Walter (Loving Walter) 1982 Ian McKellen DVD

Walter is a television drama first broadcast on the launch night of Channel 4 on 2 November 1982. Based on a 1978 novel of the same name by David Cook, it was the first ever Film on Four.

The film was directed by Stephen Frears and stars Ian McKellen as Walter, a man with a learning disability. The story focuses on what happens when his father dies and his mother, feeling unable to support him on her own, agrees for him to be moved into an institution.

The Evening Standard reported at the time:

Channel 4 is taking the extraordinary step of launching itself with one of the most shocking films about mental illness ever shown on British TV. Walter, which occupies the key slot in next Tuesday's opening night schedule, features scenes of homosexual molestation in a mental hospital, patients covered in excrement, and a suicide in a barber's shop.[1]

McKellen later won The Royal Television Society Performer of the Year for his performance in the film.

Recorded from Satellite television the quality (compared to a retail dvd) is Video 7 Audio 7 (Very good!).