I remember seeing a movie on tv that was exactly like the british tv mini series sometime in the late 80s or early 90s. The title was different, but after watching the movie I am SURE that the plot was taken DIRECTLY from that series. Has anyone ever heard of or seen this as well? If so, do you any information about it?
Yes it was a british series made by the BBC in 1986, longer, more complex and better than the movie in my opinion. It's available in the US on DVD at Amazon.com
shareThat's right this film is based on Dennis Potter's original series, which is an absolute classic - PLEASE SEE IT . It's set in the forest of Dean which is a pretty odd timewarpy place in england near the welsh border(have been there, check out the haircuts!)There are some brilliant moments in the original, haven't seen the film version yet, will let you know...
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/ShowMainServlet/showid-19378/
Welcome to The Singing Detective guide at TV Tome.
The best-known work of celebrated TV dramatist Dennis Potter, The Singing Detective is actually the second of a trilogy of series by Potter using the device of lip-synching to well-known recordings of popular music. The first, set in the 1930s, was Pennies from Heaven (1978), the third, set during the 1956 Suez Crisis, was Lipstick on Your Collar (1993). The Singing Detective focusses musically on the 1940s. (Much earlier, Potter had briefly used lip-synching in his 1969 play for ITV, Moonlight on the Highway.)
There are four mutually interfering narrative strands in The Singing Detective. First is the hospital-ward story, described by Potter as a "sitcom", which owes a certain debt to an earlier play, Emergency--Ward 9 (itself a satirical reaction to the popular hospital soap opera of that time, Emergency--Ward 10, which Potter had watched while hospitalised, like his protagonist Philip Marlow, with a flareup of psoriatic arthropathy). Second is the detective story being created mentally by the protagonist, Philip Marlow, as he lies helpless in his hospital bed. The third strand consists of flashbacks to Marlow's childhood in the Forest of Dean, and the traumatic experience of witnessing his mother's infidelity one day in the woods, combined with guilt over her later suicide in London. The fourth strand concerns Philip's ex-wife, Nicola, whom he imagines is conspiring with a shady film producer to bilk him out of film rights to his novel.
Shortly before his death in June 1994, Potter completed his final two television dramas, and the first of these, Karaoke (1996), not only makes the device of lip-synching its central metaphor but extensively refers to this trilogy, as well.
Show Information
First Aired November 1986
Last Aired December 1986
Running Time 70 min
Country United Kingdom
Network BBC-1
Show Stars
Jim Carter - Mr. Marlow [uncredited in ep. 1, oov]
Ron Cook - First Mysterious Man
Lyndon Davies - Philip (aged 10)
Geff Francis - Porter
Leslie French - "Noddy" Tomkey
Michael Gambon - Philip Marlow
Gerard Horan - Reginald
Patrick Malahide - Mark Binney/Raymond Binney/Mark Finney
George Rossi - Second Mysterious Man
David Ryall - Mr. Hall
Alison Steadman - Mrs. (Elizabeth Baxter) Marlow [uncredited in ep. 1, oov]/Lili
Janet Suzman - Nicola (episodes 2-6)
Joanne Whalley - Nurse Mills
Show Crew
Rick McCallum - Executive Producer
Dennis Potter - Creator
Oops in my enthusiasm I realise I misread your comment and you were asking about info on a different U.S version. Sorry. Hope my info was interesting anyway.
Better site for the original singing detective is:
http://www.britishfilm.org.uk/potter/
cheers
mary
YES!! You are right!!. I was just going to post this here. These is another AMERICAN version that i remember seing parts of. I don't remember any musical numbers in it, but it was about a writer with a skin disease that used to escape to hid own world. I remember also that the "real-life" sequences were in black and white and the guy was in a wheelchair.
This has been driving me crazy ever since the movie was announced, does anyone know what's the name of the movie? I seemed low-budget almost made for TV but don't take my word on that.
Was it by any chance "Karaoke" (1996) (mini-series)?
shareConsidering that "Karaoke" was British, that there were no black & white sequences, and that the writer did not disappear into his own fantasies, I would tend to doubt it.
We are the Custard Pie Appreciation Consortium
"I remember seeing a movie on tv that was exactly like the british tv mini series sometime in the late 80s or early 90s. The title was different, but after watching the movie I am SURE that the plot was taken DIRECTLY from that series. Has anyone ever heard of or seen this as well? If so, do you any information about it?"
The original poster said nothing about black & white sequences, nor did he say anything about the writer disappearing into his own fantasies.
The plot of Karaoke?
Daniel Feeld is a screenwriter with pains in his gut and a new screenplay called "Karaoke", about a girl named Sandra who works in a seedy Karaoke bar and is murdered by a lowlife named Arthur "Pig" Mallion. Going about his daily routines, he has some odd experiences leading him to conclude that his fictional creations are erupting into real life. He overhears people speaking scraps of his own dialogue, including a beautiful young girl named Sandra who works in a Karaoke bar owned by a Mr. Mallion. Meanwhile, Balmer, the film's director, is in a spot of trouble with the leading lady of the film.
Even though its not American, its the closest thing I know... unless you got a better suggestion?
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