The Beiderbecke Connection

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The Beiderbecke Connection
Beiderbecke Connection.jpg
Genre Comedy drama
Written by Alan Plater
Directed by Alan Bell
Starring
Theme music composer Frankie Trumbauer and Chauncey Morehouse
Opening theme"Cryin' All Day"
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes4
Production
Executive producerKeith Richardson
ProducerMichael Glynn
Production company Yorkshire Television
Original release
Network ITV
Release27 November (1988-11-27) 
18 December 1988 (1988-12-18)
Related
The Beiderbecke Tapes

The Beiderbecke Connection is a four-part British television serial written by Alan Plater and broadcast in 1988. It is the third and final part of The Beiderbecke Trilogy and stars James Bolam and Barbara Flynn 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".

Contents

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 performed by Frank Ricotti with Kenny Baker as featured cornet soloist.

Episodes

As with The Beiderbecke Affair , the four episodes are titled by incipit, that is, the title is simply the first spoken words heard in each episode.

Production

Filming locations

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References

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