The Beiderbecke Affair
| The Beiderbecke Affair | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre | Comedy drama |
| Written by | Alan Plater |
| Directed by | David Reynolds & Frank W. Smith |
| Starring |
James Bolam Barbara Flynn Terence Rigby Danny Schiller Dudley Sutton Dominic Jephcott Keith Smith Keith Marsh |
| Theme music composer | Frankie Trumbauer and Chauncey Morehouse |
| Opening theme | “Cryin' All Day” |
| Country of origin | UK |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | David Cunliffe |
| Producer(s) | Anne W. Gibbons |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV (Yorkshire Television) |
| Picture format | Film PAL (576i) |
| Original release | 6 January – 10 February 1985 |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | The Beiderbecke Tapes |
| Related shows | Get Lost! |
The Beiderbecke Affair is a television series produced in the United Kingdom by ITV during 1985, written by the prolific Alan Plater, whose lengthy credits in British television since the 1960s included the four-part mini series Get Lost! for ITV in 1981. The Beiderbecke Affair has a similar style to Get Lost!, wherein Neville Keaton (Alun Armstrong) and Judy Threadgold (Bridget Turner) played in an ensemble cast. Although The Beiderbecke Affair was intended as a sequel to Get Lost!, Alun Armstrong proved to be unavailable and the premise was reworked. It is the first part of The Beiderbecke Trilogy, with the two sequel series being The Beiderbecke Tapes (1987) and The Beiderbecke Connection (1988).
Rather than following a usual linear story structure, The Beiderbecke Affair is a character-led drama with a plot that initially appears rather unclear, moving as it does from one seemingly unrelated event to another. These events—and the characters involved with them—are eventually shown to be interconnected.
Geordie Trevor Chaplin (James Bolam) teaches woodwork, enjoys football and is passionate about jazz. Jill Swinburne (Barbara Flynn) is interested in neither football nor jazz but teaches English and wants to help save the planet, standing in a local election as "your Conservation candidate". After Jill left her husband, her colleague Trevor began giving her lifts to school and from there a relationship blossomed. They have an easy-going relationship where half the words seem to be left unspoken but the viewer is never in any doubt as to the subtext.
Trevor tries to buy some jazz records from a "dazzlingly beautiful platinum blonde" who calls at the door raising funds for the local Cubs’ football team. When the wrong records are delivered, a hunt begins that draws the pair into unforeseen intrigue. Thrown into the mix are Sgt Hobson (Dominic Jephcott), a suspicious yet seemingly incompetent graduate police detective, and a pair of local black economy tradesmen, "Big Al" (Terence Rigby) and "Little Norm" (Danny Schiller), who agree to help "average-sized" Jill and Trevor with their school supplies problems. There are elements of political and social commentary, whilst bureaucracy (within the Police and Local Government) and the educational system are frequent targets of ridicule.
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