The Singing Detective

Call this six-part drama psycho-sexual-literary therapy in six sessions and you'd be close but not quite on the money. The central character, a British author of pulp detective novels, whose actual name is Philip Marlow (horrowingly portrayed by Michael Gambon), lies in bed in a hospital ward. Doctors and nurses attend him, some with kindness, some with humiliating condescension. And through it all he recalls in a kind hallucinatory drug-induced trounce disillusionment's from his childhood which get mixed up in his paranoid mind with elements from his present life, as well as, with plot lines from his first novel, The Singing Detective, which he is rewriting in his head with himself cast in the lead. It's a true mystery story, and the mystery is human existence with all its pains, betrayals, brutalities, grief's, hopes, and victories.
Also starring Patrick Malahide, Janne Wholley, Janet Suzmon, Bill Paterson, David Ryall. Haunting direction by Jon Amiel. Written from the heart as well as the head by Dennis Potter who himself suffers from psoriatic arthopothy. Oh yes; and there's singing too (1986). Total running time is close to seven hours..