UK telemovie Torvill & Dean will screen on BBC First this weekend.
This excellent telemovie aired in the UK at Christmas.
In 1984 legendary British ice skating duo Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean made history at the Winter Olympics, achieving the highest-ever score for a single figure-skating programme for their dance to Ravel’s Bolero. This entertaining drama tells the story of how they found each other and formed their highly successful and enduring partnership, charting the journey from their first encounter at Nottingham Ice Rink as children, through their formative and sometimes tempestuous pathway to their phenomenal Olympic success with Bolero.
Chris (Will Tudor) grew up in humble surroundings in the town of Calverton Notts where his father was a miner. His mother left home when he was just 10. When his newly arrived stepmother moves in and gives him a pair of ice skates by way of a peace offering, Chris soon finds a way to escape and transcend his troubles at the ice rink.
Jayne (Poppy Lee Friar) stifled by her parents (Stephen Tompkinson and Jo Hartley) in nearby Clifton, looks to the ice rink for a transformation. She finds an alternative family there in the form of Miss Perry (Anita Dobson) and Ted (Mark Benton), and later their coach Janet Sawbridge (Jaime Winston) and mentor Betty Calloway (Annabelle Apsion).
Jayne and Chris struggle to navigate the extremely difficult line of their own emotional complexities versus a rocky creative relationship, eventually evolving into an innovative and unbeatable combination.
Saturday at 8.30pm on BBC First
