List of Public Eye episodes

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Public Eye is a British television drama series that ran from 1965 to 1975, a total of 87 episodes were produced over a run of seven series over the course of ten years. The first three series were produced by ABC Television, and the remaining four series were produced by Thames Television. The series was created by Roger Marshall and Anthony Marriott, and it deals with an enquiry agent Frank Marker (Alfred Burke) who handles various cases and investigations through the course of the series.

Series 1 (1965)[edit]

The first series was set in London, and premiered on ABC Television on the 23 January 1965; although at the time the series was not given a network broadcast across the ITV Network, since at the time the regional companies were given the freedom to broadcast programmes at different dates or choose not to take up the show at all.[1][2] Only Southern Television and Ulster Television broadcast this series at the same time as ABC, while this series was broadcast later the same year by Associated Television, Border, Channel, Grampian, Scottish Television, Tyne Tees, TWW and Westward. Just one episode, i.e. The Morning Wasn't So Hot, was shown by Teledu Cymru, while the series was not taken up by Anglia.[3] At fifteen episodes long the series has the longest run of the seven series that were produced, though due to the archival policies at the time many of the episodes from this series were junked or lost, and today only two episodes are currently known to survive in the archives.[4][5] Initially the episode "The Morning Wasn't So Hot" was slated to be the opening episode, but in the end ABC replaced with "All For a Couple of Ponies" instead, and the former episode was broadcast later on in the series.[6]

No. overall No. in Series Title Air Date Directed By Written By Status Media
1 1 "All For a Couple of Ponies" 23 January 1965 Kim Mills Roger Marshall Missing No
2 2 "Nobody Kills Santa Claus" 30 January 1965 Kim Mills Roger Marshall Exists 16mm TR
3 3 "They Go Off in the End - Like Fruit" 6 February 1965 Robert Tronson Martin Worth Missing No
4 4 "Dig You Later" 13 February 1965 Kim Mills Roger Marshall Missing No
5 5 "I Went to Borrow a Pencil and Look What I Found" 20 February 1965 Jonathan Alwyn Terence Frisby Missing No
6 6 "But the Joneses Never Get Letters" 27 February 1965 Laurence Bourne William Emms Missing No
7 7 "A Harsh World For Zealots" 6 March 1965 Laurence Bourne Michael Cahill Missing No
8 8 "And a Very Fine Fiddle Has He" 13 March 1965 Laurence Bourne Robert Holmes Missing No
9 9 "My Life, That's a Marriage" 20 March 1965 Kim Mills Michael Hastings Missing No
10 10 "You'll Think It'll Be Marvellous – But It's Always a Rabbit" 27 March 1965 Mark Lawton Robert Holmes Missing No
11 11 "Protection is a Man's Best Friend" 3 April 1965 Laurence Bourne Mike Watts Missing No
12 12 "The Morning Wasn't So Hot" 10 April 1965 Kim Mills Roger Marshall Exists 405 VT
13 13 "You Should Hear Me Eat Soup" 17 April 1965 Patrick Dromgoole Terence Frisby Missing No
14 14 "You Have to Draw the Line Somewhere" 24 April 1965 Tony Robertson Martin Worth Missing No
15 15 "Have It On The House" 1 May 1965 Guy Verney Roger Marshall Missing No

Series 2 (1966)[edit]

For the second series, the setting changed to Birmingham as Marker is forced to move operations as London becomes increasingly unaffordable for him. This change in location was in part motivated by ABC's drive to produce more of their shows in the Midlands, at their studios in Aston, near Birmingham. Only Ulster simultaneously broadcast this series at the same time as ABC, other ITV companies such as Anglia, Border, Grampian, Associated-Rediffusion, Southern and Tyne Tees transmitted the series a day earlier, while Channel, Scottish Television, TWW and Westward started transmitting the series later in July or in August.[7] Teledu Cymru only showed five episodes of Series 2. This series is slightly shorter than the previous, a total of thirteen episodes were produced. Likewise with the previous series, only two episodes are currently known to survive from this series, although audio recordings for the last five episodes have been recovered.

