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The Nineties A new decade and with it came some new spins on some old themes. One of those was to prove an interesting series, partly because of the gritty edge it brought to this kind of genre and partly because of what it did for its star's career both during and after it ended. Serious image Prior to this series, Jimmy Nail had been known as wisecracking, loudmouth drunken brickie Oz in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet. To some extent, this had perpetuated itself in his image afterward, although he did gain more credibility in the general public sense as a performer with his hit singles; the old Rose Royce classic "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" in 1985, while in 1988 he produced an original song, "Ain't No Doubt". This particular song also set the scene for how he would be shown in the new series, then over a year away in coming. The new Jimmy Nail image was starting to show through, and although the series would still show the 'raw' element of the old Nail-type character, a softer, more introverted and controlled character would tend to be the order of the day. In his new series, Nail played the tough, unorthodox Tyneside copper, Freddie Spender. On undercover attachment to the Metropolitan Police, Spender had covered many assignments with his partner, Colin Driver, and had worked his way up to Detective Sergeant. However, on his last operation, Driver had been injured while Spender had gone for backup, and the Met blamed him for it. Added to Spender's own sense of guilt at not protecting his partner's back, he was resigned to being given a desk posting. However, the powers-that-be felt that his talents should not go to waste and suggested he be seconded back to his own neck of the woods; the Tyneside area. This was much against his will, but it was either that or be taken off active duty. So with that, the first episode, 'The Homecoming' sees Spender on a train heading back to Newcastle to carry on doing undercover work. There, having been away for some considerable time, he is a fresh, if not an unforgettable face; someone who has both the attitude and the intelligence to pass himself off in the world of the criminal fraternity. The usual suspects His new boss, Superintendent Yelland, needs the maverick officer, but at the start of their working relationship, can't quite reconcile himself with Spender's attitude and way of working. This is perfectly understandable; Yelland is very much a 'by the book' officer who's worked his way up through the ranks and Spender's way of working, which is sheer anarchy to Yelland's way of thinking, causes him all sorts of problems and also some little embarrassment; Spender's first meeting with the Super happens to be at the end of a long chase over rooftops, railway tracks and hotel corridors, where while getting his man, Spender manages to end up at the foot of a staircase in front of a whole crowd of local dignitaries and guest of honour, British athlete Steve Cram! After this less than ideal start, each comes round to understand the other more during the cause of Spender's time on the patch, even if Yelland is less than keen on some of the company that Spender keeps. Spender's main partner in crime - at times literally - was Stick, an ex-con who often had to suppress the urge to pull on a stocking mask and return to his life of crime as a building society robber. His heart was in the right place though, even if his luck was often way out of kilter. His thin figure - possibly the name Stick came from his 'stick insect'-like build, we are never told - was usually dishevelled and unkempt, a reminder to any viewer that Spender was no stranger to the seedier side of Newcastle society. He may not be the brightest, although his own instinct of self-preservation was usually pretty high. His conscience developed as the series did, and eventually Stick would be seen to accompany and help Spender on some assignments. Another friend of Spender's was the crippled ex-guitarist Keith Moreland, once leader of the rock band Moreland's Marauders. Keith had been a part of the 'sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll' scene of the Sixties and Seventies, but unlike many of his contemporaries, it was not this that was his downfall but illness. Crippled by multiple sclerosis, Keith was reduced to eking out a living as the owner of a music shop, a venue which would often be used for meetings between Spender, Stick, and even at times Yealand or Spender's contact, Boyd. Keith's wife Astrid, a Swedish woman, stuck by Keith's side for a long time, but eventually left him. Keith took up with a motorcycle despatch rider, Emily, for a time, but her own criminal background - and being under age - ruined the relationship when Spender, for the sake of his friend, intervened. On the side of law and order, as go-between for Spender and Yealand, was Detective Sergeant Dan Boyd. A desk man all his life, he is hardly prepared for the 'action' that Spender brings to his life, but eventually comes around to believe that Spender's way of doing things can produce results. On occasion he even has a go himself at undercover assignments, although his dour, sensible attitude doesn't fool anyone for an instant. A little on the slow-witted side, Spender can still rely on him to do the donkey work at the station without him having to show his own face there. As he remarks on their first meeting 'the last place I want my face seen is Clayton Street nick!'