Fans of droll, quirky British comedy will find this six-part 1984 miniseries to be a real treat. Trevor (James Bolam) and his tart-tongued radical political candidate girlfriend Jill (Barbara Flynn) are a pair of schoolteachers drawn into a morass of black-market dealings and governmental corruption when jazz aficionado Trevor orders some records by the great 1920s cornet player Bix Beiderbecke from a mysterious blonde door-to-door saleswoman, but receives the wrong items. Trevor and Jill embark on a quest to find the missing music in The Beiderbecke Affair, written by Alan Plater and directed by David Reynolds and Frank W. Smith, which is filled with wonderfully eccentric supporting characters, including a goofy young police sergeant and his contemptuous chief, a hilariously matter-of-fact black marketer and his wacky brother, a devious old man with a dog, a snide school colleague, and an officious headmaster. Boasting a number of ludicrous twists, and oodles of humorously off-kilter dialogue (all presented in a deliciously deadpan manner), the low-key The Beiderbecke Affair (enlivened by a jazzy score in the Beiderbecke style by award-winning musician Frank Ricotti) will surely appeal to older viewers unimpressed with the coarse frat-boy shenanigans afflicting much of American comedy today. Hopefully, the two follow-up series made later in the ‘80s will make their way to DVD as well. Highly recommended. (F. Swietek)
The Beiderbecke Affair
Acorn, 2 discs, 300 min., not rated, DVD: $39.99 March 16, 2009
The Beiderbecke Affair
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