- Radio Times
- Review by:
- Alison Graham
There’s been a murder in the echoing, cavernous, unsettling Imperial Hotel. The police are interested in band leader Louis Lester but they are no longer quite as polite as they once were. There’s an undercurrent of mistrust, a frisson of disbelief, as that nice detective asks Louis again — is he absolutely sure he saw Julian in one of the hotel’s long, dark corridors?
Louis (Chiwetel Ejiofor) knows he’s under suspicion and he turns to wealthy, affable, mysterious fixer Donaldson (Anthony Head) for help. But is he trustworthy? Louis doesn’t know and neither do we as writer/director Stephen Poliakoff leads us further into the lives of this odd, feckless and possibly dangerous little group. Can we really take any of them at face value? Even nice Sarah (Janet Montgomery) might have an edge. You’ll ask questions about everyone, which is what makes Dancing on the Edge so thrilling. It’s a drama you can get lost in.
About this programme
4/5. The band plays at a dinner at the Imperial Hotel, during which Louis discovers that one of Julian's fellow Freemasons provided him with an alibi for the night Jessie was attacked. Masterson acquires Music Express magazine with Lady Cremone's assistance, and makes Stanley the editor-in-chief. Drama by Stephen Poliakoff, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Matthew Goode and John Goodman.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Louis Lester
- Chiwetel Ejiofor
- Stanley Mitchell
- Matthew Goode
- Carla
- Wunmi Mosaku
- Jessie
- Angel Coulby
- Lady Cremone
- Jacqueline Bisset
- Rosie
- Jenna-Louise Coleman
- Eric
- Sam Hoare
- Pamela Luscombe
- Joanna Vanderham
- Sarah
- Janet Montgomery
- Nurse Pollock
- Nicola Sloane
- Masterson
- John Goodman
- Julian Luscombe
- Tom Hughes
- Donaldson
- Anthony Head
- Schlesinger
- Mel Smith
- Edith
- Lorna Gayle
- Horton
- David Dawson
- Mrs Mitchell
- Maggie McCarthy
- Gunson
- Gerard Horan
- Mrs Luscombe
- Jane Asher
- Harry Thornton
- Miles Richardson
- Mr Wax
- Allan Corduner
- Leopold
- Jack Donnelly
- Violetta
- Madeleine Smith
- Emily
- Isabella Blake-Thomas
- Young man
- Calvin Dean
Crew
- Director
- Stephen Poliakoff
- Producer
- Faye Ward
- Producer
- Nicky Kentish Barnes
- Writer
- Stephen Poliakoff
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