No. overall No. in Series Title Air Date Directed By Written By Status Media
16 1 "All the Black Dresses She Wants" 2 July 1966 Kim Mills Martin Worth Missing No
17 2 "Don't Forget You're Mine" 9 July 1966 Kim Mills Roger Marshall Exists 16mm TR
18 3 "I Could Set It To Music" 16 July 1966 Basil Coleman Julian Bond Missing No
19 4 "It's a Terrible Way to Be" 23 July 1966 Guy Verney Hugh Leonard Missing No
20 5 "You Can Keep the Medal" 30 July 1966 Guy Verney Julian Bond Missing No
21 6 "You're Not Cinderella, Are You?" 6 August 1966 Quentin Lawrence Roger Marshall Missing No
22 7 "Works with Chess, Not with Life" 13 August 1966 Basil Coleman Roger Marshall Exists 405 VT
23 8 "It Had to Be a Mouse" 20 August 1966 Kim Mills Robert Holmes Missing No
24 9 "Tell Me About the Crab" 27 August 1966 Jonathan Alwyn Jack Trevor Story Missing[8] Audio only
25 10 "No. No, Nothing Like That" 3 September 1966 Quentin Andrews James Andrew Hall Missing[9] Audio only
26 11 "There Are More Things in Heaven and Earth" 10 September 1966 Tony Robertson Julian Bond Missing[10] Audio only
27 12 "Twenty Pounds of Heart and Muscle" 17 September 1966 Piers Haggard Robert Holmes Missing[11] Audio only
28 13 "What's the Matter? Can't You Take a Sick Joke?" 24 September 1966 Guy Verney Hugh Leonard Missing[12] Audio only

Series 3 (1968)[edit]

The third and final series to be produced by ABC Television, prior to the company losing their weekend franchise in July 1968 following the franchise review called on by the ITA on the 12 June 1967. This was the last series not be networked across the ITV regional companies.[13] This series was broadcast later the same year by Border, Grampian, Scottish Television, Southern, Tyne Tees and Ulster, though the series was not taken up by Anglia, Channel, Westward and TWW. This series has the worst survival rate out of all seven series, only one episode "The Bromsgrove Venus" is known to survive in the archives. A further 5 minute fragment from another episode "It Must Be the Architecture - Can't Be the Climate" was recovered from a Umatic recording of an ABC Promotional Reel produced at the time.[14] It was also the second and last series to be set in Birmingham, and also the last to be broadcast on a Saturday, a practice that had been maintained for the past three series.

No. overall No. in Series Title Air Date Directed By Written By Status Media
29 1 "If This is Lucky, I'd Rather Be Jonah" 20 January 1968 Patrick Dromgoole David Whitaker Missing No
30 2 "But What Good Will The Truth Do?" 27 January 1968 Quentin Lawrence Martin Worth Missing No
31 3 "Memories of Meg" 3 February 1968 Dennis Vance Robert Banks Stewart Missing No
32 4 "Have Mud, Will Throw" 10 February 1968 Peter Duguid Roger Marshall Missing No
33 5 "But They Always Come Back For Tea" 17 February 1968 Kim Mills Roger Marshall Missing No
34 6 "Mercury in an Off-White Mac" 24 February 1968 Kim Mills Roger Marshall Missing No
35 7 "Strictly Private and Confidential" 2 March 1968 Patrick Dromgoole Alun Falconer Missing No
36 8 "Honesty Is the Best Policy - But Who Can Afford the Premiums?" 9 March 1968 Robert Tronson Bill Craig Missing No
37 9 "The Bromsgrove Venus" 16 March 1968 Jim Goddard Anthony Skene Exists 405 VT
38 10 "It Must Be the Architecture - Can't Be the Climate" 23 March 1968 Jim Goddard Robert Holmes Missing[15] Excerpt Only
39 11 "It's Learning About the Lies That Hurts" 30 March 1968 Kim Mills Robert Holmes Missing No
40 12 "There's No Future in Monkey Business" 6 April 1968 Alan Gibson Brian Hayles Missing No
41 13 "Cross That Palm When We Come to It" 13 April 1968 Peter Duguid Roger Marshall Missing No

Series 4 (1969)[edit]

