However, this time the series had to do more to attract viewers. The first time around it was left virtually to itself while ITV was on strike and only the latter episodes had any sort of reasonable opposition. The second year was going to be more difficult and certainly no one could afford to rest on the laurels.

And indeed as will be seen, that was not the case. More episodes involved Eddie’s background, Erica was seen to be more than just a landlady and a source of information, and both Don and Sonia would see some action and be more involved in some stories than they had been in the first season. The series was on the up.

Eddie’s new series of cases kicks off with Room With A View by Robert Bennett. A vain old woman, Lettie Ross, thinks she’s seen a knife murder committed "Rear Window" style across from her flat at night. She writes to Eddie and he visits. She tells him a light was on, but when Eddie tours with the estate agent he finds no bulb holder in the room. He then visits people who were interested in the house, including a Mrs Fuller whose husband apparently looked it over. He’s supposedly in Berlin; a computer rep away on business and Eddie knows the firm. After his programme, Eddie is visited by Lettie’s daughter Marjorie who warns him off, but Lettie has followed her to Radio West and accosts Eddie as he emerges! Over a drink she tells him that Marjorie and son-in-law Terance own her flat and would like nothing better than to get her into a home so they can sell it. She also remembers that the light in the house was moving so it must have been a torch. Next day Eddie goes to see the surveyor Mr Leacock and he confirms there was a light fitting in the room the day of the ‘murder’. Eddie goes to see property developer Duke Winsor, but he takes offence at his enquiries and has him thrown out but Erica fills him in; Winsor gets squatters to move into a property, ransack it and he gets it discounted. Talking to the squatters at their latest squat yields nothing but alerts Winsor. Eddie goes back to and breaks into the house at night, and is caught by none other than Lettie! She notices that one pane of glass in the room’s window is clean while the rest are dirty, and Eddie realises this is actually about watching a flat below hers. He sees her away, but is himself grabbed by Winsor’s goons; the developer warns him off as he’s bought the house. The flat below Lettie is owned by an orchestra and used for accommodation for visiting soloists. The promoter, Brook, won’t let Eddie see the current occupant Mr Lenkov as he doesn’t want him upset before the performance. After being cautioned by Don after receiving a warning from Lettie’s daughter about indulging her, Eddie takes Lettie to Lenkov’s performance and sees her back to his car while he goes to see the soloist and ask if there’s any reason someone should be watching him; perhaps even the KGB?! Lenkov thinks not; he’s popular at home with his government. Brook isn’t pleased to find Eddie there, although he can do nothing facing the wrath of Lenkov about the badly-tuned piano. Going back to his car, Lettie tells him she’s seen the woman in the car opposite before; it is Mrs Fuller. Brook comes out, gets into the car with her and drives off, giving Eddie further thoughts on what the case is really about. He times the pieces in Tuesday’s performance and realises it’s possible for Brook and Marianne Fuller to be having an affair at the flat and for Brook to be back before the performance ended. He goes back to his old computer company to see an ex-colleague, Jason; this is an ordeal for Eddie as the machines crowd in around him and he almost feels compelled to have another go. Jason confirms that Alan Fuller is not in Berlin as he saw him in town just that week coming out of a hotel! Eddie visits and finds that Fuller paid for a full week but hasn’t been seen since. Inside his abandoned suitcase are details of the house. Meanwhile, Brook finally confesses to Marianne that Alan is dead. Eddie drives to the Fuller’s home, just in time to see Brook and Marianne driving off. He follows and grabs Brook, who tells him the truth; he didn’t kill Alan. He saw the light and thought they were being watched so went to investigate. He found Alan there, but the man had hung himself from the light after seeing them having their affair; what Lettie saw was Brook using the knife to cut the body down so he could take it away and dump it over a local cliff.

