Success on a Shoestring
It’s 40 years since we said farewell to TV detective Eddie Shoestring
LIKEABLE “gumshoe” Eddie Shoestring worked for a local radio station called Radio West solving cases from listeners for free. The light-hearted BBC crime drama often saw Eddie behind the wheel of a Cortina Estate as he tried his best to solve the problems that came his way. His caseload ranged from everything from missing persons and corrupt businessmen to blackmail and claims of murder.
Singer Toyah Willcox once appeared as a character called Toola in a 1979 episode called Find The Lady, while Christopher Biggins, Pink Panther film actor Burt Kwouk and ‘Allo ‘Allo’s Gorden Kaye all worked on the series. The regular cast on the West Country-based drama included Michael Medwin as the radio station boss and Leslie Crowther’s daughter, Liz, as the receptionist. Trevor Eve made his mark as the normally dishevelled-looking Eddie, but called it a day after 21 episodes and two series. Eddie’s final case was a 1980 Christmas special called The Dangerous Game which was broadcast on December 21 and dealt with a market trader selling an electric racing game called Lunar Race 2000, which landed his own son in hospital when it blew up.
Shoestring was filmed in Bristol and Trevor says he was only 28 at the time and struggled with the fame and attention that the success of the series brought. He said: “It completely freaked me out, because it was watched by 22-odd million people. It went out one night and then the next day I got up and everyone knew who I was.” He added: “It took me a long time to enjoy it as, essentially, I’m quite shy. There are very few people who like that kind of attention. There were only three TV channels at the time so everything was focused.
“It wasn’t like now where it’s impossible to keep up with what’s on and who’s in it.”