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Review

With this richest of oeuvres, writer Dennis Potter has created the most textured and densest of "autobiography" ever to be concocted since Proust chowed down on those tea-soaked madeleines. Produced for the BBC, The Singing Detective is a murder mystery in-the-composing as its author, one Philip Marlow (Gambon), assumes the title role as he lies in his hospital bed, racked by pain and addled by sedatives. His hallucinations interweave personal memories with those of the hero of his novel "The Singing Detective" which weaves the convoluted tale of a sleuth who moonlights with a big band. Here Potter's trademark of having his characters lip-synch to pop recordings -- and thus becoming their own Greek chorus -- takes on a depth beyond simple irony, turning cynicism, climactically, into a sort of humanistic Heaven where pain becomes Peace, and self-loathing, Love. Arguably the best film/miniseries ever produced for television.