. Hence Dan's work as his contact, either around the area or by meeting at Keith's shop. Family matters While these are the main characters with which the series was populated re. the crime angle, Spender didn't just rely on the week's case for problems to solve. An ongoing one, all the way through the series from the first episode, is his strained family life, which ends up in divorce and the remarriage of his wife, Frances. The main reason for their break-up was the fact that Spender can never let the job lie; he has to see it through - personally. And when this conflicts with family plans, the family came second. Having said that, he thinks the world of his two young daughters, Laura and Kate, but has a hard time of reconciling his professional life with his personal one. And despite these stormy patches in their relationship once they are apart, it is clear that Frances and Freddie still think a great deal of one another. Scripting After successfully dealing with the case he was originally sent back up North to sort out - he manages to do for Yealand what no other copper on the Force had been able to do and bring in crooked businessman Raymond Price - he expected to leave his troubles far behind him and head back to London. But as the audience expected, Spender's Tyneside exile was to continue with spectacular results - and excellent stories. This was in no small amount due to the series' star. Not only did Nail co-create the series with Ian La Frenais, but he provided the scripts for fully half of the first series, setting the tone for the rest of its run. Not only that, but he contributed a further five scripts throughout the second and third series, and the later Christmas special, "The French Collection". La Frenais, who had become a good friend of Nail's during the making of his and Dick Clement's Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, helped Nail along initially with the scripts, and penned three of the remaining four first series scripts himself. He penned a further two before leaving the series and Nail, who by now had found his feet as a writer. Other episodes were provided by freelance writers such as Stan Hey, who had worked on many series including Maureen Lipman's Agony. The content and situations of the scripts, regardless of who wrote them, were uniformly excellent. Nail drew on some of his background for some episodes, but seemed just at home with other topics. His first episode, and the series' second, "Half A Ton Of Heartaches", involving drugs smuggled onshore inside parts of an oil rig, and saw Spender undercover as a fitter's mate on board an rig in the North Sea. The episode further hindered Spender's social life when his daughter Laura is hurt on a visit to his flat while he is away. Awkward questions were asked when he left the rig to see her, and the operation almost goes belly-up when he is discovered. Filmed actually on an oil rig, with no studio sets, the feel of this episode is excellent, with the guest cast - including It Ain't Half Hot Mum's Stuart McGugan - all producing an excellent performance under actual working conditions. Another of Nail's scripts, "The Candidate", was a world away from his previous offering, and showed how the tough, unconventional side of policing that Spender offered could produce the results when the candidate's standard security couldn't. This was an action-packed episode from start to finish, with Spender having to go out of his way to stop the death threats to Bobby Montgomery - an early main role for Amanda Redman - actually working out. Possibly the best of the first series episodes was a La Frenais offering, "Iced", set not on Tyneside, but neighbouring Teesside. Spender's god daughter is killed in a drug-related traffic accident, and he sets out to discover just where the drugs are coming from. At first everyone suspects that the courier Spender takes over from is bringing them in from abroad, but it turns out that they are a 'home brew' from the university, and they are in fact being shipped out of the country instead. On this occasion he teams up with another officer, Sergeant Booney played by Julie Peasgood, and it looks like the relationship may have gone further. Sadly, it didn't progress, and Booney didn't feature again, which looking back with hindsight may have been a missed opportunity. Booney was a good character, in some ways reminiscent of Glynis Barber's Makepeace from Dempsey And Makepeace. The first series ended on good form dramatically, but for the leading characters it was a time of turmoil. In 'Well, Well, Well', another Nail script, Stick becomes prime suspect for a murder when the buyer for jewellery he has stolen turns up dead. Spender has to prove his innocence, all the time hampered by the lack of co-operation he is receiving from Yealand. When everything comes to pass, Stick gets off the murder charge, but still goes to prison for the robbery, and Yealand finally shows his hand, admitting that he couldn't get involved as he was about to move on to another patch through promotion. The episode ends on a