Dancing On The Edge, written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff for U.K.’s BBC 2, is a fictional drama set in the 1930’s “when a black jazz band became the toast of café society.”

According to DailyMail.co.uk, Chiwetel Ejiofor is in negotiations to star as the bandleader. Mark Strong is also in talks to star as a “a magazine editor who chronicles the rise and fall of the band.”

From the press release:

Written and directed by award-winning filmmaker Stephen Poliakoff (The Lost Prince, Shooting The Past), the five-part series follows the Louis Lester Band as they find fame amongst the parties and performances of upper class society in the capital. Initially shocked by black musicians performing in polite society, many recoil, but London’s progressive socialites take the band under their wing.

When the band’s manager Wesley becomes too demanding to the hotel in which the band performs he is deported, forcing the rest to move on without him. The musicians play for the Prince of Wales who elevates their status to the heights of early pop fame. But they become entangled in the shadowy world of socialites, which results in the suspected murder of the band’s singer Jessie. The walls begin to close in on Louis and the other members until they realise that escape from England may be their only chance for safety.

The production is currently casting and expected to begin filming next month.

Chiwetel will team up with British Shame director Steve McQueen in the Brad Pitt-produced 12 Years A Slave, based on the life of Solomon Northrup.