Eddie’s next case is brought to him by Don who, in The Teddy Bear’s Nightmare by Leslie Darbon, is initially fishing on a quiet stretch of water. Two lovers upstream on the bank are unaware they are being observed by someone who steals the man’s wallet and the woman’s handbag from their car. He runs off when Don spots him and shouts a warning. He is too far away, so sets off towards the bank, still shouting. The lovers see Don coming, but although they discover the thefts they still hurriedly drive off before he can moor his boat. He finds the bag empty of belongings, so takes it in and puts the matter in Eddie’s hands. Eddie manages to get the woman’s address from the store who sold it from her credit card receipt. Meanwhile, the man has a call; the thief believes he’ll want his wallet back because of the items he found in it and will be in touch. The man, ‘Boxer’, meets the woman, Christine Page, at a local museum; he suggests they report the thefts separately so they can’t be linked, but some of his letters were in her bag. Neither realise the thief is taking pictures of them. Eddie goes to see her, but she denies it’s her bag. However, in the post she receives copies of the photos the thief took so she knows it’s not over. Later, Boxer goes to a farmhouse, unaware he has been followed. Here he meets two other men; it seems one, Anderson, wants to back out of some deal, but Boxer soon convinces him to keep his cool before leaving, watched by the thief who takes a photo when he recognises Anderson. Eddie gets a message to meet Christine, while a local businessman, Cahill, has a visitor; the thief, Stanley Reeves. He wants to sell his information about Boxer and Anderson, who he is sure Cahill is interested in finding. Eddie is put in the picture by Christine, but can’t help feeling there’s more to it. He goes to the museum, and seeing a notice saying ‘no photographs’ gets the receptionist to admit she let Reeves take the photos. Eddie gets her description of him. Meanwhile, Reeves phones Christine with instructions on how to deliver payment for the master copies. She contacts Eddie; she is going to pay up but she wants him to try and grab Reeves. She is moved from phone to phone in the shopping mall and makes the drop. Eddie spots Reeves and chases him over half the shopping centre before loosing him. Cahill has a visit from Boxer; he suggests that Boxer tells him about Anderson for his own good. Erica comes up with a match for Eddie’s description enabling him to track Reeves to a strip club, but yet again he escapes bringing down most of the stage on Eddie and the stripper! Boxer goes to see Christine; he gets her to tell Eddie to drop it. Eddie is not convinced and follows her, discovering she’s a police sergeant and later Erica recognizes Boxer from one of the photos as Det. Inspector Ken Beatty, Drug Squad! Eddie meets him but gets warned off – and later by Don. Feeling aggrieved he confronts Christine and asks for the real story or he goes to the Chief Constable. Beatty was in charge of the drug bust that Anderson is the main witness to, one Cahill is behind.. Eddie visits Reeves and finds out that Cahill is on his way to Anderson, so he calls Beatty and tells him to get over there; on his way he calls in and asks Sonia to put a warning out to Anderson and his minder on the radio, but they do not immediately hear it. Anderson tries to escape, but Cahill arrives with Eddie right on his tail. Eddie chases after Anderson while the cops grab Cahill, but not until the cops arrive with Beatty does Anderson know he’s safe.

With tight direction by future Bond director Martin Campbell, a cracking good story and good performances from all the guest artists – even the DJ played by ex-Basil Brush front man Mr. Roy, Roy North! – this episode was an early candidate for a repeat showing.

