The Beiderbecke Affair
Trevor Chaplin teaches woodwork and likes to listen to jazz. Jill Swinburne teaches English and wants to help save the planet. Trevor tries to buy some jazz records but this leads to meeting a "dazzlingly beautiful platinum blond", a suspicious detective sergeant and a strange pair of men running a junior football team. Big Al and Little Norm agree to help Trevor and Jill with their school supplies problems. Jill decides to stand as a local councillor. A tale of "Black Economies", council corruption and many strange characters all set to a background of Bix Beiderbecke.
- 1985-1985
- 1 season
- Comedy, Drama, Music
Trevor Chaplin teaches woodwork and likes to listen to jazz. Jill Swinburne teaches English and wants to help save the planet. Trevor tries to buy some jazz records but this leads to meeting a "dazzlingly beautiful platinum blond", a suspicious detective sergeant and a strange pair of men running a junior football team. Big Al and Little Norm agree to help Trevor and Jill with their school supplies problems. Jill decides to stand as a local councillor. A tale of "Black Economies", council corruption and many strange characters all set to a background of Bix Beiderbecke.
Season 1 Episode Guide
6 Episodes 1985
Episode 1
What I Don't Understand Is This...
49 mins
Teacher Trevor Chaplin is a jazz aficionado who decides to have a night in listening to his beloved jazz while his girlfriend, Jill Swinburn, goes to a meeting. They are both teachers, he in woodworking and she in English and they have been keeping each other company for over 2 years. Trevor isn't too keen when a good-looking platinum blond comes round trying to sell him something from one of her catalogs. The only thing he can think that he might want is a series of record albums from early jazz musician Bix Beiderbecke so he forks over £10. His disappointment turns to obsession when he receives albums that are run-of-the-mill nonsense. The platinum blond told him she was raising money for the local Cubs football team but his visit to local Cubs' den leads to chaos and a visit from the police in the form of DS Hobson, who seems to be suspicious of everyone. Trevor manages to find where the Cubs play football and even agrees to referee the match but when he sees the platinum blond in the distance, he walks off the pitch leading to a near riot and the need for police intervention.
Episode 2
Can Anybody Join In?
46 mins
With Trevor off following the platinum blond who sold him the bogus record albums, Jill Swinburn finds herself at the local police station along with the coaches of the two teams, brothers Big Al and Little Norm. She makes short shrift of DS Hobson's questions suggesting that it was the police intervention that caused the near riot at the Cubs' football match. The evening's events lead to something of a rift between Trevor and Jill but imagine Trevor's surprise when arriving at school the next morning only to find the platinum blond waiting for Jill with a message from Jill. She reveals a connection to Big Al and his own secrets. All the while, DS Hobson is following them convinced they are up to something.
Episode 3
We Call It the White Economy
48 mins
Trevor gets his records. A greenhouse is smashed. A dead cat and a hangman's noose. A bomb doesn't explode. A super grass. A church is raided. A meeting is canceled. But Helen of Tadcaster turns up.
Episode 4
Um... I Know What You're Thinking
50 mins
Norm sits with Jason while Trevor intimidates the super grass. Jill & Helen have a boozy evening and toss a coin. Helen wins.
Episode 5
That Was a Very Funny Evening
50 mins
Helen takes Trevor to visit her father but he is used to getting his own away and demands Trevor drops his unsuitable friends. Mr. Pitt, from planning, gives Jill files, on the McAllister's businesses, and she passes them to Sgt. Hobson.
Episode 6
We Are on the Brink of a New Era, If Only...
49 mins
The election comes, and goes. More clandestine meetings. Files are exchanged. Houses are raided. A Forest is cut down to size. A pool-side meeting with the brothers