Snodgrass

Alternative histories can be dead-end vanity projects, but this reimagining of John Lennon in 1991, trudging through an unfulfilled life 30 years after leaving The Beatles, was stunningly conceived and realised, from Ian Hart's Lennon to Martin Carr's pastiche soundtrack.

Music journalist David Quantick's Snodgrass imagines John Lennon in 1991, 30 years after walking out on the Beatles due to a row over a song in an alternative timeline. Ambling through a grey Liverpool, he's a brilliant man unable to fit into nine-to-five society. Talking directly to camera, Ian Hart catches the spark of genius that, without superstar status, looks like muttering madness. Full of heart and sympathy, it's a tender reminder of all those might-have-beens that only blossomed into down-and-outs.

Snodgrass, David Quantick's drama for Playhouse Presents, imagined a world in which John Lennon had walked out of The Beatles before they made it big. The only zebra crossing he strides over in this universe is the one on the way to the job centre, his only fame that of a might-have-been. Ian Hart was excellent as Lennon and the script beautifully captured Lennon's aggressive wit. But the heart of the thing was that it wasn't really about Lennon at all. It was about that bit of us that aches to be a Lennon when we're 20 and still does 30 years on.

Ian Hart plays John Lennon for at least the third time on film, in David Quantick's dramatisation of Ian R MacLeod's novella. This Lennon is still alive in 1991, but left the Beatles in 1962 and watched them achieve moderate success without him. Unemployed and embittered, all this Lennon has left is his hokey sense of humour: on the bus and on his disastrous first day in an office dogsbody job, he keeps up a stream of puns and Dad-jokes, whether or not anyone's listening.

If he were a global megastar, these utterances would be lapped up and analysed; as it is he's just a pillock, but a likeable one. It's a fantastic curio, with a spot-on pastiche soundtrack by Martin Carr of the Boo Radleys.

What would have happened to John Lennon had he left the Beatles in 1962, on the cusp of greatness? We join Lennon (Ian Hart, uncanny in his third outing as the Beatle) in grey, 1991 Birmingham, scratching out a living in dead-end jobs, dispensing pithily sardonic observations and denying his mild resentment towards Paul McCartney.

In this universe, Macca's Lennon-less Beatles are dragging themselves around the low-rent nostalgia circuit after a middling career of melodic that saw them eclipsed by the likes of The Hollies.

Snodgrass (Lennon's tag for 'The Man') could have been a dismally self-regarding muso wank-off - and there are in-jokes aplenty for Fab Four obsessives. But it also works beautifully as simple human drama, anchored by a performance of thoughtful melancholy from Hart. The concept is neither overthought nor over-explained, the attention to detail in David Quantick's screenplay (based on Ian R MacLeod's novella) is stunning, and Ex-Boo Radley Martin Carr's soundtrack of affectionate pastiches completes this miniature masterpiece of disappointment and regret.

Imagine John Lennon never existed - at least, not the John Lennon we know. Snodgrass, a one-off drama adapted from Ian R MacLeod's novella by David Quantick, envisions a parallel world in which Lennon walked out of The Beatles in 1962 over "musical differences". Consequently, the Fab Four only ever achieved moderate success and Lennon - who never moved to New York - survived into middle age.
Taking place in 1991, 11 years after Lennon was murdered, this is a tale of missed opportunities and regret; the Lennon presented here is 50 years old, unemployed and embittered. Someone who could have had it all but wound up on the dole, a real nowhere man. It's a fascinating drama: playful, sharp and bristling with mordant one-liners.
Anchoring it all is the excellent Ian Hart, who's playing Lennon for the third time on film.

There's a winning blend of humour and pathos in his performance - especially when his character is on a bus, reeling off a stream of puns, jokes and diatribes. The message is clear: if this was John Lennon the rock legend, everyone on that bus would be hanging on his every word; here, though, he's just a misanthrope, ignored by the fellow passengers. This is part of the skill of Quantick's script - it makes you wonder whether dying at 40, a global icon, is better than still being alive but trapped in a humdrum existence, all too aware of what you might have been. The result is a heart-rending half-hour.

Snodgrass was a beautiful vignette in Sky Arts 1's impressive Playhouse Presents series of 30-minutes dramas that asked the question: what would have happened to John Lennon if he hadn't become famous?

It might not be a question you have asked yourself, but if you watched Ian Hart's portrayal of the 50-year-old John Lennon sitting in a dingy flat and chatting to himself on the top deck of a bus, the answer will now be burned into your brain.

In a bittersweet script, by David Quantick based on a story by Ian R MacLeod, Lennon was on his way for his first day in a boring civil service job. He gave us a running commentary as he went, brilliantly capturing Lennon's voice (figuratively and metaphorically).

"Semi-detached houses, semi-detached people leading semi-detached lives," he muttered. "Me auntie used to say 'Oh guitar's all right, John, but you'll never earn a living at it.' F---ing hell, Mimi, you weren't wrong... [I'm] nifty 50, with me whole death to look forward to..."

This was an alternative reality in which Lennon had had an argument with Paul McCartney over a song in 1962 and walked out of The Beatles. The band carried on, performing McCartney songs like Mary Had a Little Lamb and Mull of Kintyre, but never breaking through. "We could have been bigger than The Hollies," reflected Lennon.

Snodgrass was his word for a boring, suburban person. Looking out of the bus window, he saw a man in a suit with a mobile phone. "You can do the yuppie walkie-talkie all you want, pal. You're still f---ing Snodgrass to me."

The drama was a gentle, admiring portrait of how the Lennon wit and surrealism might have survived in an average life. It also highlighted the fine line between becoming a legend and becoming a claimant.

TV Preview: Snodgrass

This is a different type of comedy for former NME writer David Quantick, who most recently worked regularly as one of the writing team on Harry Hill's TV Burp. It is funny but also strangely touching.

The Beatles: What would have happened if Lennon left?

One-off drama Snodgrass imagines a world where John Lennon walked out of the Fab Four in 1962 over 'musical differences', explains its writer David Quantick.

TV preview: Snodgrass, Sky Arts

This is a different type of comedy for former NME writer David Quantick, who most recently worked regularly as one of the writing team on Harry Hill's TV Burp. It is funny but also strangely touching.