The tables are turned in Mocking Bird by William Hood when Eddie becomes the main focus of attention. Erica is watched as she pulls up outside Radio West and enters. She has come for Eddie, who is listening to tapes that are pointed directly at him, making plain that the speaker thinks he’s useless as the Private Ear. He taunts him that the next case will be much closer to home, and while Erica convinces Eddie to go for a drink, the caller attacks a girl in a nearby subway before phoning another taunting message for Eddie. He and Don hear the message later on and Eddie is worried for the women, while Don’s first concern is for the station. Det. Insp. Healey is shown in by security man Tom and Eddie asks what the police are going to do. Don suggests a tap on the phone lines, but Healey doesn’t have the manpower. He is going to have an ID parade; the latest victim caught a glimpse of his face. As everyone leaves, Tom buttonholes Eddie – he could swear he’s heard the voice before. Eddie goes to see his old psychiatrist, Dr Sterling, for a diagnosis; he can’t really tell him much, except that he believes the attacks could escalate. Eddie goes to the ID parade, which is a sham as the only one picked out is Eddie – the attack happened under his publicity poster! He has lunch with Erica and gives her a lift to the courts, but brakes hard when he notices a tape that has mysteriously appeared in his car stereo and is a follow-up to the attack. When he and Don play it back, it tells them something special will happen that night, but taunts Eddie that he’ll never guess what. Eddie pleads with Don to put a warning out, but the police advise against it. Eddie tells Don that, in that case, he resigns. Going back to Erica’s he gets a call from Sonja; they will put out a warning and there is going to be a phone tap, which Eddie goes to lend a hand with, believing he can get them the time needed to trace the call. The intended victim that night is Sonja, on her own doorstep! The attacker calls Erica and leaves his message about her; she contacts Healey to tell him. Don’s advised to pull Eddie’s show and Eddie is happy to oblige, he’s had enough. The next day he visits Sonia in hospital and is pleased she’s making a swift recovery. She has a message for him to go and see security man Tom, who does voluntary work on the hospital radio. Tom reckons he’s placed the voice, an ex-patient, Ronald James Bazely. Being an ex-copper, Tom’s even got the man’s address from hospital records. Eddie goes to see Bazely’s wife, but find they’re separated. However, she tells him he was working as a 24hour plumber so Eddie rings round and gets a lead. At the same time another message comes in; this time he’s taunted it’s ‘the big one’. Don warns all the women in the office not to leave alone while Eddie goes to Ring-A-Rod. He gets no joy from the owner, but leaving he hears the man give Bazely a warning over the radio and tracks him down to a local pub before following him home to a caravan site. Bazely tries to escape as Eddie corners him, but his mother clubs him down and Bazely escapes. Returning home, Eddie finds a message on Erica’s answerphone – in his voice! He goes to his boat as the tape asks, and catches Erica before she boards. While he checks inside Erica is attacked, but her attacker escapes on a motorbike before Eddie can catch him; Erica is just shaken. Later as Eddie reviews the answerphone tape he gets a call from Tom, who’s at the station on security. He tells him Bazely has just come, then hangs up. Eddie goes to the station, but it’s a ruse; Tom attacks Eddie, but he manages to defend himself. Tom locks Eddie in a studio before ranting at him over the talkback. Why should Eddie be the Private Ear? Tom was in the police before his accident, and has radio skills from his hospital radio. What has Eddie got? Nothing. His taunting pushes Eddie too far and he throws a chair through the studio’s dividing screen. As Tom shields himself from flying glass, Eddie leaps through and grabs him. He almost goes over the edge, but pulls back just in time and phones for the police instead.

Even after the previous episode, director Ben Bolt cranks things up a notch and gives Trevor Eve more than usual to put into the character. This season certainly pushes Eddie’s background to the fore, with many episodes including references back to his history, both his computer job and his later breakdown. Here we not only meet Dr Sterling, played by the late Frederick Jaeger, who treated Eddie as part of his psychoanalysis, but also push at Eddie’s mental state nearly driving him over the edge and Eve’s performance as the hounded target, powerless at many points to stop the attacks, is one of his best in the entire series.

