Soul Survivors on AllMovie

The two-part British miniseries Soul Survivors was all about second chances. Ian McShane was cast against type as Otis Cooke, a disc jockey on a Liverpool soul music station. After the cancellation of his radio program , Otis whimsically headed to America in hopes of reuniting his favorite soul band, The Tallahassees (whose big hit was, appropriately enough, "Pickin' Up the Pieces"). In bringing the singers back together, Cooke reasoned that somehow he'd give his own life some meaning. Real-life musician Isaac Hayes co-starred as the Tallahassees' contrary lead singer Vernon, while other roles were filled by Derrick O'Connor, Antonio Fargas, Taurean Blacque, and Scott Wilson. The two 90-minute installments of Soul Survivors were seen over BBC 2 in 1995, and later re-edited into a single 125-minute feature.