Brum buildings take starring roles in new BBC drama

Watch out this spring for two of Birmingham's landmark buildings which have star roles in a new Stephen Poliakoff drama series for BBC Two.

Birmingham's Council House and the ballroom of the vacant Grand Hotel on Colmore Row (owned by Hortons' Estate and pictured right) have been overrun recently with actors and film crew for the filming of Dancing on the Edge, an explosive new drama series set in polite society in the early 1930s following a black jazz band during times of extraordinary change.

The five-part series stars Anthony Head, Jacqueline Bisset, Caroline Quentin, Jane Asher and Chiwetel Ejiofor (Children of Men, American Gangster), but sadly no starring role or even a bit part for media luvvie Mike Whitby, Birmingham council's effervescent leader. Never mind Mike, the role of Birmingham's first elected mayor is still available!