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THE SINGING DETECTIVE
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This award-winning series was originally broadcast on BBC One in 1986. Critics acclaimed the drama as Potter's masterpiece, due to its multi-layered mystery thriller plot and distinguished cast. At the centre of the narrative is unsuccessful writer Philip Marlow, who cynically looks back on life, fantasising himself into one of his own novels.
Warning: the following summaries include plot spoilers.
1. SKIN
Sunday 26 December 2004 10pm-11.10pm
Philip Marlow is in hospital with the skin complaint psoriasis; tormented with hallucinations about his past and future. As a distraction, he mentally recasts an old mystery, with himself as its hero - The Singing Detective. In this fiction, an agent named Mark Binney visits a sleazy nightclub.
2. HEAT
Sunday 26 December 2004 11.10pm-12.20am
Philip meets psychiatrist Doctor Gibbon, who has a copy of his detective novel. Binney takes a nightclub hostess to his flat, knowing she's a Russian agent. When she's later found dead, he seeks Marlow's help. Meanwhile Philip recalls his long-dead father and spying on his mother in the Forest of Dean.
3. LOVELY DAYS
Tuesday 28 December 2004 10pm-11.05pm
Gibbon secretly consults Philip's ex-wife, Nicola. Philip finds the doctor reminds him of his old schoolteacher. A patient's death triggers more flashbacks for Philip of his mother making love. Meanwhile Detective Marlow has half-answered questions about the nightclub, German rocket scientists, and Russian agents.
4. CLUES
Tuesday 28 December 2004 11.05pm-12.15am
In the novel, police remove the body of a murdered woman called Lili from Hammersmith Bridge and Two Mysterious Men follow Marlow. Philip is suspicious of Nicola, who claims a film company wants to option The Singing Detective. Later she meets Mark Finney, who is pretending to be the author of Philip's script.
5. PITTER PATTER
Wednesday 29 December 2004 10pm-11pm
Marlow pursues The Mysterious Men after they make an attempt on his life.
In hospital, Philip then sees the Mysterious Men across the room, and asks Nicola about them. In a London underground station, young Philip and his mum wait for a train. He confronts her about what he saw in the woods.
6. WHO DONE IT
Wednesday 29 December 2004 11pm-12.15am
Fiction and reality appear to be merging for Philip as Doctor Gibbon tries to get him to reveal his hidden traumas. Meanwhile, many of Philip's characters, who are unhappy with him, seek him out for retribution. Finding him in the hospital ward they precipitate a final crisis.
Potter at the BBC homepage
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The Singing Detective