Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

The Singing Detective

D Terminator XXXIII

11:01 / 04.05.05

Holy Shit, Batman.

I'm.. I'm.. I'm..

I'm speechless.

It's indubitably much better than I remembered it, and I remembered it fondly; reverentially, even.

I'm up to the 3rd episode, so by the time I'm finished, I wan't to see a healthy discussion, okay?

Things I like so far:

- The disturbing touches which are sprinkled delicately throughout, like in ep. 1 where a senile old man beds Marlow -- it had a creepy quality that's often found in Lynch's oeuvre. And in ep. 3 where a trainride becomes a feverish nightmare.

- How the separate strands of stories - the present, past and the imaginary - gradually melt together as the series progresses.

- The allusions to traumatic events that are slowly brought to the surface, while Marlow's skin clears.

11:32 / 04.05.05

Couldn’t agree more, it’s marvellous.

I did a recent rewatch, and realised I always seem to spot something new when I do so – this time, realising that Marlow’s a stunning unreliable narrator, and that many scenes set in the present day are as unlikely to be true as the ones in Skinscapes etc.

Recently read Humphrey Carpenter’s biography of Potter (recommended) and it’s interesting to see how The Singing ‘Tec combines so many of the themes of Potter’s work in one series in a way that I think he never bettered before or after.

And it’s alarming to think that the chances of something so challenging being made, let alone shown in a mid-evening slot (I think it was Sunday at 9pm or so ?) on BBC1 nowadays would be slim to nil.

But I digress. Great, great stuff, and probably one of my favourite bits of TV ever.

D Terminator XXXIII

12:49 / 04.05.05

And it’s alarming to think that the chances of something so challenging being made ... on BBC1 nowadays would be slim to nil.

It was a pretty unique series of its time, wasn't it? I think this shows through in the audaciousness of the transitions and cuts, which are as fresh today as anything else.

13:30 / 04.05.05

Good point – it’s almost timeless in a way, because it doesn’t rely on anything that was shortlivedly-trendy as a technique or whatever.

It probably says a lot about the effect of this programme on my mind that every time I’m in a London Underground station (which is most days) and a tube rumbles down the track arriving at the platform I want to shout ‘Phileeeeeeeep’ over the roar of the train.

I can’t really recommend the film version, mind you, despite the Potter script; it’s so truncated that it loses that wonderful multi-layered and cumulative effect.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

14:07 / 04.05.05

I'm watching it again atm, and seeing the last time I watched it was when I was too young to really approach it and since then I've read a lot of Morrison, a lot of RAW, a lot of PKD, I mean, wow! I tried to watch Pennies From Heaven and gave up after about two and a half episodes because it was so dull, but this... Not a line is wasted is it?

Will come back to this when I've watched the rest of the series (only watched first two episodes so far).

14:24 / 04.05.05

I agree about Pennies from Heaven, to be honest – didn’t work for me, either; I didn’t really care for the Arthur character… or any of the others come to that, so I don’t think I’ve seen it all the way through.
Saw the film version, though, which was interesting to see Steve Martin a-hoofing it. And I think Mr ‘Weapon of Choice’ Walken may have been boogie-ing therein too…

D Terminator XXXIII

14:31 / 04.05.05

He was.

I can’t really recommend the film version

Neither. I bought it last month because it was very, very cheap, and so am I. I was hoping that a small percentage of what made the series so good would have translated onto the movie, which, hypothetically (pre-purchase), would have resulted in a very, very special movie. Wrongness.

I was too young to really approach it

Given how young I also was, it's surprising how many details I *do* remember.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

20:25 / 11.05.05

Just finished the last episode and, well, I think the only words appropriate are fuck me, exclamation mark. It's got such an... openness about it. The last episode must surely go down as one of the best bits of telly ever, all hour of it.

All that and a young David Thewlis too!

15:52 / 12.05.05

It's been a while since I watched this -- one of the first things I rented from Netflix, two disks that arrived a couple weeks apart.

I remember the first two episodes being *difficult* -- all that diseased skin, that in-your-face nonsensicality being a hard hurdle to get over. But once past that, it was like butter. Psychedelic butter.

Just how much metafiction was Britain producing in the late 80s, early 90s? I mean, it's all a bit Morrisonesque (or, well, there are other things that came to mind at the time, but I'm blanking on them now).

Our Lady Has Left the Building

12:26 / 13.05.05

Well, 'tSD' was beginning of, rather than end of, the 80s, but I can't think of another show like it. With the exception of Potter's own 'Kareoke' I can't think of another show which goes meta like that, and even in 'Kareoke' it's more a hint of the idea than full on itself. Still thinking though...

13:35 / 13.05.05

My dad, cool old fool, used to let me watch Dennis Potter stuff when I was a kid (in fact he always recommended it) and this show was great, if memory serves. I just did some work with Mr Gambon - he is lovely in that grand old lovey kind of way. May have to get this out again and watch it though, as it's been a while.

D Terminator XXXIII

15:01 / 13.05.05

Still thinking though...

Me too.

It's been over a week since I finished the series, and while I could type out what I think about them so far and try to make it seem like they all make perfect sense to me, I just don't possess time right now. But one interesting effect of allowing time to pass is that the entire series becomes almost as fragmentary in memory.

I still love the 'commas' and 'full stops' Marlow employed for Nicole and Benny.

And wasn't the scarecrow-teacher creepy as hell?

15:41 / 13.05.05

Who left that THING in the middle of my desk?

Our Lady Has Left the Building

20:32 / 13.05.05

Where b'est thou going old buddy?

I'm interested in how the language developed in what Potter described as a pocket of Old England that was untouched until they got telly. The Forest of Deaners, for example, have 'buddy' which means the same as it does for Americans, but I don't think 'buddy' was an English word for the rest of us until the invasion of American culture to Britain starting in WW2. So, where does that FoD use of 'buddy' come from?

I know expect one of the big brains of Barbelith to come and explain that Buddy is actually old English and that we exported it to the US with the Mayflower or some such...

The extras on the BBC DVD are interesting too, especially when Potter insists that 'Singing Detective' as no autobiographical elements at all. Ooooh no.

I remember the first time I watched it (years ago), being disappointed that the Singing Detective doesn't get to the bottom of the mystery of who killed the woman. It's only watching it this time that I realise that he does. Because it's Marlow isn't it? D'oh!

"Nurse!"

19:33 / 17.05.05

If you've a notion for some more of Sir M Gambon acting his marvellous pants off, you can get still get tickets for a tenner to see his Falstaff in Henry IV Parts I and II at the National Theatre.

And bloody good it is too.