The first series to be produced by Thames Television following the franchise review in 1967 where ABC lost their licence for weekend broadcasting, and had merged with Associated-Rediffusion to form Thames Television. At seven episodes long, this series had the shortest run of the show's tenure. This series was also the first to be fully networked across the ITV regions, and the first series to have all its episodes survive in the archives. The series marks a change in tone after two series set in Birmingham; following on from Frank's arrest and sentencing to prison at the end of the previous series, he is released on probation and attempts to rebuild his life by relocating to Brighton. Each episode was written by co-creator Roger Marshall and constructed as a seven part serial.[16] In the run up to the commencement of colour broadcasting on both BBC1 and ITV in November 1969, the final episode of the series, "A Fixed Address" was taped in colour, although the episode still used the same monochrome title sequence from that series and was also broadcast in monochrome. This series also saw the introduction of semi-regular supporting characters, which was a feature absent up to this point in the show's run. This series introduced Marker's landlady Helen Mortimer (Pauline Delaney) who would appear in almost every episode in this series and would appear on a semi regular basis on subsequent series.[17] John Grieve also regularly appeared through this series as his probabtion officer Jim Hull. Up to now the series had been broadcast on Saturday, but with the show now being produced by Thames whose licence only extended to weekday broadcasting, the transmission day was switched to Wednesday, and it would remain this way until the end of Series 6.

No. overall No. in Series Title Air Date Directed By Written By Status Media
42 1 "Welcome to Brighton"[18] 30 July 1969 Kim Mills Roger Marshall Exists 625 VT (B&W)
43 2 "Divide and Conquer" 6 August 1969 Jim Goddard Roger Marshall Exists 625 VT (B&W)
44 3 "Paid in Full" 13 August 1969 Guy Verney Roger Marshall Exists 625 VT (B&W)
45 4 "My Life's My Own" [19][20] 20 August 1969 Kim Mills Roger Marshall Exists 625 VT (B&W)
46 5 "Case For the Defence" 27 August 1969 Guy Verney Roger Marshall Exists 625 VT (B&W)
47 6 "The Comedian's Grave" 3 September 1969 Jonathan Alwyn Roger Marshall Exists 625 VT (B&W)
48 7 "A Fixed Address"[21][22] 10 September 1969 Kim Mills Roger Marshall Exists 625 VT (Colour)

Series 5 (1971)[edit]

For the fifth series, the setting changed again to Eton and the surrounding Windsor area, it would remain as the primary setting until early on in Series 7. At thirteen episodes long, this series was double the length from the previous series, and this format would remain this way for the remainder of the show's tenure. Filming on the series commenced in late November 1970,[23] a few weeks after the ITV Colour Strike commenced when technicians went on strike after demanding higher wages for using the new colour studio equipment, and subsequently five episodes from this series were taped in monochrome. The first episode to be taped in colour was "I Always Wanted a Swimming Pool" in March 1971, a few weeks after the strike had ended. Due to the series being shot out of sequence, the monochrome episodes were changed around for broadcast and were not transmitted together.[24] This series also marked the only one without any episodes written by series co-creator Roger Marshall. This series also saw the introduction of DS Percy Firbank (Ray Smith) who keeps a close eye on Marker after he sets up business in the area, over time they would establish a friendship and assist each other on cases, he would become the series longest running supporting character, making a total of fourteen appearances over three series .[25] Nell Holdsworth (Brenda Cavendish) also made frequent appearances through this series.

No. overall No. in Series Title Air Date Directed By Written By Status Media
49 1 "A Mug Named Frank"[26][27] 7 July 1971 Quentin Lawrence Michael Chapman Exists 625 VT (B&W)
50 2 "Well-There Was This Girl, You See..." 14 July 1971 Jim Goddard Philip Broadley Exists 625 VT (B&W)
51 3 "Slip Home in the Dark" 21 July 1971 Peter Duguid Ray Jenkins Exists 625 VT (B&W)
52 4 "I Always Wanted a Swimming Pool" 28 July 1971 Dennis Vance Philip Broadley Exists 625 VT (Colour)
53 5 "The Beater and the Game" 4 August 1971 Peter Duguid Michael Chapman Exists 625 VT (Colour)
54 6 "Come Into the Garden, Rose" 11 August 1971 Bill Bain David Livingstone Exists 625 VT (B&W)
55 7 "And When You've Paid the Bill, You're None the Wiser" 18 August 1971 Piers Haggard Trevor Preston Exists 625 VT (Colour)
56 8 "Who Wants to Be Told Bad News?" 25 August 1971 Douglas Camfield Trevor Preston Exists 625 VT (Colour)
57 9 "The Man Who Didn't Eat Sweets" 1 September 1971 James Gatward Richard Harris Exists 625 VT (Colour)
58 10 "Ward of Court" 8 September 1971 William G. Stewart James Doran Exists 625 VT (Colour)
59 11 "Transatlantic Cousins" 15 September 1971 Dennis Vance James Doran Exists 625 VT (Colour)
60 12 "Shades of White"[28] 22 September 1971 Piers Haggard Robert Muller Exists 625 VT (B&W)
61 13 "John VII, Verse 24" 29 September 1971 David Wickes Peter Hill Exists 625 VT (Colour)

