The Singing Detective (2003) - Dennis Potter

December 28, 1990

THE SINGING DETECTIVE

Screenplay by Dennis Potter

Synopsis by Brian Aldrich

In 1991, DAN DARK "THE SINGING DETECTIVE" is in the hospital, his face boiling with raging psoriasis, his neck stiff with arthritis. He sings to himself out loud, remembering real life events that inspired the stories he wrote.

In 1950, BINNEY picks up a hooker, NINA, in a bar and takes her to his apartment. He has rough sex with her and then two HOODS show up, grab her, and drown her in the bathtub.

The CHIEF SPECIALIST talks with Dark, advising him to get rid of his bitterness. A NURSE greases his body and accidentally causes him to ejaculate. Dark meets with DR. GIBBON, a shrink who has read Dark's books. NICOLA, who looks like Nina, is Dark's ex-wife who comes to visit him. She tells him a film company wants to buy his book. She wonders where he put the screenplay version he wrote years ago. He tells her to go fuck herself. He thinks that she and a Binney look-alike are conspiring to take his books and sell them for their profit. Dark starts writing again and gets better. Binney and Nicola find the script. She has to get Dark to sign over his rights.

In 1950, Dark is rehearsing in a dance hall when Binney comes in and asks Dark for help. Binney tells Dark that he didn't have anything to do with Nina's death, but the cops have asked him not to leave town. Binney wants Dark to find out what happened to Nina after she left him alive. The hoods come to kill Dark. He escapes them. Dark tells Binney that he thinks Binney did have Nina killed. A HOOKER tells Dark that Binney has been using hookers to get information from atomic scientists for the Reds. A BLONDE finds Binney dead, murdered.

Dark thinks of his mother, BETTY, who had an affair with MARK, who looks like Binney. When her husband found out, he kicked her out. She and Dan went to Chicago where she became a hooker. She killed herself.

In his hospital delusions, Dark sees the hoods come to kill him, but he kills them. Dark, recovered and reconciled with Nicola, walks out of the hospital with her.

Summary Critcism: This is a confusing, fragmented script, but there is a lot of style and depth to its content. While there is not a single coherent linear plot, the stories combine to tell an involving and intriguing tale.

The Singing Detective (2003) - Dennis Potter - imdb

The Singing Detective (2003) - Dennis Potter - wiki