The Beiderbecke Affair (Series 1 - 4 Volume Gift Boxed Set) [VHS]
Price: $49.95
as of 09/05/2010 17:00 EDTAvailability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 0743452066933
Format: Box set, Color, NTSC
Label: Goldhill Home Media
Languages: EnglishOriginal Language
Manufacturer: Goldhill Home Media
Number Of Discs: 4
Publisher: Goldhill Home Media
Release Date: January 29, 2002
Studio: Goldhill Home Media
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Editorial Review:Amazon.com:The charms of
The Beiderbecke Affair aren't immediately apparent--but before long, you're hooked by this sneaky combination of screwball-inspired dialogue, off-kilter yet genuine characters, and hopelessly loopy plot. Schoolteacher and aspiring political candidate Jill (Barbara Flynn) doesn't pay much attention when her boyfriend Trevor (James Bolam) says he was sold some Bix Beiderbecke records by a beautiful platinum blonde door-to-door saleswoman. But when the wrong records arrive in the mail, Trevor sets out to correct the situation--and both he and Jill tumble into a mystery involving junior football matches, the basement of a church, an overzealous and overeducated detective sergeant, two peculiar men called Big Al and Little Norm, an ex-fiancee who is alarmingly like the current girlfriend, and a mysterious man with a dog named Jason. This British mini-series will madden anyone who expects their mysteries to feature murder, easily identifiable suspects, and a logical process of elimination--in fact, it may take a few episodes before you see this as a mystery at all. But what emerges from the seemingly random incidents is a sly sense of humor, dialogue that bounces to and fro like a badminton shuttlecock, and the engaging characters of Jill and Trevor. Flynn and Bolam have been solid character actors for decades; fans of British television will recognize their faces. It's a pleasure to have this talented pair taking the lead as two ordinary people who accidentally fall into out-of-the-ordinary circumstances. Don't let the seeming casualness of the beginning put you off--
The Beiderbecke Affair grows more delightful the more you watch.
--Bret Fetzer
Description:Alan Plater's comedy thriller series introduces the engaging amateur detective partnership of teacher Tervor Chaplin and his girlfriend Jill, beautifully played by James Bolam and Barbara Flynn. They are on the trail of the blonde saleslady who sold him an inferior set of records by Trevor's hero, Bix Beiderbecke, the legendary jazz musician.
Alan Plater's hit comedy mystery series introduces the engaging amateur detective partnership of woodworking teacher Trevor Chaplin (James Bolam) who likes to listen to jazz and his girlfriend Jill (Barbara Flynn) who wants to save the planet and run for the local council. They are on the trail of the beautiful blonde saleslady who sold Trevor an inferior set of records by Trevor's hero, Bix Beiderbecke, the legendary jazz musician. As their adventure unfolds Trevor and Jill encounter strange going's on and even stranger people, including a suspicious detective sergeant and a strange pair of men running a junior football team. It doesn't take long before they uncover a web of corrupt government officials, crooked businessmen and death threats. This thrilling series weaves quirky characters, witty dialogue and a wonderful jazz soundtrack into a uniquely satisfying entertainment. Produced by Yorkshire Television.
Average Rating:
Rating:
-
An earlier Amazon reviewer described the writing of this British series as brilliant. Another reviewer noted the resemblance of the two main protagonists to Nick and Nora Charles. A third reviewer professed to find a family resemblance to the Monty Python series.
Such comments clearly demonstrate that Amazon reviewers are as likely to espouse preposterous notions as anyone else.
How do I despise this series? Let me count the ways:
The writing is universally dull, repetitive, pompous, illogical and profoundly, appallingly, grimly unfunny.
The actors, some of whom have shown competence elsewhere, display themselves as frighteningly inept here. This might be the fault of the writing, the direction or even the actors themselves. Having suffered through this dismal swamp of a series, I have become convinced that all three are equally to blame.
The plot--I'm virtually sure there was one--ranged somewhere between ethereal and twee. And, of course, I mean this in the very worst sense.
To anyone who truly enjoys dull, illogical, unfunny, twee scripts, especially those which are poorly directed and ineptly acted, this is definitely your thing. Five stars for you, and welcome to them!
For myself, though, I'll content myself by awarding one star and regretting that I cannot cut that in half.
LEC/Am/05-10
Rating:
-
The Beiderbecke Affair (and the sequels) are kind of puzzling at first. You just don't know what is going on; why did someone actually make such an odd film? But then the strange occurrences start getting to you. The off-beat characters, the strange events, the odd relationship between Jill and Trevor (and the blonde woman selling stuff) start bringing you in.
Highly recommended. Once the police get involved (do they?), this is just so funny. I was hooked. How come I had to stumble across this? I've never heard of Beiderbecke, but these discs are just fantastic. 'Death at a funeral' (the original) and 'Joking Apart' are two other great Brit humorous films that just don't get their just due.
Buy it and laugh.
Rating:
-
You can't beat great writing--and you don't find it often in television. When you do, you want to give a shout to the world which is why I heartily recommend The Beiderbecke Affair.
I fell in love with Alan's work with Oliver's Travels. Those who enjoyed that series will no doubt want to try this one as the same elements of mystery, comedy, romance, and farce (not to mention philosophy of life) are found in this series. Two teachers who are romantically inclined who find themselves involved with the mysterious doings of a platinum blonde, promised jazz albums, and council elections have to deal with the police, a past romantic encounter, and scores of memorable characters in order to discover their true feelings for each other.
