Eddie’s introduced to the public in Private Ear, written by Banks Stewart. A sauna attendant, Sarah, goes home from work but gets a phone call and it seems she’s moonlighting as a call girl. She gets a shock when she sees who the client is and runs away. At Radio West, boss Don Satchley says good night over the talkback to DJ David Carn and sets off home. Sarah goes to the station to see Carn, but when receptionist Sonia tells him who it is he refuses point blank. Sarah steals his Rolls Royce and drives to a deserted beach on the estuary. She’s drinking heavily and takes some pills; next morning she’s lying dead from this cocktail. Eddie has a case this morning, which will hopefully pay his back rent to Erica. Sarah’s parents identify her body and the inquest is adjourned for further inquiries. Sonia hears the news report, puts it together with the night’s events and goes to see Don, who asks an agitated David to level with him; he can’t afford bad publicity for the station. Erica is doing a phone-in broadcast and Carn suggests Don asks her for advice. Sarah’s mother is distraught at the hotel; staying under an assumed name just to protect her husband’s company’s reputation, and it transpires that he has been here on business trips before. When Don asks Erica for advice, she suggests he needs a private detective – enter Eddie. Don meets Eddie at the floating tugboat bar moored across the quayside from Radio West and hires him, not to check on four-times married Carn, but on Sarah. Elsewhere, the sauna’s boss, Hendry, allays the fears of the nervous Willis, who is agitated that this will blow the top off the call girl racket. Eddie goes to see Mr. Tilley at the Bootlegger disco. Sarah was underage when he took her on as a waitress six months earlier for the invitation-only opening night; David Carn was one of those invited. Eddie pressures Tilley to ask around; the disco’s not completely legitimate. Willis meets Eddie, and tells him if he drops his enquiries he’ll be paid double; Eddie now knows others have an interest. He goes to Sarah’s flat and speaks to her mother who is taking her daughter’s possessions home; she is unable to enlighten him. He speaks to the cab driver on the night she was last seen and then goes to the sauna. While Eddie takes a sauna, Hendry and Tilley to bundle the attendant away so he can’t talk. That night, Eddie is ‘invited’ away from his Chinese takeaway to meet with Hendry, and is given a free sample of what he can expect if he doesn’t drop the case. The next day Eddie is able to confirm from one of the other attendants, Diana, that she and Sarah were on the game and that Carn knew Sarah; while he was special to her, she doesn’t know if the reverse was true. Eddie goes to see Carn, who admits all we already know, but he doesn’t know why she came to see him. He then visits Hendry at his sports club and tells him he knows he’s sheltering the man behind this – then pushes him in the pool for ruining his Chinese the night before! On his way out he spots a board listing businesses using the club and finds out that Hendry’s company is in truth the one Sarah’s father is head of. These assignations had been part of his ‘business trips’, but that night it was pure chance he was set up with his own daughter. Eddie reports to Don that Carn is in the clear, but won’t tell what led to Sarah’s death. Eddie leaves, but Sonia passes Eddie’s doodle to Don as a new programme idea – the doodle is the station’s logo with Eddie’s own head coming off it and a microphone. Radio West later announces that Eddie’s services will shortly be available for its listeners.

The opening episode had a lot going for it, and it’s easy to see why audiences first took to the series. Apart from the characterisation of the lead and other supporting characters, there were some good guest artists coupled with excellent direction from veteran Douglas Camfield. DJ David Carn was played by former Sir Lancelot and Doctor Who companion William Russell, while Sarah was played by former Black Beauty star Stacy Dorning in a character far removed from that of Jenny Gordon. Others appearing included ex-Rosie regular and Kinvig,Tony Haygarth, and Sean Arnold as Hendry, later of the Bureau des Etranges on Jersey in Bergerac. For the series, Eddie’s trademark doodles were done by Fleet Street cartoonist Gray Jolliffe, with only a little embellishment actually done on camera.

