Fri 29 Aug 2014
A TV Review by Michael Shonk: SHOESTRING “Mocking Bird†(1980).
Posted by Steve under TV mysteries[3] Comments
by Michael Shonk
“Mocking Bird.” An episode of SHOESTRING. BBC/BBC1, UK, 19 October 1980. Cast: Trevor Eve as PI Eddie Shoestring, Michael Medwin as Don Satchley, Doran Goodwin as Erica Bayliss and Liz Crowther as Sonia. Guest Cast: Frederick Jaeger, John J. Carney, Patti Love, David Sibley. Created by Richard Harris and Robert Banks Stewart. Written by William Hood. Theme by George Fenton. Directed by Ben Bolt. Produced by Robert Banks Stewart.
SHOESTRING is perhaps as fondly remembered overseas as THE ROCKFORD FILES remains here in the States. And it is easy to see why as both are blessed with clever writing, likeable characters and a talented lead actor.
SHOESTRING is on DVD but has never been released on the American format NTSC region 1 so you will need a multi-format DVD player if you wish to buy the DVD.
While there are more episodes of the series on YouTube, I have chosen a special program, SHAW TAYLOR’S CRIME FILES where British celebrity Shaw Taylor MBE takes a quick look at the series. A complete episode of SHOESTRING from its second season “Mocking Bird†begins around the 3:19 point.
SHOESTRING was still popular when Trevor Eve decided to leave due to his fear of being type-casted. Here is an excerpt from a popular British TV series CULT OF… that looked at various cult TV favorites, in this case THE CULT OF SHOESTRING.
For even more information about SHOESTRING, you can read this page from the BFI site.
August 30th, 2014 at 10:57 am
Thanks for this, Michael. I’ve known about this series in a rather vague way for quite a while, and this short post of yours has already triggered some investigative work on my part.
The series is, as you say, never been released to US audiences, but I do have a multi-region player. It can also be obtained on all-region DVDs on a collector-to-collector basis from fans of the show in England, should you choose to go that route.
August 30th, 2014 at 3:07 pm
You can actually get the first series on DVD from BBC video, although getting clearances on all of the pop music that can be heard in the background of the episodes was a lot of work. They more or less said that they’ll only release the second series if enough people buy the first!
It was a terrific show. Veteran writer Robert Banks Stewart came up with the idea for the show when he was asked to revamp an ailing thick-ear drama called TARGET which no-one at the BBC seemed to like. Wanting to do something ‘like the ROCKFORD FILES’ he took inspiration from a real life radio show called CHECKPOINT, where Roger Cook faced down crooked businessmen and con-artists on behalf of listeners. The other creator was AVENGERS writer Richard Harris, who saw the show as being more downbeat and gritty, but bowed out when his pilot script was re-written. The show was of consistently of high quality, and rode high in the ratings. Because it only ran twos series it did not outstay its welcome, and left viewers hungry for more, although the fact that it only ran the equivalent of one US season meant that there was probably little chance that US viewers would see it.
MOCKING BIRD is credited to William Hood, actually veteran TV writer Robert Holmes, who used the pseudonym after having to do a major rewrite on someone else’s script. The real life serial killer Peter Sutcliffe-The Yorkshire Ripper, was a clear inspiration for the show. During the hunt for the killer, the police received a mocking phone message jeering at them for failing to capture him (if fact it was a hoax, and not from Sutcliffe).The real-life killer would be captured only a couple of months after this episode was shown.
This episode has a particularly good performance from Trevor Eve. The background story to Shoestring revealed that he had been a computer programmer, but underwent a nervous breakdown, after which he became a private eye. In one or two episodes he gets agitated when under pressure, but here he is pushed very close to the edge, and near the climax of the story there are some quite unnerving moments when you really don’t know what he is going to do.
August 30th, 2014 at 3:44 pm
BRADSTREET, thanks for all the information. “Mocking Bird” is second season so not available on DVD.
The only series where the background was as important as it was to SHOESTRING was WKRP IN CINCINNATI, a series that had the same problems.
The light tone certainly set it apart from much of 70s British detectives lead by THE SWEENY and must have been a nice release from the dark violent times.
For those who watch the entire video will be treated to some pieces of other shows. One I think is POLICE 5, a five minute police show narrated by Shaw Taylor (“Keep ’em peeled”) and CRIMINAL RECORD, a show about TV detective soundtracks I would love to watch someday.
And Steve, I think SHOESTRING was one of the few successful British TV series not aired in the U.S. While American TV networks in the 60s commonly added British TV series to its schedule, by the late seventies and early 80s few British detectives made it to American unless it was on PBS. Sadly, PBS focused then on the traditional British mystery.