Dancing on the Edge (2013)
Dancing on the Edge is a co-BBC/STARZ period production from writer and director Stephen Poliakoff with an award-winning cast and an intriguing premise set in the 1930s. There’s murder, mystery, racial and class divides, romance and of course lots of memorable jazz music with 40 original numbers created for the miniseries.
Dancing on the Edge tells the story of Louis Lester (played by the Oscar-nominated actor Chiwetel Ejiofor), and his black jazz band who become rising stars and personal favorites of royalty and aristocratic London, despite the racism of the time.
The Louis Lester Band are discovered by music journalist Stanley, played by the charismatic Matthew Goode, who then becomes determined to see Louis and his band rise to fame and fortune. However, tragedy strikes the band early in their rise and what unfolds is an intriguing mystery that will keep you guessing on who to trust and who not to trust amongst the white, privileged elite of London right till the very end. Fame and fortune after all is mostly smoke and mirrors.
Dancing on the Edge boasts a fantastic cast of actors playing fascinating roles. Besides Ejiofor and Goode (who both steal the show with their memorable performances), the Series features Jacqueline Bisset (in a Golden Globe-winning performance) as Lady Cremone – a reclusive wealthy woman still mourning her sons who died in WWI who takes an interest in Stanley and the band.
Angel Coulby (of Merlin fame) is the mysterious lead singer Jessie. Wunmi Mosaku is Jessie’s best friend and backup singer of the group.
Joanna Vanderham (The Paradise) is Pamela – a wealthy socialite who falls in love with Stanley.
Janet Montgomery is Sarah – a white woman who falls for Louis Lester.
John Goodman is Masterson – an eccentric and wealthy American businessman who enjoys an entourage around him. Tom Hughes is Julian – Pamela’s troubled brother and assistant to Masterson.
Jenna Coleman (Doctor Who) is Rosie – Stanley’s ambitious assistant.
Every character is layered and believable though you may find yourself trying to figure out (at the same time as Louis) who can be liked and trusted. The relationships in the series also help sell the story. There are unlikely friendships to even more unlikely romances, which unfold in scripted dialogue that is clever, well researched and, at times, innovative.
Dancing on the Edge is a thing of beauty to watch, as the scenes of noirish late-night jazz discoveries in 1930s England are so wonderful to behold. In the five-part series, Poliakoff is trying to tell a number of stories. He’s of course fascinated with how high society and the royals went all hipster jazz – who wouldn’t be? It speaks to the power of the music to transcend society and traverse the culture. But you can’t tell that story without getting into race and class, which Poliakoff is keenly interested in but doesn’t bludgeon the viewer with incessantly. It is, however, the key element to Dancing on the Edge because the skyrocketing fame of the Louis Lester Band – by its association with the upper crust, allowing blacks and white to live like they couldn’t in “real” society – spirals when a series of events conspire to make the band the primary target of a crime.
Tim Goodman, The Hollywood Reporter (2013)
There's a theatricality about Dancing on the Edge. Of course there is, it's Poliakoff. I think I'll ring a little bell five minutes before tonight's second episode is due to begin. Time to take to the sofa please, ladies and gentlemen. Then, halfway through, we'll hit pause for 20 minutes, for pre-ordered sauvignon blanc, cashew nuts and some intelligent first-half analysis. Marvellous performances, especially from Chiwetel Ejiofor, whose name we've known how to pronounce ever since we saw him as Othello at the Donmar. Perhaps we'll also recognise some Poliakoff themes, to do with family secrets, history, memory and the significance of grand houses.
Sam Wallaston, The Guardian (2013)
Director Stephen Poliakoff (BBC’s Emmy-winning The Lost Prince) also wrote the screenplay for Dancing on the Edge. It’s solid, although the dialogue doesn’t jump off the page in the sometimes showy manner of Downton Abbey. But Poliakoff very ably keeps a lot of balls in the air, juggling and intertwining the hopes and schemes of his principal characters without losing a grip on either. Louis and Stanley drive much of the action as fast friends thrust into the limelight they seek and the darkness they inherit because of it. The idea of an all-black band living in an upper crust hotel is grudgingly embraced by management after business begins soaring. But then a brutal unsolved crime and its after-effects begin to peel away the veneer. They never should have been allowed to stay here in the first place. You know how these people are. Something bad was bound to happen. And so on. Dancing on the Edge’s distinctive and original soundtrack is available on Decca Records. Those who stay the course -- and it’s highly recommended that you do -- might well want to make this additional investment. The story has ample pulling power. But the music is its driving force -- all day and all of the night.