Eddie’s first case for Radio West, Knock For Knock, written by Bob Baker, starts innocuously enough at the dentist’s where Claire Stevenson is being anaesthetised. Going under she starts talking about a road accident that killed her husband that she wasn’t able to remember at the time. Now she remembers two men in a white van driving off. At the station, Eddie’s not happy about working from a script and is very nervous. Sonia has a message for him from Claire and he goes to the accident scene with her. She and husband Bill had just opened a restaurant, had loans and a mortgage and he had no life insurance. She hasn’t remembered more and the police have given up, so it’s Eddie’s turn. He goes to the nearest pub in his dilapidated Hillman Hunter, but the landlord won’t talk to him. Eddie talks to a local copper who says he should drop it; who knows if what Claire remembers is fact or fantasy? On his first show Eddie dries with the script, but pulls through doing his own adlibbed version. While the programme is on, the two men are holed up in an old barn, going over their night’s spoils. Eddie puts out an appeal on the air for the whereabouts of the van which may have had a fast repair. Don is unsure about the adlibs, but it looks like he’ll just have to trust Eddie who visits Norman, a used car dealer. He tells him he took a van in about that time and sold it on; this information is only given during negotiations over the potential of an orange Cortina estate Norman wants Eddie to buy. Eddie goes to see Pascoe who bought the van and eventually cajoles him into producing a photo he found in it. The photo turns out to be an Army chaplain, and with Erica’s assistance and Army records he goes to visit Reverand, now Mr. Appleby. His sister is amazed; she thought it lost in a bureau she sold to door-to-door callers. She wasn’t going to, but they offered such a good deal on a table she wanted to sell she let them have it. They did have a white van, but she never knew their names. Armed with the bureau’s description, Eddie and Erica go looking and find it at Sanctuary Antiques. Eddie makes enquiries, but owner Barbara Knight is rather evasive. Claire has more treatment, and finds out she actually talked about a third man who was pushed through the van’s windscreen. Eddie asks the station’s antiques expert if she can put something out about these callers, while they strike again at a big house that is for sale. He goes to see Claire who tells him about the third man and later gets a phone tip-off to say the callers now drive a green van. From accident files, Erica learns a French polisher, Fairbrother, turned up after supposedly being hit by a train. Next day Eddie goes looking for the van, locating it outside an auction house and confirms it from some chipped off paint. He enters and meets Mrs Knight again. She says everyone employed Fairbrother and won’t admit knowing the van’s owners. He spots them leaving, gives chase and loses them, but not for long as they force him off the road. Eddie gets an appeal for the van put out and then takes Barbara for lunch, calling her bluff about Fairbrother’s death, but she still refuses to admit the truth and leaves. On his return, Sonia tells him that a forecourt attendant has phoned in after following the van. Eddie arrives and enters the old barn where he finds it, but ducks outside when he hears his beat-up Hunter careering down the slipway. He chases it but it goes off the end and lands on its roof in the Severn mud, a right-off. Turning about, he finds the two callers waiting and during the ensuring fight they all end up in the mud, Eddie coming out on top. He drives the van back to Pascoe as he wants him to identify it. He won’t because Barbara has told him to keep quiet. She’s the thugs’ mother, and she’ll still protect them even though they are responsible for two deaths. Claire gets damages from Barbara, while Eddie gets a replacement vehicle – Norman’s Cortina has been delivered, invoiced to Radio West!

Eddie’s back on the road for his next case. Higher Ground by Dave Humphries is set around a prep school run by ex-Army Major Hansford and wife Jean. Over some months they have been subjected to malicious pranks and although he shrugs them off, Jean is very worried. She calls Eddie in to investigate and tells him Hansford’s also been receiving calls and letters she believes are threatening, although he won’t tell her. Hansford resents the way he left the Army, moved aside for ‘schoolboy officers’. Eddie goes to see an ex-Army pal of Don’s, Clarke, who sheds light on Hansford’s past and mentions that there is a son by the Major’s first wife, who he drove to distraction. With a possible suspect and motive, Eddie goes to see the Major, but is warned off. Even when Jean is shot at while walking her dog and goes back to Eddie, Hansford still objects and goes to Don in person to stop Eddie’s ‘interference.’ Jean goes through her husband’s papers and finds out that son Rodney has spent time at Fordingvale Hospital in the psychiatric ward, a place Eddie is very familiar with from his own breakdown. He goes back to see specialist Dr. Fischer, who is at first reluctant to break confidentiality but eventually gives his star patient a lead. Eddie goes to see Rodney at work, a meat packing factory, but he doesn’t want to talk. Eddie tries to call Jean, but the school secretary tells him she’s gone out riding; he drives to the stables to wait for her. It seems that Rodney has arrived first and while she is fording a river he manages to get Jean’s horse to throw her using a hidden rope. It returns to the stables, so Eddie and the stablehand go looking, but it is too late; Jean lies dead from cracking her head on a rock. With Rodney the obvious suspect, Eddie goes back to see him but the lad is totally disinterested, only bothering to say it wasn’t him. Out of respect for his late client, Eddie goes to her funeral, but Hansford blames his investigation for Jean’s death. Tailing the Major back to the school, Eddie sees Rodney slipping into the grounds and warns Hansford about him, still getting short shrift for his pains. He leaves, but it seems Rodney isn’t the only one there. The real troublemaker, and murderer of Jean, is ex-Sergeant Curtis, a former colleague of Hansford’s. It seems the Major isn’t so squeaky-clean and in fact after leaving the Army and trying to make ends meet, he and the former sergeant robbed a bank. Curtis was caught but kept quiet, assuming he’d get his share when he was paroled. However, the Major used the proceeds to buy the school, leaving nothing for Curtis. Curtis meets Hansford at a nearby quarry, ostensibly to receive his long-due share, but instead Hansford shoots him. Eddie finds out where the meeting is, but arrives too late to save Curtis. He confronts the Major across the quarry and it seems for a moment that he may also shoot Eddie, but shoots himself instead; he’s more prepared to pay for his crimes at the end of a bullet than by public trial.

