Watkins, Peter

Bigger, Stephan Watkins, Peter J. Verity, Bruce. J. Chem. Educ. 2003, 80, 1191-1193. 

The author thanks Professors Leo Marz, Uwe Sleytr, Walther Schmid, Paul Kosma and Helmut Viemstein for the hospitality of their laboratories Professors Peter Petzelbauer, Heinz Berner, Erika Staudacher, Paul Kosma, Walther Schmid, Rafael Oriol, and Dipl. Ing. Judit Unger for help with literature items Professor Peter Wolschann, Dr. Lukliana Lawtrakul and Ms. Sonja Zayni for assistance with drawings and Drs. Mark Watkins and Stephan Hann for help with computer applications. 

In the melodrama, plot (if deployed) is a primary barrier to the main character and his or her goal. If the main character and the goal are less important in the docudrama, how is plot used In Peter Watkin s Culloden, the battle itself, the last battle fought on British soil, dominates the narrative. Although there are many characters on both sides of the battle, their vividness does not dominate the story indeed, there is no single main character. The course of the event, which is the plot, dominates the narrative. 

For docudrama, as for melodrama, it is useful to look at case studies in order to understand the narrative shape of the form. The two case studies below will represent two of the subcategories of the docudrama the event, Peter Watkins s Culloden (1964) and the political portrait, Ken Loach s Land and Freedom (1996). 

Plot in the melodrama is used in opposition to the main character and his or her goal. Since the role (that is, view) of the writer-director is the dominant presence in the docudrama, a parallel process goes on in the deployment of plot. Plot serves to illustrate, and make the case for, the views of the writer-director. In Culloden, Peter Watkins has particular views on the imperialism of England vis-a-vis Scotland, and Scotland s 18th-century venture into nationalism. The plot, the Battle of Culloden, is Watkins s case against England, and he finds the country guilty. 

My indebtedness also extends to Drs. Peter Mauser (Hoechst Marion Roussel) and Robert W. Watkins (Schering-Plough), respectively a physiologist and a pharmacologist, who assisted with Chapter 2. I am grateful to... 

Culloden Produced, written, and directed by Peter Watkins edited by Michael Bradsell. 

I am grateful to Dr. Peter Ramwell and Dr. Jane Shaw for permission to use the unpublished results in Table HI, and to Dr. Martin Larrabee for permission to refer to some of his results before publication. Dr. Watkins also kindly allowed me to quote his ideas on the relationship of acetylcholine to phospholipid membranes before publication. 

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