The Singing Detective

Many regard the Singing Detective as Dennis Potter's masterpiece, bringing together old and new themes in a murder mystery-musical-thriller-romance - the like of which has not been seen before or since on television. Recognised as a seminal TV series, it was voted number 20 in the BFI's all time top TV 100.

Incapacitated both physically and emotionally and trapped in his hospital bed, detective novel writer Philip Marlowe escapes into his imagination, plotting out a murder tale in which he is both a big-band singer and a private eye. As fantasy and reality merge into one, his excruciating pain plays with the memories of a tormented childhood and sexual treachery in a tortuous session of self-analysis and personal discovery.