Dennis Potter's Wife

First appearance: after we tired of Andrés Escobar

Many guests appeared in AP over the years, from modern beat combos and litigious ACTors to influential industry heavyweights. None was quite so popular though* as our special dead friends.

From Barbara (who wasn't strictly dead at the time) and Andrés, to Kurt and Peter, plus cheery cameos from gaily waving folk pausing to borrow a cup of sugar on their way to the marble orchard, AP rubbed shoulders urbanely with the mighty and the briefly popular then swapped to a hearty handshake instead when we realised we were rubbing their crumbling scapulae clean off, then stopped shaking hands so heartily.

Our ultimate special dead friend was Dennis Potter's Wife, unsurpassable in three crucial areas.

1. She suddenly took over Andrés' duties, making her appearances totally incomprehensible to anyone who hadn't been reading the mag for at least a year. This elevated her in-joke rating to Unimprovable.

2. As Dennis Potter's Wife, she had supported the loony playwright through his agonising cancers, only to die unexpectedly and well before him of her own free-spirited gypsy tumour. This and her appearance in the mag solely in nameless reference to her always-a-part-in-the- script-for-a-nude-girl hub would be a combo of excellent tragedy virtually impossible to better.

2. We were all ourselves killed shortly afterwards.

Dennis Potter's Wife - we salute you, accidentally catching the lip of the urn and projecting your ashes in the face of Roy Castle's trumpeting lungs.