The main story is set in a British Military Intelligence Office in Whitehall during 1956, where a small group of foreign affairs analysts find their quiet existence disrupted by the Suez Crisis. Ewan McGregor plays Mick Hopper, who is doing his national service as an interpreter of Russian documents. Bored with his job, Hopper spends his days creating fantasy daydreams that involve his work colleagues breaking into contemporary hit songs. Louise Germaine plays Sylvia Berry, the blonde wife of the violent Corporal Pete Berry (Douglas Henshall). Sylvia is an object of desire for Mick's fellow clerk Private Francis Francis and a middle-aged pipe-organist named Harold Atterbow (Roy Hudd). Unlike the street-wise Hopper, Francis is a clumsy Welsh intellectual whose academic career has been interrupted by his army call up. The appearance of the bookish niece of a seconded American officer enables the two conscripts to pair off with suitable partners, after initial mismatching. Some of the side themes include the influence of American rock and roll on English society, the gulf between the senior analysts, who are regular army officers, and the conscripted other ranks, the work of Russian playwright Chekhov, and the appreciation of opulent theatre pipe organs. The unusual context — a military culture transplanted into a civil service style office environment — reflects Potter's own national service during the 1950s. While this piece has the form of a romantic comedy, unlike the less conventional works of Dennis Potter's middle period, it is not without graphic sex and violence, as well as Potter's characteristic flashes of dreamlike imagery. The centrepiece of this production is the surreal musical sequence set to the song In a Persian Market.
Koder Alian,Lulu Hacke,大卫·克劳斯,安纳托·陶布曼,斯坦奇·艾塞克,尤韦·普罗伊斯,威塞尔·格林,路德维格.特内普特,贾思敏·塔巴塔拜,沃坦·维尔克·默林,克劳迪亚·米歇尔森,布拉克·伊依特,Jan Schütte,德特勒夫·布克,提姆·塞菲,Anna Bederke,索恩克·莫宁,弗雷德里克·劳,尼科莱特·克雷比茨,萨宾·塔布瑞亚,艾伦·阿尔塔拉斯,克里斯蒂安·卡赫曼,亚历山大·拜尔,哈勃·孔黛,基达·拉马丹