The viewer is wrong-footed from the start during Eddie’s next case, An Uncertain Circle written by Robert Bennett. The episode opens with two men taking what appears to be a wrapped body out to sea, returning without it. Photographer Nick Forrest is missing and girlfriend Marian Cutler comes to Bristol to find him. She goes to his last address, a chalet park, but no one has heard of either him or the chalet he rented, the Casablanca. On her way back to town, she spots a dilapidated beach chalet and asks the taxi driver to stop. It’s abandoned and she can’t get in, but the nameplate’s been recently removed. The driver suggests Eddie might be able to help and takes her to Radio West. Marian tells him about Nick and his work; he was doing aerial photography of the coastline and people’s houses. It seems she’d rather not go to the police as he’s a paroled ex-con and she’s also his probation officer! She returns to London and Eddie goes to the chalet park. Although he does get shown the Casablanca by manager Steve and receptionist Jo-Jo, neither admits having rented it recently; it’s closed for renovation. Eddie notices something, but is unable to act. He speaks to the pilot at the airfield who took Nick up; it seems Nick thought he was onto a ‘mint of money’, though the pilot couldn’t understand how. After dark, Eddie returns to the Casablanca, but is beaten up. If it wasn’t for a nearby beach party he would be dead, as the chalet goes on fire and he barely escapes with his life. Returning to Erica’s after his burns have been treated Eddie finds Marian waiting with a parcel of negatives mailed to her by Nick. He gets Phil, the station’s photographer, to do blowups of all the houses and tours them. The last belongs to affable Benny Sheldon, a builder’s merchant, who admits that Nick came selling, that he was willing to buy the photo, but hadn’t heard any more. Excusing himself to answer the door, which is to the doctor who treated Eddie’s burns, Sheldon leaves Eddie alone for a moment and notices a photo of Sheldon with Steve. Eddie keeps watch and sees Sheldon leave with his supposedly ill wife and the doctor by boat. On returning to the station, Phil tells him about the cars in Sheldon’s driveway on the picture and gives him some thoughts about the coastline photos, which didn’t seem to make any sense. Don and Sheldon play golf, a regular event, and talk about Eddie’s progress; Sheldon doesn’t like what he hears, and neither do his visitors when he tells them. One of Sheldon’s men raids Radio West and steals the photos, but Phil has made duplicates. Eddie and Erica work out where the coastline photos were taken from and he gets Nick’s pilot to fly him out there. A plane crashed there a few months ago, probably smugglers. As they fly past, a diving party makes for the same spot; Sheldon and friends. Returning to the station, Eddie gets a call to meet Jo-Jo, but it’s a set up to get him out of the way that doesn’t work. He stows away on Sheldon’s boat when Jo-Jo comes to take it out. He forces her to take him to her destination; an old sea fort. Nick is there; he isn’t dead but is in a bad way suffering from the bends. Before Eddie can get Jo-Jo to help him get Nick to shore, Sheldon’s party shows up and chase Eddie round the fort, cornering him. It looks like he’s done for until Steve and Jo-Jo show their true colours; they’re really undercover cops breaking the smuggling ring and Eddie’s been blundering over their own investigation!

It seems that ex-cons are never far from Eddie’s investigations, as the next case, Listen To Me by Terence Feely, shows once more. Again, the viewer is wrong footed by the opening sequence with a prison break seemingly being made. In fact, all that is attempted is an illicit phone call to Eddie at Radio West. Eddie visits Harry Shepherd on remand, who says he was set up and wants Eddie to prove it before wife Mel does something stupid trying to get his case reviewed. Eddie goes to see her, but doesn’t think there’s a lot he can do; that’s not what she wants to hear. She goes up on Radio West’s roof and threatens to throw herself off unless she can go on the air with Harry’s case. This she does and Eddie promises to find the real culprit in the shooting of a young shop assistant during a jewellery robbery. Eddie questions the owners who tell him the detective leading the case seemed to force a description on them; Superintendent Colston was later suspended for corruption. Eddie visits him and gets the name of the alternative suspect, McGiven. Meanwhile, the police bring Harry to Radio West to try and talk Mel down, but it doesn’t work. Eddie finds McGiven, but he swears it wasn’t him. He puts Eddie onto a likely fence for the jewellery, but this isn’t much help as the fence, Marrick, says he didn’t handle it; that leaves the gun. Eddie almost draws a blank except the dealer says if it had been him, he would’ve used that sort of gun for a murder, not a robbery… Aware that robbery could have been a cover for murdering the girl, he goes back to see the jewellers and they mention they remember her doodling on a picture in the paper that morning, the paper her boyfriend Charlie works for. He goes to see him and they pull the file. Eddie doodles on the picture and Charlie recognises him as a photographer that works there; one who’s currently covering the action at Radio West. At the station, Mel is getting restive; why is Eddie taking so long? If he doesn’t come soon, she will jump. At the photographer’s house Eddie finds an album of cuttings about his crimes and while looking at it, the man creeps in and tries to strangle him. Eddie gets the upper hand and brings him to the station in time to stop Mel making good on her threat.

