Titles, contents, list of illustrations & preface to front. Dennis Potter's rich and famously controversial career as a playwright, journalist and critic revealed his unique talent and coincided with the rise of popular television drama. He is most widely known as the author of the drama serials Pennies From Heaven and The Singing Detective which were greeted with acclaim. His career, however, began in the 1960s and he was one of the first significant writers to write specifically for the medium of television, which he regarded as the "true national theatre". His work introduced new techniques to television drama, such as lip-synching to songs and adults taking children's roles, and has spawned a generation of imitators. Dennis Potter's personal life is also part of his enigma. Born in the Forest of Dean in 1935 and educated at Oxford, he was working as a journalist when he discovered he had psoriatic arthropathy, a rare debilitating disease. However, such a terrible blow did not halt his prolific career. His credits include almost thirty original plays, nine television serials, three novels and several screenplays. When he contracted pancreatic cancer in February 1994, he vowed to finish Cold Lazarus and Karaoke in the time left, a vow he kept. W. Stephen Gilbert explores Potter's work alongside a study of Potter himself which builds a fascinating portrait of an amazing man. The life which emerges is one of substantial success and uncertainty, joy and suffering. A frank and informed account of the "poet of pain", Fight & Kick & Bite is also a look at the history of British television drama.