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The Beiderbecke Trilogy
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The Beiderbecke Trilogy
The Beiderbecke Trilogy is a trilogy of television serials written by Alan Plater and made by Yorkshire Television for the ITV network in the United Kingdom between 1984 and 1988. Each serial centres on schoolteachers Trevor Chaplin (James Bolam) and Jill Swinburne (Barbara Flynn), who work at a rundown comprehensive school in Leeds. Woodwork teacher Trevor enjoys football and jazz music whilst English teacher Jill is a political activist concerned with saving the environment.
Bix Beiderbecke. The first great white jazz musician, cornet player. Born in Davenport, Iowa, March 1903. Drank himself to death. Died August 1931, aged 28. Amazing man. They say his playing sounded like bullets shot from a bell.
— Trevor Chaplin, The Beiderbecke Affair, episode 1: "What I don't understand is this..." by Alan Plater.
The Beiderbecke Trilogy centres on two schoolteachers – Trevor Chaplin (James Bolam) and Jill Swinburne (Barbara Flynn) – who teach at a comprehensive school in Leeds, in West Yorkshire. Jill is a keen conservationist, interested in the environment as well as social issues. Trevor on the other hand is interested in jazz, football and snooker and has little interest in conservation. Jill, the more headstrong of the pair, often coaxes Trevor into involvement in her political activities.
In each of the three serials – The Beiderbecke Affair, The Beiderbecke Tapes and The Beiderbecke Connection – Jill and Trevor inadvertently become embroiled in a series of unlikely adventures involving such things as political corruption, nuclear waste dumping and serious fraud. In each serial the plot rambles, moving from one seemingly unrelated event to another, all of which are eventually shown to be interconnected. However it is the clever interplay between the characters that is the core of each of these stories.
Each episode unfolds to a soundtrack of jazz music in the style of Bix Beiderbecke performed by Frank Ricotti with Kenny Baker as featured cornet soloist. Extensive use is made of leitmotifs for the various characters. Ricotti won a BAFTA award for his work on The Beiderbecke Connection.
Trevor is a middle-aged woodwork teacher. Unruffled and amiable, Trevor drifts through life with few ambitions or principles. He has an abiding passion for jazz, and is also interested in football and snooker (his footballing allegiances are unknown: he is from Tyneside but - as seen in the opening sequences of The Beiderbecke Affair - possesses a Leeds United mug. Later, reference is made to his use of the phrase "Howay the lads!", an exhortation common to both Geordies and Mackems.) At the beginning of the events portrayed, Trevor lives - in some squalor - in a rented flat at the top of a large Victorian house and drives a beaten up Bedford HA van. He later moves in with Jill, her house being one of a small terrace in Chapel Allerton. Although Trevor shows little overt interest in politics, his natural sympathies are with society's underdogs and, when provoked, he defends Jill's left leaning political views.
Jill is a liberal minded English teacher. Jill is interested in conservation and social issues and at one point stands in a local council by-election. Jill's tastes are slightly more sophisticated than Trevor's, being interested in literature, old films and classical music. Jill is a divorcee, with negative memories of her ex-husband.
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The Beiderbecke Trilogy
The Beiderbecke Trilogy is a trilogy of television serials written by Alan Plater and made by Yorkshire Television for the ITV network in the United Kingdom between 1984 and 1988. Each serial centres on schoolteachers Trevor Chaplin (James Bolam) and Jill Swinburne (Barbara Flynn), who work at a rundown comprehensive school in Leeds. Woodwork teacher Trevor enjoys football and jazz music whilst English teacher Jill is a political activist concerned with saving the environment.
Bix Beiderbecke. The first great white jazz musician, cornet player. Born in Davenport, Iowa, March 1903. Drank himself to death. Died August 1931, aged 28. Amazing man. They say his playing sounded like bullets shot from a bell.
— Trevor Chaplin, The Beiderbecke Affair, episode 1: "What I don't understand is this..." by Alan Plater.
The Beiderbecke Trilogy centres on two schoolteachers – Trevor Chaplin (James Bolam) and Jill Swinburne (Barbara Flynn) – who teach at a comprehensive school in Leeds, in West Yorkshire. Jill is a keen conservationist, interested in the environment as well as social issues. Trevor on the other hand is interested in jazz, football and snooker and has little interest in conservation. Jill, the more headstrong of the pair, often coaxes Trevor into involvement in her political activities.
In each of the three serials – The Beiderbecke Affair, The Beiderbecke Tapes and The Beiderbecke Connection – Jill and Trevor inadvertently become embroiled in a series of unlikely adventures involving such things as political corruption, nuclear waste dumping and serious fraud. In each serial the plot rambles, moving from one seemingly unrelated event to another, all of which are eventually shown to be interconnected. However it is the clever interplay between the characters that is the core of each of these stories.
Each episode unfolds to a soundtrack of jazz music in the style of Bix Beiderbecke performed by Frank Ricotti with Kenny Baker as featured cornet soloist. Extensive use is made of leitmotifs for the various characters. Ricotti won a BAFTA award for his work on The Beiderbecke Connection.
Trevor is a middle-aged woodwork teacher. Unruffled and amiable, Trevor drifts through life with few ambitions or principles. He has an abiding passion for jazz, and is also interested in football and snooker (his footballing allegiances are unknown: he is from Tyneside but - as seen in the opening sequences of The Beiderbecke Affair - possesses a Leeds United mug. Later, reference is made to his use of the phrase "Howay the lads!", an exhortation common to both Geordies and Mackems.) At the beginning of the events portrayed, Trevor lives - in some squalor - in a rented flat at the top of a large Victorian house and drives a beaten up Bedford HA van. He later moves in with Jill, her house being one of a small terrace in Chapel Allerton. Although Trevor shows little overt interest in politics, his natural sympathies are with society's underdogs and, when provoked, he defends Jill's left leaning political views.
Jill is a liberal minded English teacher. Jill is interested in conservation and social issues and at one point stands in a local council by-election. Jill's tastes are slightly more sophisticated than Trevor's, being interested in literature, old films and classical music. Jill is a divorcee, with negative memories of her ex-husband.