While the opening sequence would often wrong-foot viewers, Nine Tenths of the Law by Peter Miller does this for the vast majority of its screen time, citing the client as the injured party when the reverse turns out to be true. It seems like abduction; three young girls walk home from Clifton School and one of them, June, is abducted by a young man in a Citroen 2CV – but she seems to know him. He allows her to call home to reassure her mother, but nothing more. Mary Phillips goes to Radio West and asks Eddie to find June, telling him that it’s ex-husband Dennis, a zoologist who’s been working in Australia who’s done it and Eddie agrees to try. Dennis leaves June locked in a bed-sit while he goes to check on their passage out; a tugboat departing the following night. Eddie puts out an appeal for Dennis and June; their landlady realises who they are and calls in. Neither Don nor the station’s solicitor are happy about the appeal; the solicitor disapproves of Eddie anyway. Eddie goes to the bed-sit, but they are gone though they’ve left the car. Trying a different tack, Eddie visits one of Dennis’ former colleagues at Bristol Zoo, but he is of little help. Walking through the grounds, Eddie is pursued by a Land Rover. Two security guards get out and one introduces himself; ‘Mr Tom’ is June’s grandfather and would like to make use of Eddie in aiding his grand-daughter’s return. He wants Eddie to tell him where Dennis is when he finds him. If he doesn’t do so, Eddie may live to regret it; Mr Tom’s partner gives him a free taster of what may be to come. Erica runs the 2CV’s plate and Eddie visits the owner, librarian Joanna Lomas. She says she doesn’t know Dennis and had reported her car stolen. It seems to be a dead end, but Eddie isn’t so sure. Erica confirms later that Lomas didn’t report her car stolen until after Eddie’s visit, so he later follows her to find Dennis; he in turn is followed by Mr Tom but gives him the slip. The hideout is an unused Scout clubhouse. Dennis spots Eddie, and he and June flee through a graveyard with Eddie giving chase. He catches Dennis, but June, hidden up a tree, knocks Eddie out and at her insistence they take Eddie’s car. After returning to Erica’s for the night – and treatment for his sore head! – Eddie returns to visit Joanna, who tells him the whole story; Dennis is not the desperado he seems. He goes to see Mrs Phillips and Eddie asks her to come with him to see Dennis. Besides nursing a hangover, she now has a similar nasty attitude to her father; stop Dennis at all costs. Eddie’s car has been spotted at the docks, so he goes there and this time speaks to both Dennis and June. It seems she wants to be with her father; her mother has been a chronic alcoholic all June’s life, and her grandfather isn’t the kindest of men – Eddie agrees. Mr Tom is resourceful though, as he arrives to take June back. Eddie has to hand June over; she is the ward legally of her mother and although he knows June’s gone to the wrong parent, Eddie is powerless by law to do the right thing. For him, June and Dennis, this case comes to a most unsatisfactory end.

The Link-Up by Peter King plays on the radio connection for its plotline while tackling down-to-earth issues and ‘one person against the elements’ events that seemed to be a fixture of Seventies news. It begins innocently enough in a flooded field where a metal detector enthusiast finds first a metal broach, then another – attached to a well-dressed body. At the station, DJ Paul has his hands full during a phone-in with battered wives campaigner Molly Tasker, who complains that even Eddie won’t help her group. Don asks him to see her. It transpires that one of her group’s husbands, Jack Craig, drank all he earned, so how did his dead body come to be wearing a hand-tailored blazer and gold initialled jewellery? Molly has pawned these items, but Eddie sees the medallion at the broker’s; the blazer has already been sold to an actor who he traces to an audition to get a look at its label; in a nice in-joke, Eddie almost gets himself the part! He goes to the tailors and meets Mr Cadaji, an Indian who remembers the blazer and is shocked to hear of its owner’s demise; he heard him on Radio West the day before! It seems the blazer was not made for Craig, but for Jimmy Colefax, a yachtsman whose voyage is being followed in regular linkup reports with wife Val by Radio West. It seems she employed Craig as a handyman, but says he must have stolen the goods. Molly and Mrs Craig don’t believe this and visit her; they suspect she gave them to Jack after having ‘some fun’, which she denies. While Val does another linkup, Don gets a grilling from her business manager, Houseman, but Eddie speaks to him and gets the lowdown on the voyage – and what it means by financially if Jimmy makes it. Eddie finds out from the pawnbroker that Val has bought back the medallion, an odd turn of events. He follows her and a friend to an old millhouse and finds a clue in their car when they go inside. When they leave Eddie finds evidence of a camp, but is knocked out and all evidence is gone when he comes to. He goes to see her companion, a hypnotist named Morris, pretending to be a patient. Morris sees through him and won’t discuss Val Colefax. Houseman goes to see Don and warns Eddie off; any more harassment means no radio. However, Eddie gets a message from radio ham, Cynthia Jasmine ‘C.J.’ Daniels who proves to him that the ‘trans-Atlantic’ transmissions are actually coming from a few miles downriver; this is later verified at Radio West! Returning to the millhouse, Eddie finds Craig’s own jacket – and a set of picklocks, indicating that he probably did steal the items. Eddie talks to Val while she and Houseman go through photos for the forthcoming book; one shows Jimmy wearing the medallion when setting off from harbour! He still can’t prove anything until he finds Jimmy, and goes through tapes of the linkups for clues. He is able to track down the boat, the Little Apple - and spies Val there with Jimmy! Eddie fetches Don to prove it, but all have disappeared. As a last resort, Eddie blackmails Morris into telling all; Jimmy cracked up a few days out and came back. They wanted to keep it quiet so he can try again. Houseman admits they couldn’t afford to admit failure if he can still do it. With technical aid, Eddie manages to pinpoint Jimmy’s next transmission. Colefax explains that Craig broke into the millhouse, stole his blazer and ran. He lost Craig; he didn’t know he’d tripped and drowned. Eddie agrees to let Jimmy have a second chance. There are no more linkups ‘for technical reasons’ until he’s back on course, but they keep in touch via C.J. Unfortunately, word comes in that the Little Apple has been found abandoned. It seems that the depression that drove Jimmy back once has driven him to his death.

