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THE SINGING DETECTIVE
1986
Director
Jon Amiel
Dennis Potter
Starring
Michael Gambon
Jim Carter
Lyndon Davies
Patrick Malahide
Runtime
7 hours + intermissions
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Over THE SINGING DETECTIVE's six episodes, first broadcast by the BBC in 1986, we follow the life of Philip E. Marlow (Michael Gambon), a pulp fiction writer left bedridden in hospital by a case of psoriatic arthropathy – a debilitating combination of the skin condition psoriasis and arthritis. As Marlow's body deteriorates, his vivid imagination takes him on a surreal journey where he embodies his namesake protagonist in his own Raymond Chandler-esque crime thrillers.
Blurring the line between reality and fiction, the narrative unfolds in several parallel worlds, with the noir-inspired detective story interwoven with Marlow's real-life struggles in hospital, his own childhood and a variety of incidents in his life over which he feels the guilt. As Marlow begins to recover, his writer's block eases; the fantasies allow him a creative escape as well as catharsis over several traumas, past and present, all aided by the optimistic presence of Nurse Mills (Joanne Whalley) who looks after Marlowe's health in spite of his consistent grumblings.
Legendary television writer Dennis Potter's drama smuggles in its complexities via an incredibly skilful and entertaining melding of autobiography (Marlow's illness, for example, directly matched Potter's own health struggles) and a daring approach to form. Potter was one of television's great stylists, refusing to bow to pressure to play drama straight, instead fragmenting it, following his own idiosyncratic obsessions, and, most famously, allowing access to the interiority of his characters via song-and-dance numbers. THE SINGING DETECTIVE was the culmination of Potter's lifetime of creativity. Join us for this special marathon screening!
"This is one of the best pieces of TV you'll see in your life." - The Guardian
Blurring the line between reality and fiction, the narrative unfolds in several parallel worlds, with the noir-inspired detective story interwoven with Marlow's real-life struggles in hospital, his own childhood and a variety of incidents in his life over which he feels the guilt. As Marlow begins to recover, his writer's block eases; the fantasies allow him a creative escape as well as catharsis over several traumas, past and present, all aided by the optimistic presence of Nurse Mills (Joanne Whalley) who looks after Marlowe's health in spite of his consistent grumblings.
Legendary television writer Dennis Potter's drama smuggles in its complexities via an incredibly skilful and entertaining melding of autobiography (Marlow's illness, for example, directly matched Potter's own health struggles) and a daring approach to form. Potter was one of television's great stylists, refusing to bow to pressure to play drama straight, instead fragmenting it, following his own idiosyncratic obsessions, and, most famously, allowing access to the interiority of his characters via song-and-dance numbers. THE SINGING DETECTIVE was the culmination of Potter's lifetime of creativity. Join us for this special marathon screening!
"This is one of the best pieces of TV you'll see in your life." - The Guardian