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United Kingdom
Drama
Miniseries
1986

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Don't confuse this version of The Singing Detective with US movie remake of the same name. I haven't seen the US version, but the trailer doesn't make me inclined to either. My impression is they've taken an intriguing character drama, put a pretty boy in the lead role and turned in into a comedy, both of which will probably spoil the original.

If someone has seen both, please tell me if it's as disappointing a remake as it looks.

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The Singing Detective opens on the main character, Philip Marlow, a mystery writer. Marlow currently resides in a multi-bed hospital ward, crippled by a ghastly skin disorder. And I mean truly ghastly. Not surprisingly, Marlow takes refuge from reality by daydreaming about his crime novel, The Singing Detective, and casting his younger, virile self in the lead role. Reality and fiction quickly weave and intertwine as nurses and fellow patients become characters in his unraveling drama.

When Marlow is forced to visit a psychiatrist, a third story enters the mix -- the story about Marlow as a boy in a particularly turbulent time in his life. The three stories intertwine as Marlow digs within himself to discover the root of his illness, yet hides within himself to avoid that same cause.

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The first episode left me uncertain. I really enjoyed Marlow -- the cantankerous bastard had this element of vulnerability that I responded to. Mostly because he never, ever felt sorry for himself. However, the story was still a bit odd, and I wasn't entirely sure what was going on.

However, I got sucked in to the intertwining stories, and generally enjoyed the rest of the show. It was fun to see the reflections of reality in Marlow's fiction, and I couldn't guess who done it. However, Marlow never told us, either so the noir detective story remains a mystery.

The ending was mostly satisfying as Marlow ended up with the girl, got well, and went home. However, the way the last thirty minutes unfolded baffled me a bit. I wasn't sure exactly what was happening as Marlow's fiction invaded his reality (instead of the other way around). I ended up going back and turning on the commentary to try and figure it out. (The commentary was rather sparse, by the way, but in the end I managed.)

Overall, the characters were great, the story structure neat, and the end satisfying. The Singing Detective doesn't really tie up all the loose threads, but it gets the important ones, and that was enough for me.