The episode is also named after the poem
A poet from Liverpool has had his work featured in a BAFTA award-winning sitcom. Gerry Potter, who grew up in Scotland Road in the 1960s and 70s, says his poem being shown on television is “personally poetic”.
National Museums Liverpool lists Gerry among the city’s leading LGBTQIA+ icons. His autobiographical poetry-theatre show, My Scouse Voice, was performed by Fenella Fielding at Liverpool’s Unity Theatre, and a portrait documentary film, My Name is Gerry Potter, premiered at Homotopia.
Now his poem, Never Give a Hamster Matches, has appeared on BBC2’s newly-released second series of Alma’s Not Normal. The series follows the story of Alma, from Bolton, as she tries to give her life meaning and the “fabulous” outcome she has always dreamed of, while coping with the strained relationships of her family that saw her spend time in care.
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The series is written by and stars Sophie Willan, and is inspired by her own experiences of the care system. Other cast members include Jayde Adams, Steve Pemberton and Siobhan Finneran, who plays Alma’s mum Lin – the character who Gerry’s poem was written for.
Speaking to the ECHO about the experience, Gerry said: “When the second series came, Sophie said that she wanted me to write for her in-show mum. We settled upon the poem which is in the show called ‘Never Give a Hamster Matches’. The title of the episode that it’s in is also called ‘Never Give a Hamster Matches’, after the poem.
“The mum in the show is a damaged woman; she’s mentally ill, she has a drug addiction and stuff like that. I got to write this poem, which is my first ever television big break, for a character that I am happy to write about. And not only am I writing about what I want to write about, but I have a top-notch actor, Siobhan Finneran, to do it.
He added: “It’s been a real journey, writing poetry about the people that I like to write poetry about – my own class. And it’s appeared on a BAFTA award-winning television show! There’s something really lovely about it.
“Sophie writes about what I call the ‘fiscal apartheid of the Tory party’. She writes about the people on the other side of that apartheid. In many ways, what I find interesting about the show is that not that long ago, there was so much poverty porn on television.
“This character could have been in any of these shows and be seen as rotten and nasty, but in this show, she’s a very powerful and very creative character – this is what we don’t see about those people and those worlds. Even the wildest crackhead could be a great poet but we don’t see that. The series shows that people can be in the most dire circumstances but they can still be creative and they can still be artists. And, I have to say, it’s a bloody good poem.
“I’m not terribly well at the moment and I’ve not been gigging for a long time, so there’s something personally poetic that this poem will be heard by millions, and I really rather love that.”