In his next case, the music industry’s under the spotlight in a not dissimilar way to Find The Lady in the previous series. The Mayfly Dance by Bill Craig starts innocently enough when bass player Mike Frewin hitches a lift on his way to Bristol for a gig. On the radio comes an old song by Jody Brent, "Lazy Daisy", and when the driver asks he says he may have heard a ghost. Don wants Eddie to find Jody; interest has rocketed since DJ Jake Revere started getting requests for it and the record company are re-pressing the disc. Don smells a story and Eddie is to get it. He sees Jake, who has a good line in nicknames for him such as ‘bootlace’ and ‘tieclip’. He can’t tell him much, but puts him on to Jody’s ex-manager, Miriam Mitchelson, in London who may help. One of Radio West’s lawyers, Gilray, receives a visit from a journalist who knows of his previous association with Jody. He’d like Gilray’s help in tracking him down before Eddie does, but Gilray isn’t interested. As Erica is also going to London for a boring police conference, Eddie gets her to check with Companies House about Asacs Promotions, who are collecting the play fees, while he goes to see Mitchelson. He gatecrashes her publicity event and she tells him nothing except she has nothing to do with the pop industry any more. That isn’t what Erica has found out, as Mitchelson and Gilray are both listed as directors of Asacs Promotions! When Eddie goes into the station next morning, Sonia tells him Miriam has requested a meeting with him and that Frewin has been in to see Don about his interest in "Lazy Daisy". Frewin later goes to see one of the requesters of the record, Vera Oakley. She is not pleased to see him and during their conversation it becomes apparent that she was one of the last to see Jody. He leaves and she tries to catch the last post to get her latest request back but fails. Miriam tells Eddie that Jody has retired to California and doesn’t want to be traced; she has a tape of her phone conversation to prove it. Eddie plays the tape to Jake, who comments Jody’s voice hasn’t changed a bit. Jake’s also checked out the rest of the band and it seems Miriam isn’t telling the truth; she can’t have traced him through the band’s drummer Fred as Jake reveals he’s six feet under! After asking Don about Frewin’s involvement, the boss lets slip about the station’s lawyers being involved, jogging Eddie’s memory about Gilray. He goes to see him, finding him and Miriam deep in conversation about his own enquiries. Gilray tells him to expect further action and has him ejected. Eddie goes to see Frewin, who confirms it’s Jody on the tape and also that no one would have told him anything because of the money aspect. He then goes to see former band member Harry who’s now a cattle farmer. He tells him that Jody wasn’t in California when he saw him, which was recently in Cardiff! Back at the station it seems one of the "Lazy Daisy" requests has stirred up trouble; supposedly it was sent in by a girl, Penny, who actually died 18 years ago and was heard by her mother! This was the request Vera tried to stop. Gilray advises that the station isn’t really responsible and tells Eddie that he’s explained everything about his association to Don. Don asks Eddie to try and track down the real culprit; Mike Frewin has seen the paper and already knows. When Eddie goes to see the dead girl’s mother, he finds that Gilray has already sent an apology coupled with a cheque, which indicates he still has an interest in Jody Brent. He asks about the circumstances of Penny’s death; apparently Vera left her to go home with her boyfriend. Penny must have tripped, fallen in the river and drowned, getting washed down to the docks where she was found. Eddie asks Sonia to check the station’s files for requests that have come in on the same pink notepaper while he goes to see the DJ. Jake tells him Miriam’s tape is a forgery; it’s a scripted tape with blanks for questions given to DJ’s for ‘personalised interviews’ in the Sixties. Sonia also confirms Eddie’s hunch with the notepaper, which gives Vera’s address. He goes to see her, but finds her dead and the place ransacked. Eddie confronts Don about Gilray’s involvement and his boss lets slip about some of the lawyer’s other work, including a dockland development in Cardiff. While he is on the road, Gilray realises all is coming down on top of them. He phones Radio West to speak to Eddie and Sonia tells him where he’s gone. Eddie arrives at the docks and finds Jody working as a painter as Gilray and Miriam arrive. Gilray wants Jody to tell Eddie nothing, but he tells all. Eighteen years before they were at Gilray’s house, him, Fred, Vera and Penny having a party. Penny fell in the pool and they were too drunk to realise she’d drowned. It was an accident that Gilray and Miriam wanted to protect themselves and Jody from, so when they arrived on the scene they got rid of her body at the docks and told everyone to stay quiet as the business investments would see them comfortable. Everyone did, until years later Vera started her blackmail with the requests. That morning, Gilray paid Vera £10,000, which is now missing. Not for long, as Mike Frewin, Penny’s ex-boyfriend, is arrested for Vera’s murder and will be charged along with all the others for the cover-up of Penny’s accident.

The episode plays up the nostalgia angle heavily, including ‘faked’ video footage of the Jody Brent Band from the Sixties and the flashback sequence at the end for the denouement. Like Find The Lady it also features some notable guest artists including Michael Craig as Gilray, Ann Bell as Miriam, Peter Blake as Frewin and for both comedy relief and for plotting purposes, comic performer Lance Percival as DJ Jake Revere. It even includes in the flashback sequence someone beamed up a few years before, ex-Tomorrow People star Peter Vaughan Clarke here playing the young Fred! ‘Lazy Daisy’ was specially composed for the episode, but not by George Fenton who supplied the series’ theme and incidental music. Instead it was composed by BBC light entertainment maestro, the inimitable and prolific Ronnie Hazelhurst.

