So much average

Great Film overall

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

There's a mystery buried somewhere: Somewhere between an embittered, hospitalized writer, suffering from a debilitating skin disease, and the overconfident detective of the pulp novel he once wrote. There's mystery surrounding a betrayed father, a suicide, a son having to cope with the contradictions in his young existence, trying to break free. There's also a dame and a body, there always is in a noir scenario. And there are all those memories, fantasies and nightmares of a tortured soul. Unable to move from his bed, our writer becomes the focal point of the story, who sees, hears and struggles with things between reality, fiction and hallucinations, slowly connecting the dots along with us: Down at the docks a foghorn blares, though it sounds like a whistling train... Make sure to bring your imagination to help him solve the puzzle! Dennis Potter's masterpiece "The Singing Detective" is as good as it gets when it comes to creating intelligent television. Not only does he manage to successfully combine film noir, musical, comedy and drama, he also injects existential depth into it that makes one feel deeply for a cynic on the way to his redemption. Suspenseful and entertaining, the multi-layered spectacle draws the viewer in, a viewer, who might feel lost from the very beginning, but will see sympathy grow, despite or maybe because being thrown around between the hospital reality, a constantly changing book plot, flashbacks and escapist adventures of the mind. Potter's wizardry lies in gradually expanding the context, allowing themes to transcend their confines, bleed into threads of seeming parallel worlds, and resonate more and more with each episode. Actors play multiple parts, scenes are repeated in variations - and we are reminded to look for more than just a plot. Thus "The Singing Detective" continues to grow on the inclined watcher with every repeated viewing, for one because of Potter's ingenious screenplay, but also thanks to Jon Amiel's flawless direction and especially Michael Gambon's towering performance. "The Singing Detective" is nothing short of a landmark, controversial for all the wrong reasons at the time of its release, but well deserving to be rediscovered as the pinnacle of Potter's outstanding career.Side note: There's are of course also mysteries buried somewhere between Dennis Potter and Philip E. Marlow (who seems to have misplaced an "e"), between a writer who suffered from psoriatic arthropathy like a certain character he created and his Chandleresque creation. There's mystery surrounding the outright denial that "The Singing Detective" is autobiographical and the dozens of biographical coincidences. Just one more layer to add to a legacy looking for a hobby detective. Feel free to sing along...

A search of the comments on "The Singing Detective" turned up only one mention of Lyndon Davies, who played Philip Marlow aged 10. His performance of this really central character was truly remarkable, and it was essential to establishing the basis for the adult Marlow's problems.It is amazing that a 10-year-old could play the part, which required, among other things, mastering the country dialect, and showing emotional states so convincingly. Probably John Amiel's direction was an important factor in Lyndon's performance -- as well as that of the other children -- but it was really up to Lyndon's talent to bring it off.Thanks, Lyndon Davies!

The BBC television production of "The Singing Detective" caused a huge stir when it was first broadcast back in 1986, and now it is commonly acknowledged as a classic.Hospitalised by a severe case of psoriasis, crime novelist Philip E Marlow, escapes the grim realities of ward life into a rich inner world where he imagines himself as the "singing detective", hero of his own novels. From these fantasies he drifts to memories of his grim childhood during World War Two, and paranoid fantasies about his estranged wife.The script, by celebrated writer Dennis Potter, is truly remarkable. The acting is good, especially from Michael Gambon (as Philip Marlow) who is perfect in a very difficult role.The series lasts nearly seven hours and yet never fails to entertain. The series has a rich vain of dark humour and features some hilariously surreal song-and-dance sequences.This is a true masterpiece and, very possibly, the best TV series ever made. Don't miss any opportunity to catch it.

About to watch the 'The Singing Detective' in its entirity for the first time in 18 years, one is filled with anticipation but also anxiety. Supposing it's dated, or that its once revolutionary nature has been so widely copied (one thinks here of its multi-layered structure, or the scene where Michael Gambon tries to avoid having an erection) that it will be impossible to remember quite how fresh it seemed on first viewing. Worst of all, perhaps it's simply not as good as remembered? When the piece started slowly, I feared that disappointment indeed awaited. But soon I fell again into its magical rhythmns, and, mesmerised, have just (with the aid of DVD) consumed the final five hours in a single weekend. Mesmerised but not surprised - the power of the piece is such that almost every scene, almost every line of dialogue seemed familiar. The last film I saw I had in fact seen previously, and much less than 18 years before, but I had forgotten it entirely and would not have even realised except for a one memorable detail. By contrast, in Dennis Potter's masterpiece, when a single scene failed to trigger recognition, it seemed horribly wrong, as every other incident was written on my brain.For those who don't know, 'The Singing Detective' is an offbeat musical about a writer in hospital, that weaves effortlessly his present experiences, his past fictions, his paranoid imaginings and, above all else, the memories of a childhood that to this day still dominates his life. Wildly imaginative, but grounded in Potter's own autobiography, it constitutes an enormously rich and vivid telling of a fundamentally very simple story. Potter celebrates life, but refuses to assign it any false dignity. The extent to which he strips away the cant that helps make life bearable is truly disturbing, and perhaps explains the reason the religious right wanted it banned. The cover of my DVD says 'moderate nudity; mild language; no violence' and by modern standards this is correct. Which only damns the moderns; but Potter knew truly how to shock.Put simply, everything is right about this series. The dialogue is caustic and hilarious; the direction spot on; the acting brilliant. The song and dance routines are coreographed precisely, economically, but to devastating effect. In fact, the construction of the whole work has the feel of jazz to it, the same themes repeated with minor variation, building to a whole that exceeds the mere parts. And the faces in this drama are the most wonderfully expressive faces you will ever see. I was going to call their expressiveness stylised, in that no-one's real face ever really gives away so much. But these, of course, are the faces of the memory, a lifetime's trauma captured in a single tearful eye.The cast clearly rose to the material. Gambon gives a virtuoso acting masterclass, supreme in both his roles (he plays both the writer and his creation); and though the writer undergoes a major personal journey during the course of this story, Gambon is as good at the end as at the start. While Joanne Whalley, Bill Paterson (with his beard and accent, he makes me think of Robin Cook!) and (in a virtually silent role) Jim Carter have never done anything better. Often overlooked, meanwhile, is the stunning performance from (the subsequently obscure) Lyndon Davies from as Gambon's younger self.Potter spent his entire career trying new ways of writing screenplays. It didn't always come off and after this work, little he produced was of merit. But 'The Singing Detective' hits no false notes. If there's been a better series made for television, I haven't seen it.