Tally Talk: All that jazz

You might have already seen this. I am aware I’m cheating a little in highlighting something that has already been on the tellybox. But then, in these days of iPlayers, 4 on Demand, and Demand 5, a schedule means a lot less than it used to. Anyway, I was all cued up to watch Eddie Izzard explore the roots of his DNA for your delectation when this popped up on the telly and caught my eye.

Dancing On The Edge is a five-part drama from the pen and direction of Stephen Poliakoff, the opening lavish episode lasting an hour and a half, and each subsequent one an additional hour. It tells the tale of a 1930s jazz band in London, an enterprising music journalist and the opulent lifestyle lived by the few in a recently post Great Depression era. That’d be a wealthy and morally dubious American man of industry, the young British royalty of the time, and the courts that kept both entertained. Always helps to have a musical talent when joining those that entertain.

“How refreshing to break the plotting-by-numbers mechanism”

What is truly luscious about Dancing On The Edge is how much time it is allowed to take to grow. Don’t misinterpret that as saying that it drags, things happen at quite a pace, but a knowing look, a finer detail that tells more about the relationships between the characters and yet doesn’t necessarily move the plot on – these can rarely be found and enjoyed in our current maelstrom of fast-paced and fast turnaround ‘tec dramas and kitchen sink comedies. It almost feels like reading a good book, progressing with plot but also dedicating time to setting and characters. Just because you don’t know everything about them it doesn’t make them ‘mysterious’. And just because someone is a protagonist it doesn’t make them ‘good’. How refreshing to break the plotting-by-numbers mechanism that, while successful, could benefit from a bit of a break.

The fact that the opening episode lasted a currently unusual 90 minutes set a charming tempo. It’s quite rare that in a time of short attention spans, channel hopping and internet surfing, that programmers take the risk of investing all that time into one show, which is a shame. How often do you actually get to unwind with your TV these days?

Props to all the stars, the set designers, the writer for the drama et al of course. It razzle-dazzled me on my sofa retreat. And as much as I do love my fast-paced snappy dialogue with a supernatural twist most of the time – my leather biker jacket of hard-wearing and cool-looking TV – Dancing On The Edge was a velvet smoking jacket of an evening apparel that fit perfectly. And that’s even before we get into the historical context it conjured. Thanks for the trust in my viewing fidelity BBC. Fully appreciated.
Dancing On The Edge, BBC2, on iPlayer