Stamp Duty by John Kruse opens with a couple frolicking in the surf on a beach before walking back to a new Jaguar and driving home. It seems as though they’re just a well-heeled couple, but it transpires that she’s his mistress and he drives back to his real wife in a beat-up Skoda! On his way he is intercepted by a car, from which two heavies emerge and persuade him to go and talk to their boss. Although they use little force, the man Hargreaves suffers a heart attack and dies on the spot. Their boss tells them to dump his car over a cliff; he can’t afford to be implicated. However, a milkman, Andy, has seen all. He tries to get away and the heavies give chase. Andy stops to phone a message in for Eddie, but is grabbed by one of them. He manages to get away after smashing a bottle of milk over the man’s head and goes back to his depot, dumps the still-laden milkfloat and leaves on his moped. He is chased by the heavies, is forced to dump the moped and makes off over waste ground, hiding by an overgrown canal. Sonia gives Eddie Andy’s message, but he doesn’t take it seriously; Andy was in the same ward as he was and phones him every week! Eddie goes in for a meeting with Don and lawyer Cording about proceedings being brought against the station by businessman Strickland after ‘harassment’ by Eddie. Don and Cording are worried, but Eddie is just irritated; Strickland is really a con man named Worrall, and he has proof acquired by Erica to back him up. He walks out, leaving a doodle behind that proves Andy is now threatened by Strickland! Andy phones in and speaks to Eddie who doesn’t believe him. The only good thing to emerge from Eddie’s morning at the station is a demonstration of a long-range ‘rifle mike’; Eddie thinks it may help put him out of business! He is on his way out when he hears the news report of Hargreaves’ death; he was a stamp dealer and Andy mentioned stamps falling out of the dead man’s case when he phoned in. When Hargreaves’ car matches Andy’s description as well he thinks Andy may be right for once and goes to his house. Andy isn’t there – but one of the goons is and knocks Eddie out. He brings him to a warehouse, where the other says it isn’t Andy. They call Strickland who tells them to get rid of him. They tip a bottle of whisky down Eddie’s throat and dump him on a busy motorway, where he is picked up by the police and taken to Erica’s. When he sobers up he goes to see Hargreaves’ wife and asks about his routine. She allows Eddie to take the briefcase, which includes stamps and a notebook. Andy is still lying low, and now Strickland knows that the man they got was Eddie he’s worried. Eddie makes enquiries at a local stamp dealer, but is surprised to learn Hargreaves hadn’t been dealing for some time. The dealer doesn’t recognise any names in the notebook as dealers or customers. Eddie asks him to value the stamps in the case and send the proceeds to his widow. Armed with the notebook, he goes visiting but no one admits to knowing Hargreaves. Andy rings Erica, who tells him to wait at Eddie’s boat. Eddie talks to another notebook name, Diane Ollerton, who works at the planning department, but seems to draw a blank here as well. He finds a casino chit in the back of the book and visits there. He talks to the croupier, finding out about Hargreaves’ double life including a pretty young wife, not the real Mrs Hargreaves. Eddie eventually catches up with Andy at his boat, who identifies the man in the car as Strickland. Eddie goes for food, but when he returns Andy is gone. With the croupier’s help, Eddie tracks down Hargreaves’ house, and there finds ‘Mrs Hargreaves’ – Diane Ollerton! She and Hargreaves had met during the course of business, fell in love and bought the house between them. But how could he afford it? Eddie tells Hargreaves’ wife and she’s not totally surprised. It also might make sense of the find the dealer made; while valuing the stamps, he came across two worth £10,000! If he no longer dealt, why carry such valuable stamps around? Diane tells Eddie that Hargreaves was Strickland’s go-between for buying information – such as that from the planning office – and the stamps were a way of disguising the payments. They wanted out; Strickland didn’t want that. Eddie goes to Don, sure that with Andy’s testimony they’d get a conviction, but Andy tries to bluff that he made up everything. Eddie tells him he knows Strickland’s threatened him, but they are going to turn the tables. Strickland meets Andy out on the estuary and talk about what’s happened. Eddie appears and tells him he’s been trapped; out in the bay, the engineer has used the rifle mike to capture every word on tape.

