According to its executive producer Griff Rhys Jones, A Poet in New York (BBC2, Sunday) sought to rescue Dylan Thomas from the ‘forces of sanctity and hagiography that now hover over his shade’. Instead, we’d be reminded that he was ‘a hollering bohemian roustabout’ — which is presumably Griff’s longhand for ‘a drunk’.
By that measure, the programme was a triumphant success, even if fewer people may have been startled by the revelation of Thomas’s booziness than Griff seems to think. As a piece of television, though, it suffered badly from the decision to concentrate on Thomas’s alcohol-laden final days in New York, which inevitably led to a lack of dramatic variety. This proved a problem that not even a writer as skilful as Andrew Davies and an actor as good as Tom Hollander were able to solve.
We first saw Thomas (Hollander) being greeted at the airport by his two handlers: John Malcolm Brinnin (Ewen Bremner), a classically bow-tied American man of letters, and his assistant Liz Reitell (Phoebe Fox), whose duties turned out to include having sex with Thomas at night and reminding him that she had in the morning. The three duly adjourned to a bar, where Liz declared, ‘This trip is going to be a triumph’ — a line that might as well have been accompanied by the words ‘Dramatic Irony’ flashing on the screen. ‘I’ll drink to that,’ Thomas replied.
And from there, the programme settled into what soon became a familiar pattern. Before his readings, Thomas would refresh himself with a brief bout of vomiting, before staggering on stage as John and Liz exchanged anxious glances in the wings. He’d then knock the audience dead with a fruity rendition of one of his greatest hits as John and Liz exchanged relieved smiles.
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