Series 6 (1972-3)[edit]

The sixth series and the first to be taped entirely in colour. This series was beset by a couple of broadcast delays, the transmission date for episode three "Many a Slip" was delayed by a week due to Boxing coverage of the bout between Muhammad Ali vs. Bob Foster from the previous day,[29][30] and it also faced a mid series delay when episode seven "A Family Affair" was postponed by a week, as there was no broadcast scheduled immediately after Christmas.[31] This was also the second and last series to wholly be set in Eton, since the setting would change early on in the following series. It was also the last series to be broadcast on a Wednesday, a practise that had been maintained since Series 4.

No. overall No. in Series Title Air Date Directed By Written By Status Media
62 1 "The Bankrupt" 8 November 1972 James Gatward James Doran Exists 625 VT (Colour)
63 2 "Girl in Blue" 15 November 1972 Dennis Vance Roger Marshall Exists 625 VT (Colour)
64 3 "Many a Slip"[32] 29 November 1972 David Wickes John Kershaw Exists 625 VT (Colour)
65 4 "Mrs. Podmore's Cat"[33] 6 December 1972 Bill Bain Philip Broadley Exists 625 VT (Colour)
66 5 "The Man Who Said Sorry" 13 December 1972 Jonathan Alwyn Richard Harris Exists 625 VT (Colour)
67 6 "Horse and Carriage" 20 December 1972 Bill Bain Richard Harris Exists 625 VT (Colour)
68 7 "A Family Affair"[34] 3 January 1973 Douglas Camfield John Kershaw Exists 625 VT (Colour)
69 8 "The Golden Boy" 10 January 1973 Douglas Camfield Philip Broadley Exists 625 VT (Colour)
70 9 "The Windsor Royal" 17 January 1973 Douglas Camfield Philip Broadley Exists 625 VT (Colour)
71 10 "It's a Woman's Privilege"[35] 24 January 1973 Jim Goddard Michael Chapman Exists 625 VT (Colour)
72 11 "Home and Away" 31 January 1973 Robert Knights Brian Finch Exists 625 VT (Colour)
73 12 "Egg and Cress Sandwiches" 7 February 1973 Graham Evans Michael Chapman Exists 625 VT (Colour)
74 13 "The Trouble with Jenny" 14 February 1973 David Wickes Roger Marshall Exists 625 VT (Colour)

Series 7 (1975)[edit]

For the seventh and final series, the setting changed several times, moving from Eton to Walton, and ultimately to Chertsey midway during the series.[36] This series operated around three loose story arcs as Marker moved onto another location, and as a result it also saw the departure of long running supporting character DS Percy Firbank when Marker relocates to Walton in the episode "How About It Frank?". In the same episode Ron Gash (Peter Childs) makes his first appearance, a former policeman and friend of Percy's, who runs a private investigation agency in the area and offers Frank a job with his agency at the end of the episode. Scheduling of this series was switched to Monday, and the transmission date for the last episode of the series "Unlucky For Some" was delayed for a week, due to it being postponed over Easter.[37] Due to the series being produced out of sequence, the last episode that was produced and taped was "How About it Frank?" in late November 1974.

No. overall No. in Series Title Air Date Directed By Written By Status Media
75 1 "Nobody Wants to Know" 6 January 1975 Douglas Camfield James Doran Exists 625 VT (Colour)
76 2 "How About a Cup of Tea?"[38][39] 13 January 1975 Bill Bain John Kershaw Exists 625 VT (Colour)
77 3 "How About it Frank?"[40] 20 January 1975 Bill Bain James Doran Exists 625 VT (Colour)
78 4 "They All Sound Simple at First" 27 January 1975 David Wickes John Kershaw Exists 625 VT (Colour)
79 5 "The Fall Guy" 3 February 1975 Douglas Camfield Brian Finch Exists 625 VT (Colour)
80 6 "What's to Become Of Us?" 10 February 1975 Douglas Camfield Richard Haris Exists 625 VT (Colour)
81 7 "Hard Times" 17 February 1975 Simon Langton James Doran Exists 625 VT (Colour)
82 8 "No Orchids for Marker" 24 February 1975 Graham Evans Philip Broadley Exists 625 VT (Colour)
83 9 "The Fatted Calf" 3 March 1975 Jonathan Alwyn Brian Finch Exists 625 VT (Colour)
84 10 "Lifer" 10 March 1975 David Wickes Bob Baker Exists 625 VT (Colour)
85 11 "Take No for an Answer"[41] 17 March 1975 Kim Mills Roger Marshall Exists 625 VT (Colour)
86 12 "Fit of Conscience" 24 March 1975 Mike Vardy David Ambrose Exists 625 VT (Colour)
87 13 "Unlucky For Some"[42] 7 April 1975 Jonathan Alwyn Philip Broadley Exists 625 VT (Colour)

