Shoestring (TV series)

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Shoestring
Format	Drama
Created by	Robert Banks Stewart Richard Harris
Starring	Trevor Eve Michael Medwin Doran Godwin Liz Crowther
Country of origin	UK
No. of episodes	21
Production
Running time	1 Hour
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC
Original run	1979 – 1980
External links
IMDb profile

Shoestring was a BBC television show set in Bristol. It featured a private detective with his own show on the local radio station, Radio West. The programme ran between September 30, 1979 and December 21, 1980, in two series with 21 one hour-long episodes. Star Trevor Eve decided not to return to the role after two series, as he wanted to diversify into theatre roles, so the same production team changed the format to be based in Jersey and created Bergerac, also about a detective returning to work after a bad period in his life.

The episode "Utmost Good Faith" with the outdoor swimming pool was filmed on location at Severn Beach Blue Lagoon Swimming Pool.

Contents 1 Premise 2 The Real Radio West 3 Cast 4 Episode list 4.1 Series 1 4.2 Series 2 5 DVD release? 6 External links

[edit] Premise

Eddie Shoestring is a computer expert who suffers a nervous breakdown. (In those days, computers were large bulky machines with tape running endlessly and creating considerable noise; in one episode Shoestring visits such a computer room and finds it hard to maintain a steady grip.)

After a period of convalescence he decides to try his hand at detective work. His landlady, solicitor Erica Bayliss arranges for him to investigate a potential scandal involving an entertainer who works for the local Radio West.

After sorting the matter out, Shoestring is hired as the station's "private ear": members of the public are offered his services in order to investigate cases affecting them like disappearances or the unsolved deaths of loved ones.

[edit] The Real Radio West

Almost a year after the show finished, October 27, 1981 Bristol's first independent radio station was started under the name of Radio West. The franchise battle had been hard fought and two groups, Radio Avonside and Bristol Channel, came together to form the winning consortium. The choice of on-air name presented few challenges as the BBC had provided two years of free publicity courtesy of Eddie Shoestring [1].

[edit] Cast

• Eddie Shoestring – Trevor Eve
• Don Satchley – Michael Medwin
• Erica Bayliss – Doran Godwin
• Sonia – Liz Crowther

[edit] Episode list

Episode	Title	Writer	Director	Guest stars
[edit] Series 1 (BBC1, September 30 to June 4, 1979)
1	Private Ear	Robert Banks Stewart and Richard Harris	Douglas Camfield	William Russell. Stacy Dorning, Kenneth Gilbert, Sean Arnold, Tony Haygarth, Christopher Coll, Stewart Bevan, Brian Hawksley, Michael Crane
2	Knock For Knock	Bob Baker	Roger Tucker	Dominic Guard, Shirley Anne Field, Christopher Guard, Kevin Flood, Ysanne Churchman, Aimée Delamain, Malcolm Terris, Pavel Douglas
3	Higher Ground	Dave Humphries	Marek Kanievska	Glyn Houston, Anna Cropper, Gorden Kaye
4	An Uncertain Circle	Robert Bennett	Mike Vardy	John Hartley, Anna Nygh, Antony Carrick, Royston Tickner
5	Listen To Me	Terence Feely	Peter Smith	Roger Sloman, Sandy Ratcliff, Brian Croucher, Tony Caunter, Patrick Malahide, Edward Kelsey, James Marcus, Stacy Davies
6	Nine Tenths of the Law	Peter Miller	Marek Kanievska	Harry H. Corbett, Nell Campbell, Geraldine James, Andy Ho
7	The Link-Up	Peter King	Douglas Camfield	Janet Key, John Gregg, John Woodnutt, Sylvia Coleridge, Stewart Bevan, Sheila Dunn, Albert Moses, Ian Fairbairn
8	Stamp Duty	John Kruse	Martyn Friend	David Ashton, Diana Davies, Timothy Block, William Wilde, Michael McStay, Ray Barron, Arthur Kelly, John Scott Martin, Stewart Bevan
9	Find The Lady	Philip Martin, Sarah Leigh	Marek Kanievska	Christopher Biggins, Toyah Willcox, Diana Weston, Gary Holton, Peter Dean, Lynda Bellingham, Brian Capron, Chris Jagger, Desmond Cullum-Jones, Harry Fielder
10	The Partnership	Michael Armstrong	Paul Ciappessoni	Michelle Newell, Kevin Whately, David Griffin, Philip Ryan, Walter Sparrow, Sarah Kemp, Norman Hartley, John Cannon
11	I’m A Believer	Jim Hawkins	Mike Vardy	Claire Walker, Jeananne Crowley, Preston Lockwood, Derek Seaton, Steve Ismay, Christine Pollon, Geoffrey Bateman
[edit] Series 2 (BBC1, October 5 to December 21, 1980)
1	Room With A View	Robert Bennett	Henry Herbert	Michael Culver, Madoline Thomas, Bridget Brice, Oscar James, Christopher Benjamin, Alexander Davion, Geoffrey Bateman
2	The Teddy Bears’ Nightmare	Leslie Darbon	Martin Campbell	Dave King, Charlotte Cornwell, Donald Sumpter, Charlotte Cornwell
3	Mocking Bird	William Hood	Ben Bolt	Frederick Jaeger, John J. Carney, David Sibley, Pik Sen Lim
4	The Mayfly Dance	Bill Craig	Henry Herbert	Philip Sayer, Michael Gothard, Michael Craig, Ann Bell, Lance Percival, Oliver Smith, Eric Mason
5	The Farmer Had A Wife	William Hood	Paul Ciappessoni	Ronald Hines, Gary Watson, Pam St. Clement, Ralph Morse, Arthur Hewlett, Daniel Day-Lewis, Charles Pemberton
6	Utmost Good Faith	Andrew Payne	Marek Kanievska	Michael O’Hagan, Derek Martin, Andrew Lodge, Andrew McCulloch
7	Looking For Mr. Wright	Robert Bennett	Laurence Moody	Diana Dors, Caroline Blakiston, Avril Elgar, Martin Fisk, Milton Johns, Jack May, Annette Badland, Andrew Forbes, Roy Spencer, Declan Mulholland
8	Another Man’s Castle	Dave Humphries	Douglas Camfield	John Forgeham, Dean Harris, Eric Francis, Sheila Dunn, Keith Smith, Les Conrad, John Owens, Jon Croft, Graham Simpson
9	Where Was I?	Peter Miller	Jeremy Summers	Philip Bond, Colin Jeavons, Ralph Arliss, George Roubicek, Graeme Eton, Hilary Ryan, Jack Le White, Peter Craze
10	The Dangerous Game	Chris Boucher	Ben Bolt	Michael Elphick, Celia Imrie, Maurice Colbourne, Burt Kwouk, Eric Richard, Leslie French, Rachel Bell, Tariq Yunus, Norman Tipton

[edit] DVD release?

Shoestring was scheduled to be released on DVD (Region 2, UK) by DD Home Entertainment in 2005 but was abandoned due to the high cost of music rights licensing (the series being set at a radio station). Afternoon repeats on BBC1 in 2002 were highly edited, sometimes cut by up to five minutes or more in length, to bring the episodes down to a standard duration and remove material unsuitable for daytime transmission. It seems highly unlikely that Shoestring will ever be made commercially available in its original, unedited form.

[edit] External links

• Unofficial Web Site
• British Film Institute Screen Online