Hi mackrackit,

I've moved the whole thing over to the breadboard and wired it on there.

A couple of quick things:

Yes the manual shows a 10k res on MCLR, I've put one on PORTA.3 which probably isn't a good idea.

I've checked the voltage on the display itself earlier:

Across pin 1-2 = 4v (with pin 1 as GND)
Across pin 1-3 = it goes from 0 - 3.94v
Across pin 2-5 = 3.92v

Also (I've just noticed this) when I turn the POT, the top and third line of the display get darker, so something's going on or trying to.