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The Singing Detective

The Singing Detective

List Price: $59.98
Your Price: $53.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Simply Sublime
Review: To anyone who hasn't heard of or seen The Singing Detective, GET IT NOW! Absolutely the best TV series ever, and it gets better every time I watch it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Brilliant work by all involved
Review: This is an incredible piece of work: The writing, direction and acting are all first rate. It is a testament to what television could and should be. You will come back to this series repeatedly just to catch the fine points of the overlapping narrative structure. It's ambitious, crude, hilarious and, in its own cynical way, life-affirming. Great epic art.

As far as the reviewers below who claim the book was better -- you people are insane. This was not based on a book. It's an original teleplay. The book, that the fictional author in this mini-series has written, does not exist.

At any rate, Dennis Potter is a genius, Michael Gambon is excellent and you need to own this boxed set. Now.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Absolutely The Best
Review: When it was originaly broadcast on American Public Television I was stunned and held captive for 3 consecutive nights watching The Singing Detective. It is an absolutely brilliant melding of comedy, tragedy, musical, mystery, romance, and drama. Michael Gambon is brilliant as usual and the supporting cast carries off this surreal tale very well.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Talent Beyond Imagination
Review: To say that Dennis Potter was the greatest writer ever to devote his career largely to television is praise far too faint. Potter is one of the very few who have seen the unique creative potential in the TV medium, AND managed to realize that potential.

He never aimed higher than in "The Singing Detective," and he was never more on-target. To echo those above, I will add my vote to this program as the single greatest work of art ever created for television. Again, this is praise too faint.

Lest the above sound too lofty, let me add that it is also the most entertaining, and among the funniest television I have ever seen. I watched all seven hours at one sitting, without realizing what I was doing -- I had no idea so much time had passed. "The Singing Detective" is transfixing. You are in for a treat.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Ne Plus Ultra
Review: The best film/video I have ever seen. "Am I right, or am I right?"

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A remarkable series.
Review: If you enjoy BBC series, you will certainly not be disappointed with "The Singing Detective". The acting is unusually strong. The music, the casting and the attention to period detail are quite impeccable. The story unfolds like, well, a detective story. The twist is that the real story is not the detective story at all, or is it then? You will be struggling to differentiate between the protagonist's sense of reality, his memory, imagination, fantasy, and delirium. Throughout this journey of the mind, you will be aware that you are in expert hands. You will experience some of the best artistic technique British theatre and television have to offer.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: singing dectitves
Review: singing ectectves was an enanting novel which is a most have for every bookshelf. on the down side the begging and middle was very slow.most peole might not like it. But I thought it was O.K

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Arguably the Greatest Work of Television Ever
Review: "The Singing Detective" is the finest drama production ever screened on television. It is complex, surreal, full of energy, intense and features some of the finest performances ever given for the small screen. It is Dennis Potter's greatest triumph (no small thing for a screenwriter with his credentials) and it's like may never be seen again.

Do yourself a service - see this program!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Apogee of Television
Review: Unconditionally the most brilliant use of television ever made. I'll leave it to the other reviewers to tell you why. Suffice my review to say this: I remember seeing "The Singing Detective" when it first aired in the late 1980s. I was perplexed but fascinated by its first episode or two. Then somewhere amid the series, I realized what its author Dennis Potter was trying to do and was astounded not only by his ambition but that he achieves it! I've been waiting years for the series to be released on videotape or DVD. If for no other reason that being able to buy it has Amazon been worthwhile to me.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Transcendent Michael Gambon
Review: The Singing Detective is surely the most astounding piece ever shown on television. Michael Gambon owns this part as completely as any actor has ever owned any part anywhere. His Phillip Marlowe has more depth, nuance, and intellectual heft than most characters in most major novels. It is difficult to imagine this drama with any other actor. A truly great actor working with a brilliant, original script. Impossible to overestimate how great this work is. We will sorely miss Dennis Potter's incredible imagination.


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