Talk:The Singing Detective

Finney, Binney etc
The whole series is basically one long hallucination and deliberately makes the plot unclear, but I think it can be clarified slightly: I've removed "ironically" from the article - one of the themes of the series is that mysteries are often not solved: "lots of clues and no answers", as Marlow puts it, in episode four I think, and since the whole thing's a fantasy there may not be a solution. --ajn (talk) 22:54, 20 December 2005 (UTC)
 * Mark Binney is at school with Philip Marlow, they are enemies, Marlow frames him.
 * Raymond is having an affair with Philip's mother.
 * Philip and his mother move away to London, she kills herself.
 * Mark Binney (in the detective plot) is a combination of Binney and Raymond.
 * The deaths in the detective plot are an echo of Marlow's mother's death.
 * Mark Finney (in the modern segments) is a figment of Marlow's paranoid imagination.

Was the mystery really never solved?
The plot summary states that "this mystery is never actually solved", referring to the body-in-the-river mystery in the thriller Marlow writes. However, I was sure that in either the 3rd of 4th episode, when the two mysterious men are in the car, the tall/fat/dumb one asks the shorter/smarter one if he has the gun, and the shorter/smarter one replies something like "Yes, I have it, I killed the tramp with it, didn't I?"

I've only seen it once though, and it's certainly possible that I missed something. Can anyone clarify?


 * The mystery in the summary refers to the plot involving Nazis and Communists. The killed tramp is just a minor part of that larger tapestry. That (I'm fairly certain) is never solved in a complete way (there aren't any explanations, as I recall). I should watch it again though...I may have missed something. -- Yossarian 18:24, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

Unnamed Hospital?
The Christian singing group sang in front of a banner which suggests the hospital was named "St. Christopher's Hospital". There appears to be a Hospital by that name in Fareham, UK.


 * I don't think it's safe to assume that it was intended to be a real hospital, though - and I can't remember the location being mentioned, though it's presumably London judging by the fact that it's full of people with London accents. I've changed the sentence to just say he is in hospital, without being more specific.  --ajn (talk) 10:30, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

Beefing up
I'm wanting to beef this article up. I recently borrowed TSD from the library (or, rather, my girlfriend did and left at at my place :), and I've been watching the commentary by the director & executive producer and taking notes (I just got through the first episode and I have a few more things to add from that). I think the DVD's a good place to start, but there are definitely other sources. I think this can easily get up to featured status. Cheers. -- Yossarian  12:38, 22 May 2006 (UTC)


 * It could do with expanding - perhaps a section on "sources" to improve on the rather awkward ending of the first para, and the plot might be a little clearer if it was just presented as an episode list with details of what happens in each. There also needs to be a proper cast/character list (I'm surprised Jim Carter doesn't have a Wikipedia entry, he's been in all sorts of things).  I think this could definitely get to FA status without a huge amount of work.  --ajn (talk) 13:19, 22 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Good ideas. I've moved that paragraph to Sources, and edited out some doubled information. I also think the music section could use an expansion, as music is so integral to the plot (I've added a sentence or two, but not much). Perhaps the current plot section should be trimmed and kept as a general desciption? Then the episode list could use the excorcised material without having to deal with the overlaying stuff...hmm...perhaps a Themes section is in order as well? Cheers! -- Yossarian [[Image:Soviet Canuckistan Flag.PNG|30px|]] 12:50, 23 May 2006 (UTC)


 * As I've mentioned on Yossarian's talk page, I've got a BBC One documentary on the serial from a few months back which I taped and can add details from this weekend. I know the local library has a couple of critical studies on Potter, so I shall try and add some critical reception from those too. Angmering 18:03, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

Mystery song
I was looking at some track listings for the soundtrack around the internet, and all of them list something called "Limehouse Blues". I downloaded it off a P2P, and I have absolutely noooo memory of it from the show (and I don't have the series on hand to check). I made sure that this wasn't merely part of a compilation with music from other sources...I think there was something called "Music from the Singing Detective and More" which listed it, but all official soundtracks had it as well (as far as I checked). I do have a cassete version of the soundtrack somewhere, but I can't seem to find it to check. On an related note, the soundtracks that had it did not include "Under My Skin", by Henry Hall, and listed "Limehouse Blues" where "Skin" would nominally appear on a chronological track listing. Thoughts? -- Yossarian  18:51, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

I saw the series when it was first aired and I'm sure the song "I wonder who's kissing her now" was featured at some point. I have a copy of the LP that was released soon after the series ended and that title is not mentioned. I have checked all references I can think of but have been unable to find it listed anywhere as being part of the production. Bramblepatch (talk) 21:02, 8 September 2008 (UTC)

"acute" psoriatic arthropathy
"psoriatic arthropathy, a chronic skin and joint disease, is at an acute stage, " This appears to be self-contradictory. "Acute" is the opposite of "chronic". Wher referring to a medical condition, acute indicates a short time scale, while chronic is a long time scale. Perhaps "severe" is what is meant. 172.58.219.74 (talk) 19:39, 26 February 2023 (UTC)