''The Beiderbecke Connection'' is a four-part British

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

serial written by

Alan Plater Alan Frederick Plater (15 April 1935 – 25 June 2010) was an English playwright and screenwriter, who worked extensively in British television from the 1960s to the 2000s. He is best known for the sitcom ''Oh No It's Selwyn Froggitt'' and th ...

and broadcast in 1988. It is the third and final part of '' The Beiderbecke Trilogy'' and stars

James Bolam James Christopher Bolam (born 16 June 1935) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Terry Collier in '' The Likely Lads'' and its sequel ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'', Jack Ford in ''When the Boat Comes In'', Roy Fig ...

and

Barbara Flynn Barbara Joy Flynn (born 5 August 1948) is an English actress. She first came to prominence playing Freda Ashton in the ITV drama series ''A Family at War'' (1970–1972). She went on to play the milk woman in the BBC comedy ''Open All Hours'' ...

as schoolteachers Trevor Chaplin and Jill Swinburne. Now with a baby in tow, Jill and Trevor are asked by Big Al to look after a refugee called "Ivan".

Plot

Trevor Chaplin teaches woodwork and likes to listen to jazz. Jill Swinburne teaches English and wants to help save the planet. They live together and just want a quiet life. Since their last adventure in ''The Beiderbecke Tapes'', Jill and Trevor have a child - Firstborn. Big Al asks them to put up a friend of his and they agree. But when Ivan arrives, they find he speaks no English but thinks that "Bix is cool". Meetings with criminals, smuggling people over the border, fighting for the right to education even when it's against the rules. These and other adventures are played out to a soundtrack of jazz music in the style of

Bix Beiderbecke Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke ( ; March 10, 1903 – August 6, 1931) was an American jazz cornetist, pianist and composer. Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s, a cornet player noted for an inventive lyrical a ...

performed by

Frank Ricotti Frank E. Ricotti (born 31 January 1949) is an English jazz vibraphonist and percussionist. Early life and education Frank E. Ricotti was born in St Pancras, London, England; his father was a drummer. Bill Ashton, founder of the National ...

with Kenny Baker as featured cornet soloist.

Episodes

As with '' The Beiderbecke Affair'', the four episodes are titled by

incipit The incipit ( ) of a text is the first few words of the text, employed as an identifying label. In a musical composition, an incipit is an initial sequence of Musical note, notes, having the same purpose. The word ''incipit'' comes from Latin an ...

, that is, the title is simply the first spoken words heard in each episode. *"Oh Look, It's Average-Sized Trevor Chaplin" - Jill & Trevor have produced Firstborn. They need a babysitter and get a refugee. Head for the border. *"Hello Sir, Hello Miss" - The refugee is back from the border. Life goes on. Big Al and Little Norm make other plans. Trevor makes a stand. *"Is He the Lodger?" - A face from the past. Criminals in the spare bed. The police take an interest. A day at the seaside. *"What Do We Have on Hockey Sticks?" - Rocking the world on its axis. But life goes on for those that hear the music.

Production

Filming locations

*Jill's house- 15 Hillview Avenue,

Chapel Allerton Chapel Allerton is an inner suburb of north-east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, from the city centre. It sits within the Chapel Allerton ward of Leeds City Council and had a population of 18,206 and 23,536 at the 2001 and 2011 census respe ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

*San Quentin High- Foxwood School,

Seacroft Seacroft is an outer-city suburb/township consisting mainly of council estate housing covering an extensive area of east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It lies in the LS14 LS postcode area, Leeds postcode area, around east of Leeds city cen ...

, Leeds *The bowling green- The Recreation Ground, Wortley, Leeds *The Archer Street shopping precinct- The area surrounding the Bond Street Precinct (now Leeds Shopping Plaza), Bond Street and Albion Street,

Leeds city centre Leeds city centre is the central business district of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is roughly bounded by the Leeds Inner Ring Road, Inner Ring Road to the north and the River Aire to the south and can be divided into several quarters. A ...

. *Highfield Avenue, Wortley. *Parish church of St Margarets, Horsforth, Leeds. *Big Al phones Trevor and Jill from the former BT phone box opposite 72A Hall Lane, Leeds LS12 2BL. The area has been considerably redeveloped but the outline of the cross on the funeral director's opposite is still visible, confirming the location. File:East Leeds Family Learning Centre.jpg, East Leeds Family Learning Centre (former Foxwood School) in

was used as 'San Quentin High' (picture taken June 2008). File:Norfolk Gardens.jpg, Norfolk Gardens in

was used in the Beiderbecke Tapes and The Beiderbecke Connection.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Beiderbecke Tapes, The 1980s British comedy-drama television series 1988 British television series debuts 1988 British television series endings British English-language television shows ITV comedy-dramas Television series by ITV Studios Television series by Yorkshire Television Television shows set in Leeds Television shows set in West Yorkshire