Potter continued to win high praise with "Pennies from Heaven" (1978), a drama serial featuring Bob Hoskins as a sheet music salesman (Hoskins' first performance to receive wide attention). It demonstrated the dramatic possibilities of actors miming to old recordings of popular songs. "Blue Remembered Hills", directed by Brian Gibson and first shown by the BBC on 30 January 1979, uses the dramatic device of adult actors playing children, including Helen Mirren, Janine Duvitski, Michael Elphick, Colin Jeavons, Colin Welland, John Bird, and Robin Ellis. Potter had used this device before, for example in "Stand Up, Nigel Barton".