{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}} {{Use British English|date=October 2016}} {{Infobox television | image = <!-- include ALT text per MOS:ALT guideline --> | caption = | genre = Drama | creator = | developer = | writer = Frederic Raphael | director = | starring = | voices = | theme_music_composer = Richard Holmes | opentheme = | endtheme = | composer = | country = United Kingdom | language = English | num_series = | num_episodes = 7 | list_episodes = | executive_producer = | producer = James Cellan Jones | editor = | location = | cinematography = John Hooper | camera = | runtime = 75 minutes | company = BBC | channel = BBC2 | first_aired = {{Start date|1984|11|14|df=y}} | last_aired = {{end date|1984|12|19|df=y}} | related = }} '''''Oxbridge Blues''''' is a 1984 British television series, produced and broadcast in the UK by the BBC. It is an anthology of seven approximately 75-minute television plays by Frederic Raphael, most of which focus on relationships of one kind or another. Most of the plays except one take place in England; "He'll See You Now" takes place in the U.S., and "Sleeps Six" takes place in England and France. The series was broadcast in the U.S. on A&E in 1986 and on PBS in 1988.<ref name=nyt>Blau, Eleanor. [https://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/28/arts/tv-notes-eleanor-blau.html "TV Notes."] ''New York Times''. 28 April 1988.</ref> In Australia, the series was broadcast on ABC in 1987.<ref>Hooks, Barbara. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=bQARAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5JIDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1876,4966654&dq=oxbridge-blues&hl=en "''Oxbridge Blues'' Are Not Easy to Come By."] ''The Age''. 27 August 1987.</ref>
The series won the 1987 CableACE Award for Best Dramatic Series. The eponymous first teleplay in the series, "Oxbridge Blues", was nominated for a BAFTA television award for Best Single Drama, and other individual episodes garnered several other awards and nominations.<ref name=awards />
The seven plays were adapted by the novelist Frederic Raphael from the short stories from his own collections ''Sleeps Six and other stories'' (1979)<ref>Raphael, Frederic. [https://books.google.com/books/about/Sleeps_Six.html?id=RFQIAQAAIAAJ ''Sleeps Six: And Other Stories'']. Jonathan Cape, 1979.</ref> and ''Oxbridge Blues and other stories'' (1980).<ref>Raphael, Frederic. [https://books.google.com/books/about/Oxbridge_Blues.html?id=OIMhAQAAIAAJ ''Oxbridge Blues: And Other Stories'']. Jonathan Cape, 1980.</ref> He described the television series as "mostly kind of chamber pieces – modest dramas about love and sex and honour and marriage".<ref name=nyt /> Raphael directed one episode, James Cellan Jones directed four, and Richard Stroud directed two. Each episode of ''Oxbridge Blues'' is a separate and unrelated story, with different characters in each.
In December 1984, the BBC published the seven scripts together in book form, entitled ''Oxbridge Blues and Other Plays for Television''.<ref>Raphael, Frederic. [https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0563203137 ''Oxbridge Blues and Other Plays for Television''.] BBC Books, 1984.</ref>
==Episodes== {{Episode table |background=bfe0bf |overall=5 |title=22 |director=20 |airdate=18 |episodes=
{{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 1 |Title = Oxbridge Blues |DirectedBy = James Cellan Jones |OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1984|11|14|df=y}} |ShortSummary = Two rival brothers (Ian Charleson, Malcolm Stoddard) find their fame and fortune is dramatically altered when one (Stoddard) becomes a best-selling sex novelist. |LineColor = bfe0bf }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 2 |Title = That Was Tory |DirectedBy = Richard Stroud |OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1984|11|21|df=y}} |ShortSummary = Old passions and new jealousies provoke an odd coupling between a married man (John Bird) and the wife of his good friend (Carol Royle). |LineColor = bfe0bf }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 3 |Title = Similar Triangles |DirectedBy = James Cellan Jones |OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1984|11|28|df=y}} |ShortSummary = The thrill is gone for two adulterous lovers (Malcolm Stoddard, Kate Fahy) when the spouse