Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Matthew Goode, Janet Montgomery, Angel Coulby, Jacqueline Bisset, Joanna Vanderham, Anthony Head, Jenna-Louise Coleman, John Goodman, Mel Smith, Allan Corduner, Mike Brett, Oroh Angiama, Jane Asher, Jamie Crew, Trevor Edwards, Austin Hardiman, Tom Hughes, Cosimo Keita, Neville Malcolm, Wunmi Mosaku, Jay Phelps, Caroline Quentin, Miles Richardson, Chris Storr, Steve Williamson.
With Louis Lester on the run and the options and choices he has being reduced by the minute, it seems that the conviction of murder that has been placed around his head is nearly as in place as the noose or the great jazz notes that he and the band have produced for this scintillating and keenly written Stephen Polokoff drama.
Dancing on the Edge has been one of the gems of the winter season, a triumph of casting, a great story line and making the main pairing of Chiwetel Ejiofor as Louis Lester and Matthew Goode and the music journalist Stanley Mitchell incredible to watch and having the depth of character that viewers can only dream of really catching so many times in one year. As the tension rose in the final episode this acclaimed drama, the hostility between the two men also simmered, sometimes with fraught opposition to what had gone on between the unlikely friends in the first four episodes. With Louis Lester coming round to the thought that Stanley was only ever in it for the exposure it would bring the journalist, the friendship that had bought the two men much quick success was in danger of shattering and taking everybody down with them.
Not only have Matthew Goode and Chiwetel Ejiofor been remarkable as the journalist and his project but Janet Montgomery and Joanne Vanderham been shining examples of what makes period drama so interesting when viewed as a way into learning about history. It may be a tale dreamt up in the imagination and copied down on keyboard but there are still the elements of scripted truths that lay strewn throughout it.
The use of the unacceptable face of racism that greeted the band almost everywhere they went, even for a tolerant country such as Britain and certainly in comparison with other country’s ethos at the time the drama was set, was shocking to see. In one of the final moments of the story Louis Lester has to act as a servant to one of his own band members and it causes howls of laughter and barbed comments from those greeted with the sight. One particular line which could still be heard today, 80 years after the setting of the drama, was hinged with great irony that it is almost surprising that no one has ever really caught on how stupid it really sounds.
It may have been a while since Stephen Polokoff has had the time to write anything for television but it should be evident that his incredible writing has been missed. At least the television writers have Dancing on the Edge to go over time and time again.
Ian D. Hall