Being in the right place at the right time brings the next investigation Eddie’s way in The Farmer Had A Wife by William Hood, although by the end you feel it is actually a shame for the central character that he got involved at all. A farmer, Mortimer, goes about his daily business as best he can, as various policemen are searching his watercress beds for his missing wife and it is obvious they consider him the chief suspect. Taking a nap, he wakes to find locals outside have smeared his windows with the cress and he punches one of them. The assault goes to court on the same day Eddie is there as witness in another case and so is Erica. One of the locals, Miss Atwell, puts Eddie in the picture regarding the village’s perception of Mortimer. Eddie’s case is adjourned, so he stays to hear the farmer’s case where he’s bound over. Later, he gets a call from Miss Atwell purporting to have ‘new evidence’. Eddie goes to the village and sees Mortimer, offering to prove that he didn’t murder his wife. He tells Eddie that his wife Rosemary just upped and left after 12 years of marriage, taking money from the farm account with her and nothing else. He also cautions Eddie that the villagers will make up anything they don’t know, something Eddie already suspects. At the local bowls match, he talks to Miss Atwell and other villagers, which pretty much confirms that opinion. However, Miss Atwell does say Rose had had to borrow a pound from Gladys Robinson the day she left to pay the milk; odd if she’d taken money from the petty cash. He talks to Gladys, who cleaned for Rose since the Mortimers came to Gadfold. As far as she could tell Rose’d not even taken toiletries, yet Gladys considered her the tidiest woman around. He goes back to ask Mortimer some further questions; he’s a marine geologist who saw that there was water under the farmland just ripe for tapping and turning into flooded paddies for growing cress. The villagers opposed it, hence when he finally went ahead he had little else to do with them. He’d spent time out in Hong Kong, where he met Rose who was a music teacher, and a comment from Eddie about the local Chinese restaurant run by Hong Kong Herbie seems to cause a reaction. Eddie returns to Gladys who tells him Rose left him once before; Mortimer has already denied this to him. On the day she left this time Rosemary rang Gladys for the local paper; a paper they never took. Eddie takes Erica out to Herbie’s for a meal and the restaurateur tells them that when out in Hong Kong, one man on Mortimer’s survey, Jimmy Stevens, took a shine to Rose. Mortimer went out on a survey with him and there was a Land Rover ‘accident’ in which Stevens was killed. Going back to Mortimer’s farm, Eddie finds him burning Rose’s clothes which doesn’t help convince he’s not guilty. He tells Eddie he couldn’t face them being there any more, but if she comes back she can start afresh. Eddie brings up Stevens, but the response is not one of someone caught red-handed, just surprised. He agrees to let Eddie look through her remaining things and gets a couple of photos of her. He also finds out that the first ‘disappearance’ was to her sister in Canada and that both Mortimer and the police knew where she was. However, after getting a back copy of the paper Rose ordered and making a call to the sister – which disproves what Mortimer said – it leaves many questions. He goes to inquire of local doctor Clare Wilson – and accidentally gets drowned by her hose sprinkler! – but all she can tell him is that Rose did attend the practice during her first ‘disappearance’ and saw the locum, who Eddie goes to see at the University where he now teaches. Christopher Knightley remembers her, but refuses to say any more that could help. During his broadcast, Eddie puts out a request for Rose to get in touch to let him know she’s safe and it is heard by both Mortimer and Knightley. Next morning, Eddie goes for a run and is grabbed by three other joggers who throw him in the lake, warning him to ‘lay off Rosemary Mortimer’. When he later describes them to Erica, she identifies their tracksuits as University rowing club issue, and Knightley is their coach. He goes to his house where there is a garden party and persuades him to tell all or he’ll tell his wife. It seems Rose and he were lovers nine years ago, and she got pregnant by him. Mortimer, knowing it wasn’t his, wanted her to have an abortion, but Rose ran away and had the child; the girl was called Mary and was adopted. Eddie confronts Mortimer about this; the man says as far as he’s concerned, it’s the past. Eddie doesn’t think so, but says he’ll try to find Rose so she can make the choice about coming back. Talking it over with Don, Eddie notices in the paper a picture of the station manager presenting a school music prize to a nine year old girl named Mary Clarke. He goes to the school run by nuns, who are most helpful, especially when they identify their new music teacher Mrs Grainger from Rose’s photograph! Eddie sees Mary playing for her mother; she’s a fine student. After Mary has left the room, he speaks to her in the chapel. She’d heard Mary playing on the radio and just had to see her, that was why she left. Mortimer enters; Eddie has told him where Rose can be found, however she won’t go back to him. That night, Eddie makes his latest broadcast, using the case as his theme, and says how sorry he feels that it hasn’t worked out for Mortimer. Unfortunately, while the show is going out, the farmer is lying dead on the kitchen floor; knowing Rose wouldn’t be coming back, he has shot himself. It is left to the viewer to decide whether this would have happened had Eddie not offered his services in the first place.

Again there are good performances from Ronald Hines as David Mortimer and ex Z-Cars regular Gary Watson as Knightley. Other future notables who appear are Eastender Pam St. Clement as Gladys Robinson and guesting as the DJ an actor who would go on to have quite a Hollywood career, winning an Oscar for his performance in My Left Foot - Daniel Day Lewis!

To second page of article >>>

article copyright PPS / M.Hearn 2005