Tormented and bedridden by a debilitating disease, a mystery writer relives his detective stories through his imagination and hallucinations.
Top-Rated Episodes
S1.E2
After 10 or 11 weeks in the hospital, Marlow has a session with a psychiatrist, Dr. Gibbon, that does not go well. Gibbon believes that the root of Marlow's skin disorder is psychological and that he...
S1.E1
Writer Philip Marlow is in hospital being treated for a severe skin affliction, something he has suffered from for 25 years but is now worse than it has ever been. He finds himself in a general ward ...
S1.E4
In his novel, Marlow has contacted the police and they have taken the dead woman away. He suspects that Mark Binney, who admitted that his visit to the nightclub wasn't entirely by chance. Marlow ...
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Title: The Singing Detective (1986)
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6 wins & 8 nominations.
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Storyline
Re-working material from his first novel, "Hide and Seek" (1973), and folding this into a prismatic blend of autobiographical details, popular music and 1940s film noir, Writer Dennis Potter delivered a drama now regarded as a twentieth century masterwork. Detective novelist Philip Marlow (Sir Michael Gambon) suffers from the crippling disease of psoriatic arthritis. Confined to a hospital bed, Marlow mentally re-writes his early Chandleresque thriller, "The Singing Detective", with him in the title role, drifting into a surreal 1945 fantasy of spies and criminals, along with vivid memories of a childhood in the Forest of Dean. As past events and 1940s songs surface in his subconscious, Marlow's voyage of self-discovery provides a key to conquering his illness, while his noir-styled hallucinations evoke the Philip Marlowe of Chandler's Murder, My Sweet (1944), starring Dick Powell, who later became a "singing detective" on radio's "Richard Diamond, Private Detective" (1949), crooning ... Written by Bhob Stewart <bhob2@aol.com>
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Details
Language:
EnglishRelease Date:
16 November 1986 (UK) See more »Also Known As:
The Singing Detective See more »Company Credits
Production Co:
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) See more »
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Technical Specs
Runtime:
(6 episodes)Sound Mix:
MonoColor:
ColorAspect Ratio:
1.33 : 1
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(uncredited)
Music by Fred Fisher
Performed by Max Harris & His Novelty Trio during the credits
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Did You Know?
Trivia
Prepping and filming took almost exactly eleven months. See more »Quotes
Philip E. Marlow: Why is it when you lose your health the entire medical profession takes it as axiomatic you've also lost your mind?See more »
Soundtracks
Peg o' My Heart(uncredited)
Music by Fred Fisher
Performed by Max Harris & His Novelty Trio during the credits
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I discovered this at my local library and it is truly one of the all time great TV shows. A complex plot that rewards viewers' patience. Great performances, particularly by Gambon. Thus far the movie hasn't been released nationwide so I can't speak for the quality, but even if it proves to be terrible, at least it appears to have paved the way for the DVD version, which I pretty much expected when I learned of the film. This series deserves to be better known world-wide than it is, and hopefully the DVD set (which includes a director/producer Commentary track for every episode, specials on Dennis Potter, etc.) will make the series better known to people.