of one dies. |LineColor = bfe0bf }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 4 |Title = He'll See You Now |DirectedBy = Frederic Raphael |OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1984|11|28|df=y}} |ShortSummary = A neurotic actress (Susan Sarandon) is tempted into a more intimate relationship with her analyst (Barry Dennen). |LineColor = bfe0bf }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 5 |Title = The Muse |DirectedBy = Richard Stroud |OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1984|12|5|df=y}} |ShortSummary = A wimpish cartoonist (David Suchet) takes on the rough-'n-tumble personality traits of his most popular character. |LineColor = bfe0bf }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 6 |Title = Cheap Day |DirectedBy = James Cellan Jones |OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1984|12|12|df=y}} |ShortSummary = A chance meeting with a handsome stranger (Norman Rodway) tempts a happily married woman (Ciaran Madden) into testing the waters of infidelity. |LineColor = bfe0bf }} {{Episode list |EpisodeNumber = 7 |Title = Sleeps Six |DirectedBy = James Cellan Jones |OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1984|12|19|df=y}} |ShortSummary = An idyllic holiday in the South of France turns into an ordeal for a film producer (Ben Kingsley) and his loving wife (Diane Keen) when his aristocratic agent (Jeremy Child) turns up. |LineColor = bfe0bf }} }}
==Main cast== *Ian Charleson as Victor Geary ("Oxbridge Blues") *Rosalyn Landor as Wendy ("Oxbridge Blues") *Amanda Redman as Maxine ("Oxbridge Blues") *Michael Elphick as Curly Bonaventura ("Oxbridge Blues") *Malcolm Stoddard as Philip Geary ("Oxbridge Blues"); Michael ("Similar Triangles") *Kate Fahy as Eileen ("Similar Triangles"); Lizzie ("Cheap Day") *Ciaran Madden as Laura ("Cheap Day"); Rachel ("Similar Triangles") *Norman Rodway as Alec ("Cheap Day"); Narrator ("Similar Triangles") *Geoffrey Palmer as Fred ("Cheap Day") *Christopher Good as James ("Cheap Day") *Ben Kingsley as Geoff Craven ("Sleeps Six") *Diane Keen as Sherry Craven ("Sleeps Six") *Jeremy Child as Philip Witham ("Sleeps Six") *Jackie Smith-Wood as Lady Jane Witham ("Sleeps Six") *Susan Sarandon as Natalie ("He'll See You Now") *Barry Dennen as Dr. Stein ("He'll See You Now") *David Suchet as Colin ("The Muse") *Frances Tomelty as Angela Lane ("The Muse") *Carol Royle as Tory ("That Was Tory"); Ellen ("The Muse") *John Bird as Clive ("That Was Tory") *Joanna Lumley as GiGi ("That Was Tory")
==Music== The series theme music was composed by Richard Holmes, and sung by the English group Cantabile.
==Awards and nominations== * The series won the 1987 CableACE Award for Best Dramatic Series.<ref name=awards /> * The first episode, "Oxbridge Blues", was nominated for a BAFTA television award for Best Single Drama.<ref name=awards /><ref>[http://www.bafta.org/awards/television/nominations/?year=1984 Television Nominations 1984] at BAFTA</ref> * Susan Sarandon won the 1987 CableACE Award for Best Actress in a Dramatic Series for her performance in the episode "He'll See You Now".<ref name=awards /> *Frederic Raphael won the 1987 CableACE Award for Best Writing a Dramatic Series, for episode "Sleeps Six".<ref name=awards /> * Ben Kingsley was nominated for a CableACE Award for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series for his performance in the episode "Sleeps Six".<ref name=awards>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0355117/awards ''Oxbridge Blues'' – Awards] at the Internet Movie Database</ref>
==See also== * {{anl|Cambridge Blue}} * {{anl|Cambridge Blue (colour)}} * {{anl|Oxford Blue}} * {{anl|Oxford Blue (colour)}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb title|id=0355117|title=Oxbridge Blues}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20170820163556/https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/oxbridge-blues/episodes/203635/ ''Oxbridge Blues''] at TV Guide *[https://web.archive.org/web/20090201040906/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/series/11922 ''Oxbridge Blues''] at the BFI
Category:BBC television dramas Category:1980s British drama television series Category:1984 British television series debuts Category:1984 British television series endings Category:CableACE Award winners Category:English-language British television shows