The next case showed how in tune with the times the series could be and showcased talents both new and old. Find The Lady by Philip Martin opens with the performance at a pier pavilion of a punk band fronted by Toola. Gary ‘Mole’ Molecombe comes in and starts to harass her before the band’s promoter, Mal Kenrick, has his bouncers throw him out. He tells Kenrick he knows the promoter had ‘Chrissie’ killed, though Kenrick denies it; the bouncers throw Mole into the sea. Next morning, he is found by a local policeman and taken in. Toola knows one of the DJ’s, ‘Din’ Dinsdale, and he asks Eddie to go and see her. Eddie talks to her then he goes to see Mole at the police station. There, Mole is being slapped around by a motorcycle cop, but it isn’t police brutality; rather it’s exasperation as the copper is Mole’s brother! When Mole’s sent home, Eddie tries to talk to him, but he runs off thinking he’s one of Kenrick’s men and Eddie chases after him. He eventually catches up with him at a café and it seems that Chrissie was in a love triangle with Mole and Kenrick. If Chrissie did go away that’s fine, but if he killed her Mole wants him to pay. He gives Eddie a newspaper clipping of a pretty girl winning a beauty contest. Eddie goes to talk to Kenrick at his swish country home where the promoter confirms most of the story, but sticks to her having ‘gone away’. The only address he has is via fellow agent Nigel Gently. Eddie catches up with him and assistant Nicola doing a promotion; he says he saw Chrissie the week before and would have given her Nicola’s job had she been reliable. Eddie asks Don if he can appeal for Chrissie on Din’s programme; Don was a judge at the pageant the photo was taken at, along with Kenrick. Meanwhile, Mole is keeping tabs and follows Kenrick on a stolen motorbike. Eddie talks to policeman brother Bryan, but he warns him off saying Mole isn’t to be relied on. At a rendezvous Kenrick receives a package before driving back into town. Mole follows the courier to a hideout and waits until he can break in. Kenrick meets Gently, who tells him he doesn’t think Eddie believed him; they also hear the radio appeal for Chrissie. Mole discovers a pill factory at the hideout and steals some as evidence. At Radio West, a photographer comes in with a photo he says he took two days ago. Later, while comparing the photos with Erica, Eddie gets a call; Kenrick has produced Chrissie. Erica and Eddie go down and Eddie meets Chrissie. He suggests it would be a good idea if she talks to Mole and puts his mind at rest, but she isn’t keen to do it. Erica’s not sure Eddie just met Chrissie. The clothes in the ‘new’ photo are last year’s styles, wrong for a fashion-conscious girl if taken recently. As further proof, the shop in the picture changed use ten months earlier. Meanwhile, Mole tries to leave a message for Eddie but is grabbed and forcibly given the pills he stole. Eddie gets what there is of Mole’s message and goes to see him, but paramedics are already there. He plays brother Bryan the message; Mole was obviously onto something. Bryan agrees to let Eddie continue. In the meantime, Kenrick is arguing with Toola about the German tour he has fixed; she tells him her band won’t play it as it’s wrong for them. For his pill-peddling operation it’s vital, as they are hidden in the band’s speaker cabinets. He threatens that if they don’t do the tour, they won’t do one anywhere – ever. Eddie finds the pill factory but can’t get in, so he rushes to the airport to stop the band and Kenrick taking off. Kenrick steals Eddie’s car and roars off down the runway. Eddie jumps on the bonnet, hanging on for dear life as the promoter tries to throw him off. Bryan appears on his motorcycle and forces Kenrick to stop. It transpires that he did kill the real Chrissie in a fit of pique and will go down for it, leaving Toola’s band free of his influence.

This episode more than any other in the first series showed how original Shoestring could be. On the production side, it had an excellent, gritty script from Philip Martin, and some youthful, energetic direction where needed from director Marek Kanievska which lifted it above the excellent episodes already shown. Casting was also one of this episode’s strengths. It featured future Auf Wiedersehen, Pet star Gary Holton as Mole and up and coming, for she had yet to really hit the charts when the episode was filmed, Toyah Willcox as Toola. She provided all the numbers performed in the episode, and her presence would prove to be a major selling point of the episode to a teenage audience who could already identify with Eddie’s healthy disregard for authority figures, dishevelled look and trademark mannerisms. As for showing other artists in a new light, Mum from the OXO adverts, Lynda Bellingham, played swimsuit-clad Nicola, Peter Dean, later known for playing Pete Beale in Eastenders, played Mole’s brother Bryan and most surprisingly Kenrick was played by none other than Christopher Biggins. Predominantly known for his role as the gay inmate Lukewarm in popular sitcom Porridge at that time, the role of Kenrick and Biggins’ portrayal owed more to his performance as Nero in I, Claudius, and he certainly conveys a degree of sinister smarm playing the promoter.

