Shoestring

Shoestring, starring: Trevor Eve, Doran Godwin, Michael Medwin and Liz Crowther, is a fun series. Fans, being the resourceful people that we are, share things we enjoy. I would have never gotten to see some of the great British TV series, if I had not met someone on the internet who had introduced me to something that intrigued them. Shoestring is one of those series.

It is the story of a frumpy, private investigator called Eddie Shoestring(Trevor Eve). He had a nervous breakdown while working as a computer analyst and smashed his computer with a hammer. He was instituionalized. After a short period of counseling his psychologist taught him to use art as a stress releaser, so when he begins to get nervous he draws caractures of the object of his stress. Eddie lives in the upper room of a terraced house in Bristol, England. His landlady is the Solicitor Erica Bayliss(Doran Godwin) who works with the police. Eddie is often out of work and owes Erica back rent, but she has a soft spot for him, if not an available g-spot. The fact that these two have a sexual relationship is obvious from the beginning.

Following a widespread British pattern, the local radio station, Radio West, occaisionally invites local people on for interview. The station manager, Don Satchley(Michael Medwin) invites Erica for an interview to help locals with dealing with the police. Radio West is in the process of it's own scandal. It's star Presenter, David Cairn(William Russell), is having a relationship with a young, local prostitute. In the process of visiting one of her clients, she cracks up, steals Cairns Rolls Royce and dies of hypothermia on the beach due to a drug and alcohol overdose. Satchley is at a loss of what to do and asks Erica for help. She introduces Satchley to Shoestring and Eddie solves the mystery. Satchley is impressed with Eddie's abilities and after a suggestion by their receptionist, Sonia(Liz Crowther) hires Eddie to be the station's "Private Ear". Eddie now provides a free service to the public. They write to him and if the need is interesting, he investigates it and the relates the stories on the aire, leaving out the real names, of course to protect the privacy of the listener.

The chemistry between all the actors makes this a fun series. It is lite entertainment that I wish would be available to the general public. There is a large fan base for it and even an unofficial website for fans.

Mr. Eve left the series because of a fear that he would be stereotyped. He had a valid concern. This series would have run for several years. It was that good. But now Mr. Eve has a wider fan base, both in the US and Great Britain, because of his excellant work in film and stage. I hope, now that he has the rights to the show, he might consider releasing it on vhs or dvd.

Shoestring was a unique series, a ratings winner for the BBC it was perhaps the most popular thing around at the time and spurned a fashion for loud pyjama style shirts! At the core of the show was Trevor Eve, a superb actor who played Eddie Shoestring with power and frightening intensity. Always on edge, you never knew how Eddie, the former mental patient turned Private Eye would react, and you kind of guessed another breakdown was always on the cards (none more so than in Mocking Bird). There wasnt a bad episode in this show, and Eve quit after two series leaving us with a show whose legacy was untarnished, giving a good lesson to other series that carry on long past their time. The show gave us some superb cameos too. Toyah Wilcox turns up as a wannabe pop star long before she was one and Christopher Biggins, Peter Dean, Michael Elphick, Eric Richard, Sean Arnold not forgetting Bert Kwouk

(better knowk as Peter Seller's sidekick Cato) all turn up in this series. The last episode The Dangerous Game is like a roll call of the future stars of The Bill, Boon, Dear John and I am sure many others besides. Eddie went out on a high and there are rumours that the eagle may fly again, Trevor Eve's wife dropping a less than subtle hint in a recent interview. I must mention Michael Medwin & Liz Crowther as the radio station stalwarts and of course Erica Bayliss, Eddie's long suffering girlfriend without whom this series would have missed something. Despite this, the glory of this show beloged to one man, Trevor Eve.

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.

I've always loved detective stories and this is one of my favorites. Unfortunately, I don't remember much of it, because I was only about 6 years old when I saw this serial. I still remember the title music, which, later on I found out was the "Songbird" tune... The private-eye (Trevor eve) was perfect for the "not-normal" character, looked and acted the part well. Quite a thrilling thriller, quite and edge of the seat at the same time! I wish they would re-telecast this series once again so that I could refresh my memory... I'd give it a 9/10.