This is British writing at its finest but be forewarned--the writer isn't going to spoon-feed you 'action'. Instead, he leads you up and down so many paths that you can't possibly see how they will all tie in until the final episode. The accents are a bit cumbersome, so I suggest tuning the volume a bit higher. A second viewing allows you pick up something you may have missed due to mumbling or dialect.
If you are looking for pure mystery, you may find this tedious for it's so much more. I'd buy it just to hear 'Big Al' give his view on politics and life!
We finished the series last night and immediately ordered the second series. As the third one is due out shortly, I am sure we'll be purchasing that as well. If you like British series, appreciate great writing, and are willing to 'ponder' a bit while watching a show, this series may just be for you.
Rating:
-
Trevor is a woodwork teacher in a North of England state school. He has no ambition and is interested in only three things, football (soccer), his lover Jill, who teaches English at the same school, and Jazz. One night he buys a set of Bix Beiderbeche records from a blond door to door salewomen who is raising money for the local boy scount group. When the records do not turn out to Bix Beiderbecke, Trevor and Jill who is also a Green candidate for the town council, get to meet the brothers Big Al and Little Norm. Big Al is an unemployed buiding worker who runs the black economy in the town from a garden shed and a local church. Big Al however calls it the White Economy in order to improve its image.
Believing that Trevor, Jill. Big Al and Little Norm are criminals all four are targeted by a local police officer.
This leads in the end to the true criminals being unmasked, but not before we have come across such people as Helen of Tadcaster (Trevor's Ex), Mr Carter a cynical history teacher, the local Police Chief and a dog walking old age pensioner who would like to be a police informer, except he has nothing to inform.
If all this sounds a little daft, it is. It is also very funny, very gentle and very British or to more true, very north of England.
James Bolam (New Tricks, When the Boat Comes In and The Likely Lads) and Barbara Flynn (Family at War, Cracker and Maigret) are well know actors on British TV, they are great as Trevor and Jill, as are Dudley Sutton as Mr Carter, Colin Blakney as the Police Chief and Terence Rigby as Big Al.
The Beiderbecke Affair was followed by the Beiderbecke Tapes and the Beiderbeche Connection all of which follow with the same off beat, laid back humour.
Rating:
-
"The Beiderbecke Affair," a box set of a light-hearted British television mystery series, was made by Yorkshire Television for Britain's Independent Television stations (ITV). The six-episode series was broadcast on PBS in this country in the 1990's, along with its sequels, Beiderbecke Tapes, and The Beiderbecke Connection. It was created by the award-winning Alan Plater, one of Britain's more prolific, entertaining writers, and centers on a pair of wisecracking schoolteachers caught up in some amateur sleuthing.
The series is set, and filmed in the city of Leeds, in Yorkshire, a place we don't hardly ever see over here. (Though, warning to the wise, we don't hardly ever hear Yorkshire accents over here, either, and that's what the cast is using. And there are no subtitles). Anyway, Trevor Chaplin, our protagonist, is also actually a transplanted Geordie, from further North, up Newcastle, Hadrian's Wall way, (upon which friends and acquaintances comment), with his own accent. As played by James Bolam ("New Tricks," "The End of the Affair"), he's a jazz-loving, kind of befuddled, but witty everyman woodworking teacher. And apparently he hasn't reflected upon the fact that beautiful, well-dressed platinum blonds seldom go selling door to door, until he buys a bunch of Beiderbecke records - that's vinyl records, and there are also no cell phones, only phone boxes - from one. The Beiderbecke records fail to turn up (Beiderbecke was an early American jazz great of the 1920's), and Trevor goes looking into things with his girlfriend and fellow teacher, who's running on the green line for town council, Jill Swinburne (Barbara Flynn, Mrs. Cracker, from the long-running mystery series Cracker: The Complete Collection).
The mystery's kind of light-weight, not exactly watertight, and moves along in a leisurely British fashion, but it will get round to gray-market goods hidden in a church basement, secret meetings on level 4 of a multi-story car park, and corruption at the highest local levels. The banter's consistently witty, and so is the sound track, inspired by Beiderbecke's work, by the award-winning musician Frank Ricotti. Co-stars include Dominic Jephcott ("The Scarlet Pimpernel.") There's also a substantial number of those sturdy British supporting players: Colin Blakely, Dudley Sutton, Terence Rigby, and James Grout, among others.
The award-winning writer Alan Plater's credits include Last of Blonde Bombshells,and A Very British Coup.
The episodes in this series are:
1. "What I don't understand is this...?" Where are the records?
2. "Can anybody join in?" A newly-minted, university graduate cop (Jephcott), has his suspicions.
3. "We call it the white economy." The plot thickens.
4. "Um...I know what you're thinking." And gets thicker still, as Helen McAllister, a wealthy, well-connected former girlfriend of Trevor's, suddenly shows up.
5. "That was a very funny evening." Helen and Jill go out to dinner together and put away a lot of champagne. They toss a coin for Trevor, and Helen wins...
6. "We are on the brink of a new era. If only...."City council elections, and dirty tricks.
It's all offbeat fun, and might just remind you of those charming Nick and Nora mysteries of the 1940s, but things do get a bit whimsical and/or farcical at times. Those who have a taste for such entertainments -- like me--will appreciate it best.
Copyright ©2003, Mark Carey.
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