| The Singing Detective - TV mini series (1986)
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| Front Cover |
Actor |
Back Cover |
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| Michael Gambon |
Philip Marlow
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| Patrick Malahide |
Mark Binney / Finney / Raymond
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| Janet Suzman |
Nicola
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| Alison Steadman |
Lili
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| Jim Carter |
Mr. Marlow
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| Bill Paterson |
Dr. Gibbon
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| Joanne Whalley |
Nurse Mills
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| Imelda Staunton |
Nurse White
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| David Ryall |
Mr. Hall
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| Lyndon Davies |
Philip Marlow aged 9
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| Gerard Horan |
Reginald Dimps
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| Ron Cook |
1st Mysterious Man
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| George Rossi |
2nd Mysterious Man
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| Plot |
| With the notable exception of Pennies From Heaven , The Singing Detective was the best-known TV miniseries project of the iconoclastic, darkly humored Dennis Potter . A reworking of Potter 's first novel Hide and Seek , the six-part series starred Michael Gambon as crime novelist Philip E. Marlow. Suffering from a hellish skin-and-nerve disease called psoriatic arthroparthy (a painful infliction which ultimately killed the real-life Potter ), Marlow was confined to a hospital bed, where under the influence of numerous prescription drugs he began to imagine himself as the hard-boiled hero of his latest detective novel. While trying to solve a difficult case, Marlow continually drifted backward in time to his childhood in the Forest of Dean, occasionally bursting into song to express his emotions. As fantasy and reality merged into one, Marlow was forced into a tortuous session of self-analysis and personal discovery. Virtually everyone in the cast was seen in double and triple roles, including nominal leading ladies Alison Steadman and Joanne Whalley (aka Joanne Whalley-Kilmer ). The series earned two BAFTA awards (the British equivalent of the Emmys), one for Best Actor to Michael Gambon . After its initial BBC1 run from November 16, to December 21, 1986, The Singing Detective was shown in the United States via public and cable television, where it picked up another award, the prestigious Peabody, in 1989. — Hal Erickson |
| Movie Details |
| Genre |
Drama; Musical; Mystery |
| Director |
Jon Amiel |
| Producer |
John Harris; Kenith Trodd; Kenneth Trodd |
| Writer |
Dennis Potter |
|
| Studio |
BBC Home Video |
| Country |
UK
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| Language |
English |
| Audience Rating |
PG-13 |
| Running Time |
415 mins |
| Movie Release Date |
11/16/1986 |
| Color |
Color |
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| Personal Details |
| Format |
DVD |
| Seen It |
Yes |
| Index |
183 |
| Collection Status |
In Collection |
| Purchase Date |
11/28/2003 |
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| Product Details |
| Region |
 Region 1 |
| Screen Ratio |
 1.33:1 |
| Layers |
Single Side, Single Layer |
| UPC (Barcode) |
794051169921 |
| Release Date |
4/15/2003 |
| Packaging |
Custom Case |
| Audio Tracks |
English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo |
| Nr of Disks/Tapes |
3 |
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Extra Features
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| Color Closed-captioned Box set |
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