A cult leader charges for enlightenment—plus VAT. Thatcher's Britain never looked so bleakly funny.
BBC Play for Today. Maximillian Schreiber runs a series of gruelling motivational courses - all coming at a cost to the participants - including VAT.
Acting
Simon Callow's preening, terrifying motivational monster.
Writing
The VAT joke lands harder than most horror finales.
Director
John Bruce
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during Britain's 'Winter of Discontent,' it satirizes the emerging Thatcher-era ethos of personal responsibility over structural change. Schreiber's courses are essentially monetized solidarity.
Callow based Schreiber partly on actual encounter group leaders he observed; the VAT detail came from a real course advert spotted by writer Colin Haydn Evans.
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