light-hearted note, where an exasperated Yealand is trying his best to explain his reasons for being cagey to Spender, who is more interested in talking an ex-mate into coming down from atop the Tyne bridge by joining him! Changes at home, changes at work With the second series, things changed quite a bit for Spender. For a start, he had to sort out the mischief that Stick and his cell-mate 'Spud' Tate got into when they were released from prison. Also on a professional front, and a far more reaching change, was the appointment of a replacement for Yealand in the shape of Superintendent Gillespie. Unlike Yealand, Gillespie is a shrewd, hard-nosed man who doesn't mince words or pussy-foot around. He also would have made an excellent undercover officer on face alone, as his appearance made him look far more like one of the villains than one of the heroes. This fact brought him into conflict with Spender from the first, when he grabs his new boss and throws him to the ground, mistakenly thinking that he's actually the villain they're watching out for at a protection operation! Peter Guinness was an excellent replacement for Paul Greenwood, and as Gillespie certainly made full use of Spender as his undercover man. He would often give him the rotten end of the stick, knowing that Spender would come out from under and get the job done. Even so, after this initial call, he's not above giving Spender the role of Crime Prevention Officer manning a desk for a couple of days if only to prove that he's the one in charge. Though he may be one tough nut to crack, Gillespie still has his softer, caring side, but it doesn't stop him calling a spade a spade. He's also none too keen on Spender's choice of friends i.e. Stick, and would dearly love to be able to have him sent back inside - if it wasn't for the fact that he's too useful to Spender, and therefore the police, on the outside. Stick has his own problems; on being released from prison, he finds his wife, Cath, has left him and he's effectively of no fixed abode, scrounging a place to stay off Spender, 'Spud' Tate and Keith. Keith himself is also in limbo, The flat Spender was renting from him he's had to sell, and Spender is forced to move in with him and Astrid for a while. This doesn't work, as Astrid takes a shine to Spender that he doesn't wish to reciprocate for fear of hurting Keith. Not long after he moves out for good, Astrid finally leaves Keith. On the home front, things also change. Spender's daughters are growing up, and that brings problems that aren't made any easier with spender not being there for them all the time. Also Frances, who is studying for a psychology degree with the Open University, takes up with Eric. Again, Spender leaps to conclusions when he sees Eric slapping Laura in the street for running out without looking, and it is only after black eyes and broken teeth are exchanged all round that he learns the truth and both except each other's role in the relationship with Frances. Over the course of this series, Spender tackles illegal fly-postering rivalry, corruption in the Drugs Squad, runaway relatives and runaway footballers before finally winding up with having to protect Frances during her turn on jury duty on a fraud case. This last case makes him really think about handing in his badge, as Gillespie puts pressure on him to turn in Stick and his daughters are starting to dislike what he's turning into when he refuses to get involved at the scene of a ram raid where an old man 'has a go' and winds up paying for it with his life shortly after. If it wasn't for him being able to catch the raiders - with Stick's help - it is at this point that Spender would probably have quit the force. Independent This particular series ending may have been deliberately written to leave it looking as if Spender was walking off into the sunset. Although the series had been very popular, regularly drawing good audiences, it had also received flak for some of its violence and language. While not out of the way compared to some shows now, and while included in a mainly non-gratuitous way to give local colour and realism to the plots, this may have been a factor that contributed to the show's future, and hence the ambiguous ending for the second series. When the series did return, it was to be as an independent production from Jimmy Nail's own company, Big Boy Productions. The tone also developed the line adopted towards the end of the second series, with things going gradually downhill for Spender and the other characters as the series progressed. Further ongoing strands were added to the series' continuity. Frances decides to marry Eric, while Spender starts the series with a new girlfriend, Sandy. She doesn't last for long, when Spender finds out that she is actually married. Stick, having narrowly avoided another jail sentence, decides to go into business legitimately with his new girlfriend Eileen. At this point, Keith takes up with Emily, but as previously stated, it is doomed to fail. Keith blames Spender for the break-up, even though in his heart he knows his friend meant it for the best. This episode, "Best Friends", was the last to feature Tony McAnaney as Keith, although as a musician Tony continued to provide the incidental music for the series as well as the opening and closing