MIX TAPE. tue and wed 9pm bbc 2 - TV PACE.NO SPOILERS

[Blondeshavemorefun]

new 4 part drama. On tue and Wed x 2 weeks

Sometimes all we want to watch is a swoon-worthy romance, and a nostalgic new BBC series sounds exactly like the kind of telly we need right now – especially if you loved One Day, Normal People and hit 2000 movie High Fidelity.

Based on the novel of the same name, Mix Tape will take viewers from 1980s Sheffield to the present day, with our leading couple connected by the power of music.

Already winning awards (Mix Tapewon the SXSW 2025 TV Spotlight Audience Award,) the four-part series has now been acquired by the BBC, ready to stream later this summer.

Sue Deeks, Head of BBC Programme Acquisition, said: "Accompanied by an absolutely cracking '80s soundtrack, Mix Tape is an enjoyable blend of nostalgia, romance and heartbreak – it really is the perfect summer treat!"

Mix Tape: Plot
The story, adapted from Jane Sanderson's novel, follows Daniel and Alison from their '80s teenage romance to the modern-day reality of their adult relationships while living on opposite sides of the world.

The synopsis reads: "In Sheffield, 1989, teenagers Daniel and Alison meet at a house party and bond over their shared love for music.

The relationship they forge that night follows them forever, and leave them wondering what could have been.

"Twenty years later, Daniel is in Sheffield, and Alison in Sydney. Despite the distance, Daniel reaches out to Alison in the hope that they might be able to rekindle that spark that once illuminated their young lives.

"The pair reconnect through a song from their shared past and explore their burning curiosity to understand if this is the love, and the life, they were meant to have."

Mix Tape: Cast
Teresa Palmer (The Clearing, The Fall Guy) and Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe, Cloud Atlas) will lead the cast as Alison and Daniel in the present day. Florence Hunt (Bridgerton, Cursed) and Rory Walton-Smith will play the young couple in the '80s.

Mix Tape: Trailer
Filmed on location in Dublin and Sydney, Mix Tape has already aired in Australia,

managed to get through this, my goodness how slow it was

I’m really enjoying this! Quite harrowing with Alison’s back story. The adult actress isn’t great - very hard to warm to her.

Please can anyone help. I have a visual impairment and I can’t see the content of any of the text / phone messages in episode 2 (am only on two so far ) I’m presuming it’s between Dan and Alison and they’re sending each other tunes but are they messaging each other too?

I HATE when they use phone messages as a visual tool in the telly!

They just links to each other of songs and/or lyrics

Then the last one from Alison said
Maybe we should actually talk

Ah brilliant! Thank you 🤩

She's been in A Discovery of Witches.

I've watched tonight's episode and then decided to watch the final one, which is totally different from what happens in the book and one scene, that didn't happen in the book, makes no sense in the context of the TV series either.

Watched it all, really enjoyed it. The actors playing the younger Dan and Alison were very good. I was a bit confused by the timelines then worked out that present day is 2015, not 2025!

I'm not sure if I completely missed this, but they mentioned someone called Thea a few times. Please help me out, who was she?

Allison's eldest -away at college

I assumed it was a baby either from her time with Dan, or from the rape

It was neither, it's her first child with Michael.

In the book Daniel has no idea where Alison was. He didn't know she was in Ireland and he didn't go in search of her. Peter never called him. He didn't know Alison's mother had died. In the mini series he even said she just vanished, but then they threw in his trip to Ireland that made no sense in context.

His wife (Katelyn, not Katya) went away for a girl's trip with his friend Duncan's wife and some others and that's when he went to Australia. There was no work trip and she didn't have an affair. She was devastated about Alison and heartbroken and tried to save her marriage.

Michael was an arse but not as bad as the mini series made him. This I think was done to make present day Dan and Alison more sympathetic characters when in the book they were quite selfish in the "present day".

Peter was a fat depressed hospital porter and Alison had to track him down. They'd had no contact. He didn't live in a nice house with a lovely husband at all.

The mum ripping up the letters happened in the book.

IMO the mini series was sugar-coated. I still enjoyed it though.

Yes, I was disappointed with the final episode, they'd changed so much from the book. My favourite part of the book, which brought tears to my eyes, was when Alison met up with Dan's dad again, who had become very insular and didn't speak, and he came to life reminiscing about his pigeons. It was lovely, so well written, but they changed his character completely.

I enjoyed it. But it had its flaws. The bits with young Dan and Alison were lovely. I loved the nostalgia of sharing tapes and lyrics. Young Alison played her part perfectly keeping her relationship with Dan separate from her challenging home life. It was frustrating that she didn’t open up to sweet, kind, sensitive Dan though even a tiny bit.

The adults were all just truly frustrating though. Alison who had never found the actual words to speak to anyone her whole life was a revered author. Dan and his wife deliberately antagonising each other and neither seeming willing to accommodate each other’s needs.

I howled with laughter when Dan said “I recognised you straight away”. HOW? She has an entirely different face.

although the show ended on a high with a happy ending, you know there is no happily ever after. They both ave too many loose ends on opposite sides of the world. And Alison is not going to turn into a talker at this point in her life.

Why do they make these dramas so slow? Older Alison looks bored and very cold towards everyone. Nothing like younger Alison.
I might read the book instead, but I bet that’s just as boring and older Alison’s husband is a huge red flag.

I really enjoyed the book, it wasn't boring at all. There was more characterisation and a lot of scenes which the programme left out.

The book is definitely worth a read.

There's definitely one scene when he comes out of a record shop and he's in Broomhill in Sheffield.

Yes that's Record Collector.

I’m also from Sheffield. I thought I saw the train station but read no scenes at all were filmed in Sheffield but they picked out places in Ireland that looked like they were in Sheffield.

Hated the adult Alison. Dan saying to her “you haven’t changed” wtf

I hate affairs / cheating. What a coincidence that they both felt shunned by their partners the exact same few weeks after 20 odd years.

I couldn’t get into it.

It's not like that in the book. Adult Dan really hurts his wife who does not have an affair with a colleague but tries very hard to make their marriage work. In the book Dan and Alison are incredibly selfish but they've been presented as more sympathetic in the drama.

I loved it, haven’t read the book which probably helps, the adults were infuriating but the teenagers were fabulous, really well acted.
There were quite a few scenes and landmarks from Sheffield (I live there)

There are a few of us Sheffielders on this thread! 🦉🦉🦉

Also why didn’t the brother mention to Ali that Dan went round to theirs, went to the funeral, went to Ireland? We saw her phone him. It doesn’t make sense.