TV series

The Beiderbecke Tapes

1987 · 1 season

A gently eccentric, jazz-scored caper that ambles through bureaucratic absurdity with dry wit and quiet domestic warmth.

Overview: The Beiderbecke Tapes is a two-part 1987 British television comedy-drama serial written by Alan Plater. The second installment in The Beiderbecke Trilogy, it stars James Bolam and Barbara Flynn as schoolteachers Trevor Chaplin and Jill Swinburne. When a tape recording of a conversation about nuclear waste inadvertently falls into Chaplin's hands, he and Swinburne find themselves being pursued by national security agents.
How it feels: Whimsical, warm, satirical and cynical. Measured and needs your attention.
About: Conspiracy, politics, environment, love
Content: Mild sexual content and language. No violence or gore.
Note: Written by AI, so it can be wrong. Full breakdown

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Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Full breakdown

Tone: whimsicalstrength 2 of 3
warmstrength 2 of 3
satiricalstrength 2 of 3
cynicalstrength 1 of 3
Pacing: measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention: engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes: conspiracy
politics
environment
love
identity
Places: big city
workplace
home
Era: contemporary
Audience: adult
Form: serialised
ensemble
Content intensity: Gore none
Language mild
Violence none
Sex mild