bit of rough". It is a bizarre love triangle which grows to a pentagon and then some.Some might classify it as sexist and objectification of women but that misses the point - so many men hold such views without being able to fulfill them and the frustration of the sexually inadequate or inexperienced is superbly contrasted with those who have "made it" on that front.The music is wonderful, the acting is first class and the darker side of human nature is explored superbly.Not all the women are shallow sex objects and Potter does emphasize the contrast between suitability of one boy for one girl and vice versa. It is not his masterpiece but it is an enjoyable romp (if you pardon the pun).A must have for any Potter fan.

steve-1703 I never liked Dennis Potter until I saw this series. I don't like musicals – the idea of a group of people bursting into spontaneous communal song never appealed to me, but the combination of scenario (a post second world war era where the war is now fought as much in the halls of Whitehall as on the battlefield – and Britain is losing) and music (British 50's) just hit the right note with me (pun intended). The characters are superb (this was the first thing I ever saw Ewan McGregor in) and the situations genuine. The relationships between the junior ranks in both military and civilian life in the era they are set are really believable (so my dad says). I loved the music so much I bought the CD, I just wish they would bring it out on DVD. Thanks Dennis.

hexa-2 Dennis Potter brilliance. The series shows why the Suez crisis was such a disaster with intelligence officers that prove the assertion that the term "Military Intelligence " is an oxymoron. My favorite character is the sex crazed Wurlitzer player from the Odeon. Recommended