The Partnership written by Michael Armstrong is more regular ground for Eddie, although there’s still more than enough antics from him to keep giving Don the jitters. Sonia’s friend, travel agent Jenny Kelson, is followed by a big Triumph Stag sports car. She stops her Mini to talk to Sonia before going to the filling station across from Radio West to fill up. Out of the window, Sonia accidentally notices the Stag driver talking to her, then deliberately scratches her bonnet before driving off. When Jenny comes in with details for the travel show, Sonia asks if everything’s okay, but she shrugs it off. It’s only after leaving the programme notes with Sonia that the receptionist realises it’s the wrong envelope; inside is a wad of money and a note – “Be a good girl or else!” Sonia takes it to Eddie and asks if he can check up. Eddie goes to the agents and, after Jenny’s finished booking out a holiday for a local footballer, presents her with the envelope. She tries to laugh off the incident, saying the note was a joke from husband Brian, who’s a struggling artist about to have his first exhibition, and she’d stuffed it in the bank envelope with her money; Eddie isn’t convinced. Sonia has a drink with the couple at a local pub. Jenny excuses herself, but Sonia spots the Stag out of the window and goes looking, spotting her with the driver and obviously not happy. Sonia tells Eddie that Jenny is definitely in trouble and he follows her, first on foot, then after hailing a cab up the motorway to a services. He almost loses her, but spots her walking across the bridge to the opposite facility. There she has a stormy argument with the Stag driver. Eddie crouches down between cars to watch, but is spotted by a young lad who thinks he’s a spy! If he is one, why isn’t Eddie taking photos? He hasn’t got a camera – so the lad passes him his father’s! Eddie gets plenty of snaps and leaves his driving licence for the lad’s father to contact him. Eddie needs to follow the driver, but as there are no rental cars he ‘borrows’ the forecourt attendant’s! He follows to a kennels and takes photos of the driver talking to a couple, then into Bristol to a betting shop, where he attempts to overhear the conversation to no avail; he does manage to get the attendant’s car towed away for illegal parking! Don is not pleased since he’s had to field calls from the attendant and the boy’s father, though Eddie promises the case is turning out to be ‘as interesting as the Maltese Falcon’; Don asks with exasperation ‘is it as expensive as Ben Hur?!’ Eddie gets Erica to check the photos with police files and see if either the driver or the man he met have form. Next day Eddie talks to Brian, but other than it’s Jenny who’s the breadwinner, he learns nothing new. He goes back to the kennels and while he’s prowling around hears shots. He comes face to face with the couple and the wrong end of a gun, but Eddie alibis looking to buy a dog; the Martins are gundog breeders and use the rifle to train them. While there, the Stag driver turns up again, but Eddie is unable to pursue this. He learns from Erica that while there’s nothing on the driver, the man in the betting shop was recently paroled after 8 years for armed robbery. This coupled with an interview on the radio concerning a burglary at the home of the footballer Jenny arranged the holiday for while he was abroad gives Eddie an idea. He dopes some sausages and gives them to all the dogs at the kennels; the initial noise almost gets him caught. Later he creeps back and picks the lock on the barn. Inside, as he suspected, are hundreds of items of stolen furniture, antiques and other merchandise. Flushed with success, he’s almost brained by Erica when he goes home as she thinks she has burglars! This gives him another idea. He talks to Jenny, saying he knows what’s happening and it seems that she met the driver, Ray, when he was a burglar alarm salesman down on his luck. Knowing some people who would be away - she’d booked their holidays - she gave him their addresses so he could sell them alarms, but instead he robbed them, only telling her after he’d paid her for the information. Once in, she couldn’t easily get out, especially as she needed money to fund Brian’s exhibition and keep up the mortgage payments; she feels if Brian doesn’t make it soon as an artist, she’ll lose him. She’d finally told Ray she wanted to quit, which was what Sonia had seen. Eddie tells her he’s got to go to the police, or become an accessory, but she begs him for 48 hours until the exhibition is open and Brian’s work starts to sell. Eddie is now able to sell his idea of an exclusive ‘fly on the wall’ documentary to Don, and with Jenny sets Ray up for another burglary – Erica! This time the station wires her house for sound and the police lie in wait, while Erica and Eddie spend the night at a nearby 5 star hotel, all on Radio West! Erica is tense; she’s convinced they’ll get away and her house will be trashed, but all goes to plan. Brian’s exhibition opens and business looks good, though it’s too early for any sales. The only down side is that Eddie and Erica don’t think that Brian has much talent as an artist, thought Eddie muses that perhaps he could help paint his boat!

While not overflowing with well-known guest artists in this episode, struggling artist Brian is played by David Griffin, best known nowadays as the ever-suffering Emmett at the hands or voice of Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping Up Appearances, while the small role of the footballer who is robbed, Bobby Treen, was taken by one Kevin Whately – a further Auf Wiedersehen Pet connection and star of future drama such as Inspector Morse!

