The Beiderbecke Trilogy were also published as books by Alan Plater. The book of "The Beiderbecke Affair" was written after the TV series was made. The other two books were written before the TV shows were made and contain an earlier version of the stories. The Beiderbecke Trilogy The Beiderbecke Trilogy refers to three television serials written by Alan Plater and made by Yorkshire Television for the ITV network in the United Kingdom between 1984 and 1988. Each serial centres on schoolteachers Trevor Chaplin (James Bolam) and Jill Swinburne (Barbara Flynn) who work at a rundown comprehensive school in Leeds. Woodwork teacher Trevor
The Beiderbecke Trilogy be relocated to Edinburgh, an event which became an in-joke when it was worked into the script as a planned trip to Greece being changed at the last minute for the trip to Scotland. "The Beiderbecke Tapes" was broadcast in December 1987 and averaged 9.9 million viewers over its run. Frank Ricotti was nominated for a 1987 BAFTA Award for Original Television Music for "The Beiderbecke Tapes", losing out to "Porterhouse Blue". Plater began work on "The Beiderbecke Connection", the third part of the trilogy, in late 1987. At the conclusion of "The Beiderbecke Tapes" Jill had discovered that she