Shoestring

This series was absolutely great fun, intelligent, and much enjoyed by me when I was living in the Bristol/Bath area.

I remember a critic saying that it made "Somerset look like California", but despite its so-called Bristol setting it was ravaged by London accents. It was disappointing that they could not find local actors or actors who could produce a feasible Bristol accent (just add an "l" to any word end in a vowel?) Still, great fun.

Sorry, I also wish that Eddie hadn't been eating and simultaneously drinking quite so heavily in the opening sequences, but then I'm very picky.

One of the great shows that lives on in the memories.

Based in Radio West, Trevor Eve plays Eddie Shoestring, a former cop who, in a plot line with which those familiar with the US series Midnight Caller will identify, proceeds to investigate the crimes off-the-air.

Whereas Midnight Caller worked better when the main character was confined to the studio, Shoestring works best when Shoestring is out and about.

Unfortunately, the absence any reruns or repeats, and the unavailability of a DVD version (apparently due to copyright and licensing problems) means that it will be virtually impossible to ever see this again, while we are subjected to endless repeats of much lesser shows.

A classic - would absolutely love if the BBC would rerun it.

Why isn't this available on video? So many other series are lauded and repeated over and over (Only Fools and Horses, etc.) and go on forever, turning up at Christmas with so called 'specials'. We could certainly do with some more Eddie as the rumours indicate. But I fear, as the times have now changed, and we have become jaded by the amount of detective dramas that the TV channels pump out as a safe bet to win ratings, some new Shoestring wouldn't look as innovative as it quite clearly was. The Beeb for once has repeated something watchable, as a while back, I was able to see some classic episodes again. Especially good was the one where Eddie loses it with a villain at the end.

Get your arse in gear BBC...Put this thing out on DVD!! Now!!

'Shoestring' is, in my view, the finest detective series the B.B.C. has ever made. The same production team were responsible for the later ( and vastly inferior ) 'Bergerac', but it had something the Jersey-based show lacked - Trevor Eve. In his pyjama jacket, Beatles-styled mop ( Eve had once played Paul McCartney on stage ) and sporting a fashionable moustache, the character could easily have crossed the line into parody ( he also had a habit of sketching the people he met in the course of cases ), but Eve made Eddie warm and believable.

Shoestring was originally a computer programmer who'd lost his job as the result of a nervous breakdown. His landlady, Erica Bayliss, worked in the police archives, and was a big help to him as she had access to confidential files. After a case involving a dead prostitute, Eddie was offered his own show by Radio West. Nowhere was Eve's acting ability more impressive than the scene in the second episode where Eddie suffers a fit of nerves whilst on air for the first time. Admittedly, his cases were small beer by comparison with U.S. detectives such as 'Philip Marlowe' - religious cults, fake antiques dealers, punk rockers and dangerous Christmas toys - but the scripts were good and the cast performed them excellently. Special mention must go to George Fenton for his wonderful music, and Sid Sutton for his titles.

'Shoestring' was a big hit ( Cary Grant was reputedly a fan ), even though its second season clashed with 'The Professionals' on I.T.V., and should have run for five years at least. But it was not to be. Fearing typecasting, Trevor Eve quit after two. Due to complicated music rights issues, we are unlikely to see 'Shoestring' on D.V.D. for the foreseeable future. A great shame.

on UKTVDrama on a daily basis.

Watching now it appears a repetitive.

In each episode....

You they (Eddie & Erica) are jumping each others bones.... but its never really revealed.

He always ends up in a car chase in TV's dullest motor. An orange, Mk3 Cortina estate.

He's guaranteed a good kicking at some point.

He gets a bollocking off his boss.

His fellow DJ's will have a pop at him.

DESPITE all that I am still actually quite enjoying the repeat of the series. He's quite a relaxed, yet you sense "not quite right" character. He seems to be bluffing his way through.