References[edit]

  1. ^ "The ABC Years (Series 1-3)". Public Eye - Frank Marker Investigates. April 6, 2022.
  2. ^ Cooray, James (October 8, 2018). "British television once sounded like Britain. But then, the ITV mergers happened". City Monitor.
  3. ^ "Episode Index - Series 1". Public Eye - Frank Marker Investigates. April 6, 2022.
  4. ^ "Public Eye". TV Brain. April 6, 2022.
  5. ^ Smith, C.P. (February 23, 2001). "Episode Guide". Public Eye. Archived from the original on 2001-02-23.
  6. ^ "The Morning Wasn't So Hot". Public Eye - Frank Marker Investigates. April 8, 2022.
  7. ^ "Episode Index - Series 2". Public Eye - Frank Marker Investigates. April 6, 2022.
  8. ^ Only a partial audio recording is known to exist for this episode.
  9. ^ An audio recording is known to exist.
  10. ^ An audio recording is known to exist.
  11. ^ A complete audio recording exists, and is on the DVD release.
  12. ^ An audio recording is known to exist.
  13. ^ "Episode Index - Series 3". Public Eye - Frank Marker Investigates. April 6, 2022.
  14. ^ "Public Eye - The ABC Years". Network on Air. April 12, 2012.
  15. ^ A five minute extract exists on Umatic tape,
  16. ^ "Episode Index - Series 4". Public Eye - Frank Marker Investigates. April 7, 2022.
  17. ^ Delaney also played two other characters earlier on in the series, appearing in the episodes "My Life's - That's a Marriage" (1965) and "Don't Forget Your Mine" (1966).
  18. ^ First appearance of Helen Mortimer and Jim Hull.
  19. ^ The Armchair Theatre episode, "Wednesday's Child" (1970) served as a prequel to this episode.
  20. ^ "Public Eye: My Life's, My Own". BFI Database. January 31, 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-01-31.
  21. ^ The first episode to be taped in colour, though the titles were still in monochrome.
  22. ^ Last appearance of Jim Hull.
  23. ^ "Episode Index - Series 5". Public Eye - Frank Marker Investigates. April 7, 2022.
  24. ^ Smith, C.P. (February 23, 2001). "Public Eye". Classic Television. Archived from the original on 2001-02-23.
  25. ^ Clark, Anthony (January 1, 2003). "Public Eye (1965-75)". BFI Screenonline.
  26. ^ Last regular appearance of Helen Mortimer, who return twice over the next two series.
  27. ^ First appearance of DS Percy Firbank.
  28. ^ The last episode to be taped and broadcast in monochrome.
  29. ^ "Thames Television Listings - November 22, 1972". TVDRb: The Television & Radio Database. April 8, 2022.
  30. ^ "Episode Index - Series 6". Public Eye: Frank Marker Investigates. April 8, 2022.
  31. ^ "Thames Television Listings - December 27, 1972". TVDRb. April 8, 2022.
  32. ^ This episode was delayed for a week due to Boxing coverage.
  33. ^ Last appearance of Nell Holdsworth.
  34. ^ This episode was delayed for a week due to Christmas.
  35. ^ Helen Mortimer reappears in this episode, after being absent since the start of Series 5.
  36. ^ "Episode Index - Series 7". Public Eye: Frank Marker Investigates. April 8, 2022.
  37. ^ "Thames Television Listings - March 31, 1975". TVDRb. April 8, 2022.
  38. ^ Last appearance of DS Percy Fairbank and Helen Mortimer.
  39. ^ First appearance of Ron Gash.
  40. ^ Although it was not the last episode transmitted, it was the final episode that was produced.
  41. ^ Last appearance of Ron Gash.
  42. ^ This episode was delayed for a week due to Easter.

External links[edit]

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