Virtuoso

More or less contemporaneous with Australian David Helfgott was Britain's John Ogdon, the greatest concert pianist of his generation in this country, and also a man who developed mental problems. In this case it was paranoid schizophrenia, and this film sensitively but unsparingly portrays his descent into virtual madness and the effect on his family and friends.

This TV production marks Alfred Molina's first significant leading role, and he acquits himself very well as Ogdon, despite the (fortunately ignored) disqualification of being approximately a foot taller than the man he was portraying. However, Molina's next collaboration with the writer William Humble, a biography of comic genius Tony Hancock, although well played, was too critical an examination of the man and was repudiated by many people close to Hancock, including his writers Galton and Simpson. Apparently this program fared better, and was supported by Ogdon and his family.

Sadly Ogdon died the following year at the age of just 52.