Eddie’s first year with Radio West draws to what looks like a stormy close in I’m A Believer by Jim Hawkins. At Bristol University the ‘Star Shiners’, a religious cult, are endeavouring to spread the word of happiness, and sell copies of their record. One of them, Maddy Hopkins, is approached by her mother, who is unhappy about her daughter joining the cult, especially as when she comes of age she’s going to give them the money from her trust fund. Unable to convince her to do otherwise, she phones in for Eddie to help her. Eddie is not happy when he learns that over-zealous news editor Peter Rayburn has already played his supposedly ‘confidential’ tape – the way he sees it, news has priority over Eddie’s show. Eddie takes it to Don and tells him unless confidentiality is maintained, he’ll walk. He goes to see the Shiners and buys a record from Maddy, who doesn’t want to talk, and plays it, but it’s nothing out of the ordinary. The following day he visits the cult at a derelict house they are renovating and talks to group leader, Roger Williams, and Maddy. They seem to be just what they appear, hard-working individuals wanting to leave the rat race for a simpler, non-materialistic life. Maddy tells him she’s happy and is not being forced to give the cult anything she doesn’t want to. Eddie shows the record to one of the DJ’s, who points him to the label’s promoter, American Jim Huckle. He’s happy to talk about the Starshine movement and his dealings with them – and his receptionist Maria is equally keen to listen on the intercom with group leader Roger. Huckle tells Eddie as far as he’s concerned, the cult’s straight. Eddie finds out a bit more from Maddy, including that the cult started in the Cotswolds and that apart from the four houses she’s worked on, the cult has renovated and sold another six, ploughing the proceeds back in. Changing tack, Eddie visits house agents Holdwing and Grace, but gets no help from Mrs Holdwing and in the process picks up a tail. With his enquiries at a bit of a dead end, Eddie gets the DJ to put Roger and Maddy on his show for some free publicity to see if anything else comes out. Eddie and Erica listen in to the show and hear about the cult’s founder, Stephen Steele, currently in the Antarctic. Huckle is also listening; it is obvious he is far more involved. In the engineer’s booth, Rayburn orders reporter Felicity Lamb to follow Eddie; this is a story he wants. Eddie breaks into Huckle’s studio looking for Steele’s address, but is caught and roughed up by Huckle and the man tailing him; as usual Erica has to help with the injuries, even though she can’t bail him out, and neither can the irritated Don next day. While talking to him, Eddie gets a call from the supposedly absent Steele who he visits; Steele seems genuine enough. He is followed by Felicity, and notices her tyre track in the mud when he leaves to visit a house the cult has on the market. She follows and both separately observe the meeting of the cult, addressed by Maria. Felicity is caught, but Eddie comes to her rescue. He’s not happy with her and Rayburn, but is about to show willing when he spots Huckle’s American car. Eddie drives off, gives Felicity the slip, then waits for Huckle. He follows him to a large country house in spacious grounds, then returns home and asks Erica to check who owns it and where Starshine’s registered office is. The next day he goes in for a stormy meeting with Don and Rayburn. Don is on Eddie’s side, but he can see what a good story this would make, so has Felicity pair up with Eddie! They both return to the house, and spot Huckle, Steele, Maria and Mrs Holdwing living it up. They steal Huckle’s car and Eddie drives to the house where Maddy’s group are working. He tells them Starshine is all a con and that Steele has done time for a similar scheme years before. Roger is in on it, and Felicity has copies of social security payments for members he has collected for Steele. Eddie takes Maddy’s group back to confront Steele. Maddy wants to smash everything, but Eddie stops her; selling it all could benefit them, rather than Steele’s growd. He conducts a bizarre show auction, all of which is recorded by Felicity for use on Radio West! Don is well pleased and so is Eddie, considering Rayburn’s interference. Maddy arrives to thank Eddie; they are going to continue, but the members will run their own affairs. The present is a pair of silver cufflinks, but he gives them to Felicity as he never wears them!

A bright future

And so ended Shoestring's first season, airing on Sunday nights on BBC1. Before ITV's return It did brilliantly in the ratings and still held its own well when the channel was back, so a second season was ordered. The unconventional private eye had proved a good gamble, had proved that a basically American format could be done in a British setting and done well, and that this sort of show didn't necessarily have to be set permanently in or around London - Radio West's sets designed by Humphrey Jaeger were filmed at BBC's Ealing studios, but a lot of the exteriors were shot around Bristol where the series was based (Telephone House doubled as Radio West) while other locations used including the pier and seafront at Weston-Super-Mare (in Find The Lady) Swindon and Bath with some additional London locations such as Paddington Station used when appropriate. However, the 'out of London' setting worked well, gave the series a different perspective, and with a different from the norm central character and background, Shoestring went down well with viewers. Things looked bright as the last episode aired and it entered the Eighties with its long-term future seeming well assured. What was next to happen for Eddie, and why, can be seen next issue.

article copyright PPS / M.Hearn 2005