themes for the show, as indeed he had throughout its run. Another strand developed over the course of a few episodes is Spender's romance with the wife of a criminal, Tommy Thornton, who he tries to collar for blackmailing a gay ice hockey star. Thornton flees, but his wife, Janet, is left behind and becomes attached to Spender. She eventually leaves him when she admits that Spender's own situation, with Frances and the two girls, makes her uncomfortable, especially when Spender becomes a shoulder for Frances to cry on when her marriage to Eric breaks up, and she wants to try again with him. This comes at the end of a strenuous run of cases for Spender, with him tackling bootleg music distribution, attempted murder of a teenage runaway, car thefts, the aforementioned Tommy Thornton's blackmail and even the kidnap of his own boss, Gillespie, which was an unusual episode in that only Gillespie and Spender featured for the most part of the regular characters, and much was set away from the usual Tyneside locale. End of the line The final series episode, 'Retreat', saw Spender going undercover at a local prison as a transferred inmate trying to get enough on local builder Ken Moran, played by John McGlynn, to nail him when Moran's trial for corruption looks like collapsing when the star witness goes missing, and then turns up dead. Stick has to flee for his life, because he is unable to contact Spender to get him to help with the back rent he and Eileen owed on the shop. Pursued, he eventually staggers up the drive of a local commune, where much to his own surprise, he actually decides to take up their way of life (at least for a while! ) Having got enough information on Moran, and with him looking to be safely away from causing harm to anyone, Spender finally manages to concentrate on his home life. With Eric now out of the picture, and Frances keen on a reconciliation with Spender, the pair go out for a meal. She leaves her bag in the car accidentally and takes the keys to retrieve it as Spender waits for the bill. He gets a call on his mobile, warning him that Moran has done something to his car, and he races out to stop Frances, but it is too late and his ex-wife is blown up when she opens the door. The look on Spender's face of sheer disbelief, horror and grief says it all. He is left with custody of Laura and Kate as their natural father. Denise Welch, who played the late Frances Spender, went on to become a much bigger star later on when she joined long-running soap Coronation Street as Natalie Horrocks / Barnes. Unfinished business There was one final outing for Spender before the series finished for good, with a Christmas special in 1993. Titled 'The French Collection', this 90 minute episode resolved some of the loose ends of the third series, while using them as the major hook. Acting on a tip off, Gillespie sends Spender to Marseilles with the mission of escorting the escaped Tommy Thornton back to the UK; after escaping justice in the third series, the French authorities are alerted and after a short period of freedom, they arrest him. Whilst escorting Thornton back, there is an traffic accident and Thornton is apparently killed in the crash. However, he is alive and well, having organised the whole thing. Spender, roping in Stick to help, finally manages to track Thornton down and bring him back to British justice. Of course, things are made more complicated by Janet Thornton's arrival on the scene and involvement in her husband's 'death'. Spender has to watch as she is caught red-handed bringing a fortune in drugs and gems back into the country, and proving to him that he didn't know her as well as he thought he did. Shot in TV movie style, this episode still had plenty of the trademarks of the original series, but in the end was a little out on a limb. This was possibly due to the unconventional setting i.e. mostly in France, but didn't help it to fit in. The look of Spender himself was also slightly at odds with the established look; here his style of dress and hair was more Miami Vice than Tyneside Nick! Dan Boyd was totally absent from the episode as was Keith, and Gillespie only featured at either end. However, it did provide more of a role for Stick, with him even making it into a decent suit for a change! Written and produced by Nail, this was always going to be Spender's swan song and as a standalone episode it works well, though with the extra length, it probably wasn't as sharp or tightly-written as with the shorter series episodes. The director, Matt Forrest, was also new to the show, and so while he could put his own stamp on it, he couldn't be expected to get the Spender style down first go. In retrospect As a detective series, Spender was an excellent entry into the genre and certainly the grittiest cop show on the BBC for some considerable time. It had great scripts, lots of colour and action, and yet had its own something, possibly a quite unique melancholy attitude to its central character and his situation. A great deal of its success has to be down to Jimmy Nail himself, on all fronts, and it came as no surprise to many people when he went on to score another success with a series based combining his musical career with drama, Crocodile Shoes. But that's another story... article copyright PPS / M.Hearn 2001 |