The casting ofBob Hoskins in Pennies from Heaven owed something to the fact that every week for two years from 1975 to 1977 he was on BBC1 at Sunday teatime as Alf, the sparky removal man who had reading difficulties, in the adult literacy series On the Move (I was the show's producer).
Dennis Potter was the TV critic of the New Statesman and wrote a passionate rave review for the series and its aims. He was writing Pennies from Heaven at the time and I think he had seen his ideal principal in Bob, who was himself dyslexic and communicated great warmth and encouragement to others.
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