Someone at BBC Drama has had a lightbulb moment. 'Pop stars ...', he or she has noted, '... often have complicated relationships with their Dads. We could make some films out of that'. And so, a fortnight ago, we were treated to an exploration of Boy George's paternal frictions. This week it was the turn of John Winston Lennon.
'Lennon Naked' struck immediately as the superior effort. From the opening, the attention to detail and authentic 60s feel were convincing enough to draw us into the period (not least of all because everyone smoked cigarettes at a rate a Player's beagle would struggle to match). That said, Vicarage researchers are still working hard to establish whether 'shagging' was a term widely used in 60s Britain and the script could certainly have done with a final tightening before shooting began. 'So, John. What's next for the Fab Four' from Freddie was beyond clunky.
But of course our eyes weren't really on the vintage microphones and motor cars, they were on erstwhile Dr. Who, Christopher Ecclestone as the former Beatle. And here was the first difficulty.
Ecclestone wasn't so much playing Lennon as channelling him. He'd clearly done his homework by watching hours of footage to capture every inflection, idiosyncrasy and tick. The instantly familiar scouse drawl never wavered for a second and the laconic mannerisms were in place in every scene. So much so, in fact, that the whole performance began to overwhelm the work. It was more like a very clever turn than a characterisation. He was almost too Lennony.
This is a harsh criticism because in less skilled hands, the part could have been rendered toe-curlingly awful and it was far from that. But we hadn't settled down to watch a masterful impression and the piece promised much more too.
Indeed, it was intended to be an examination of John's relationship with his parents and the ways in which it shaped his life and actions. Now, to almost anyone with a passing interest in popular culture, this is an endlessly fascinating subject. As a genuine icon of the last century, who spent his career inventing and building some of the most memorable popular music we'll ever know, Lennon's motivations and inspirations fill many volumes. Clearly, an hour of TV isn't long enough to delve into these areas. Therefore it was vital not to squander a single insight or opportunity to shine a light on the lesser known John. A shame, then, that the focus of the drama was the rapid-cut recreation of the most obvious of his life's events. He met Yoko at an art exhibition? You don't say. Epstein had something of a crush on him? Who'd have known.
And so this went on. The plot was less a psychological analysis of a one-off genius and more a 'greatest hits' compilation of Lennon's musical life. Even when utterly superfluous to the story, we had to be exposed to well documented incidents like the trip to see the Maharishi Yogi.
Which is not to say the core conceit was ignored completely. The very best scenes, the most illuminating and telling, showed us John's reunion with his absent father. We had no way of knowing whether these precise conversations or arguments actually took place, but that was the appeal.
We were presented with so many events we know happened - and have seen for ourselves many times - that the speculation was refreshing. But it also indicated how the piece had the balance wrong. It needed to show us the ways in which the history of which we know little, led to the occasions and music of which we know so much. What it gave us were painstaking reconstructions of oft-told stories, lightly sprinkled with new ideas.
So the film did touch on Lennon Snr's failings and the anger and hurt this ignited in his son (and a special mention is deserved by Christopher Fairbank as father Freddie, easily the best performance throughout) - albeit in a far too sketchy and glib way. Inevitably, we also saw a great deal of the mutual admiration club which was the marriage to Yoko. But was I the only viewer wondering why one of John's most profound and affecting relationships was completely written out? That's right, no Macca.
I mentioned this on Twitter and was gently chided for forgetting this was a tale of John Lennon,
but surely any exploration of his psyche is incomplete without a recognition of this most creative
and fractious of partnerships? Yes, Paul was there as a bit player, but anyone unfamiliar with the story (if such a person ever existed), would assume he was simply a sideman in a band
called John Lennon And His Beatles.
'Lennon Naked' isn't bad but it is flawed, probably because it isn't nearly brave enough. The scene where Lennon plays his father the tape of him primal screaming ' ... daddy don't go!' hinted at different drama, maybe a two hander, maybe totally imagined, where John's bitterness and fury do battle with his Dad's indifference and idleness.
Whether this would have attracted the necessary funding and exposure on the BBC, I couldn't say. But it would have given us the chance to properly ponder the emotions, longings and cruelties that took John Winston Lennon from his Aunt Mimi's Liverpool house to the pavement outside a Manhattan apartment building. Something nobody has yet managed to achieve, this film included.
Magnus Shaw, June 2010