Ed Bark, National TV Reviews & News (2013)
The rise of the Louis Lester Jazz band, in the face of such odds, would be the central spine of most dramas of this type. But Poliakoff is up to something bigger and grander. For one thing, he's fascinated by the way some members of the royal family were drawn to jazz music, and to black performers, with equal enthusiasm. For another, he's interested in what's happening politically between the two world wars. There's also a murder mystery or two, thrown into the mix as a very important ingredient. The five episodes, beginning Saturday night on the Starz cable network, are brimming with twists, surprises, delightful set pieces — and some very unexpected performances. John Goodman plays a wealthy American who is very much a part of the British scene in the '30s — and Jacqueline Bisset, as a reclusive aristocrat, is absolutely wonderful. There are parts, too, for Anthony Head from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Jenna-Louise Coleman from Doctor Who, and even Janet Montgomery, a British actress who was imported for, and wasted in, the recent CBS drama series Made in Jersey. Dancing on the Edge will please TV fans who are eagerly awaiting the next round of Downton Abbey — and music fans as well. This isn't period music they're playing and singing in this miniseries — it's just made to sound that way, written by Adrian Johnston. It's a beautiful job. The music has to be good enough to make you root for the Louis Lester Jazz Band to make it big — and as the core of this new TV import, it works. Dancing on the Edge is as much fun to hear as it is to watch.
David Bianculli, NPR/Fresh Air (2013)
The hotel serves as the central location for the main cast (which includes a number of great actors like John Goodman as an American billionaire, Jacqueline Bisset as an unexpected jazz enthusiast, and Anthony Head, Joanna Vanderham and Tom Hughes as members of the aristocracy) to meet, greet, break up, and come and go. Characters who started the series as rough sketches of English manor types end up, for the most part, subverting their character expectations to great success. As they develop, though, acclaimed British dramatist Stephen Poliakoff's screenplay takes extended breaks to show the band and their patrons on unique escapes -- a secret train picnic, a glittering New Year's Eve party, a garden party that includes a royal or two. These interludes are beautiful and dreamy, but those without the patience for them will likely not want to stick around long enough to figure out what, if anything, they mean. Race and class, and the mingling of the two, keep the plot moving even more so than the murder, but the most engaging thing about Dancing is its intimate portrait of this group of friends who meet and then, eventually, break apart over the course of the year. Race and class are largely involved in both, but the miniseries makes this a personal story even though it has, at one point, national implications. The number of characters allowed into this intimate gathering is small indeed -- even most of the Louis Lester band is left out (they're there, they just never speak or distinguish themselves) -- but it helps make viewers not only care about how things play out among them, but probably makes a lot of us want to be a part of their world.
Allison Keene, Collider (2013)
Dancing on the edge features a layer peeling plot that emerges from the primary story about the jazz band who face obstacles associated not only with race but seeking acceptance of their music in a society that frowns up progressiveness. The narrative opens at a critical point and flashes back 18 months telling the story in an unfolding manner that brings us to that point and continues. Writer/director Stephen Poliakoff establishes a viable connection to both the period, its elements and the characters some of which are loosely based on actual people/events but are fictional in nature. We thoroughly enjoyed the multifaceted aspect of the screenplay which features intrigue, romance, suspense, mystery and drama all of which are built on a historical platform of sorts. There are several subplots that branch off of the primary storyline with all coming together in an engaging potboiler that speaks to the thematic elements of the day. There is well played relationship melodrama and vexing interplay that has you rooting for some characters and thoroughly disliking others. The cast, beginning with stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Matthew Goode are terrific. Honorable mention must go out to Joanna Vanderham, Janet Montgomery, Tom Hughes, and Jacqueline Bisset for their excellent contribution.
Ralph Potts, AVS Forum (2015)