The Beiderbecke Affair

well I think the summary says it all.

casting, pace and content are excellent.

I almost purr with pleasure while watching

i also fancy Barbara Flynn something rotten

Adventures under the duvet pfwoooar

Set in and around Leeds in the North of England, Trevor Chaplin and Jill Swinburne are teachers in a typical secondary school. Trevor is a jazz freak whilst Jill is an eco-activist. They stumble across some nefarious goings on in the local community and with the help of some unlikely characters solve a tangled web of corruption.

The humor in this show is absolutely top notch both in situations and dialog and although I have seen it a couple of times, it never seems to get stale. I love this show.

Foolishly I left the UK to live abroad round about the time this was aired on TV, and so have come to it later than most, via DVD. If I said it was perfect, you would say I was exaggerating, but I would not be. Not only does it capture the era, the mood and the battles therein exquisitely, but the characters are drawn and portrayed with straightforward subtlety and affection. There are no horrible surprises, but it is a gentle very funny mystery which is sorted out tidily. I look forward to the next two stories - also contained in the boxed set - to watch them again too. I'm lucky in that I remember very few things thoroughly, no, it's not dementia, I've always been this way. The poor reviewer who didn't get it - I hope he's not still in therapy.

I've had a heck of a time with this Beiderbecke series. I received the second disk of the Biederbecke Affair before the first, watched it without realizing it, and then received the first disk. Reading what I thought was the synopsis later, it didn't sound like the same story. That's when I found out about "The Biederbecke Tapes" which I guess I'll have to see.

I love James Bolam - this is probably 20 years before New Tricks. Here he plays Trevor Chaplin, a Bix Biederbecke jazz fanatic who teaches woodwork. He lives with a fellow teacher, Jill (Barbara Flynn) - she teaches English and is an eco-activist.

Trevor finds himself mixing with the lower end of society when he attempts to purchase some of his beloved Biederbecke records from a "dazzlingly beautiful platinum blond" who is selling mail order items.

He eventually meets Big Al and Little Norm and some people running a junior football team. Meanwhile, Jill decides to stand for office as a local councillor.

Meanwhile, there is a police detective following them around and suspecting them of all sorts of crime, keeping taped records. Meanwhile his supervisor thinks he's nuts.

I wish I could explain the story better, but I can't. It's a gentle show with some delightful and funny moments and it's about as odd as it gets. All to the soundtrack of Bix Beiderbecke. It's two somewhat ordinary people falling into weird situations. Inexplicably, I liked it.

As some reviews have said "A jazz soundtrack paces this British series, adding more mystery to the lovers' quest for the truth" and "This outlandishly funny series weaves quirky characters, witty dialogue and a wonderfully smooth, jazz soundtrack into a uniquely satisfying, entertainment experience."

Well, that's not how I'd describe it.. The jazz soundtrack is fabulous, Bix Beiderbecke tracks blast through the slow bits in between the meat of the show, making this a truly immersive, grab-you-by-the-ears and drag-you-along series.

Oh yeah, the dialog, plot, setting are all excellent too - if you haven't seen it, it's worth the 9.3 rating at time of writing this!