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Shoestring

Clever Trevor New wave rozzery

THIS IS more like it. Erstwhile computer programmer turned – via a nervous breakdown – private detective (very 1970s) TREVOR EVE pounds the streets of Bristol in bootlace ties and scruffy suits rumbling shysters, ne’er-do-wells and fraudulent aristos, before skulking off to his leaky houseboat for an evening making endless doodles. Superb snapshot of its time and, thanks to Trev, one of the most sympathetic and plausible telly crimestoppers ever. Got most of his cases thanks to a phone-in on the then-fictional, now-real Radio West, run by a permanently discomfited MICHAEL MEDWIN and receptionist looker LIZ “DAUGHTER OF LESLIE” CROWTHER. Barrister half-girlfriend DORAN GOODWIN helped with the paperwork and making his dinner. Created by ROBERT BANKS STEWART who, when Trev legged it to avoid being pigeonholed as a moping new wave loner, took the nuts and bolts and turned it into [cref 3785 BERGERAC].

3 Comments

3 Comments

  1. Nick

    September 11, 2015 at 10:38 am

    An excellent series! I am constantly miffed that this is not out on DVD. Apparently (hearsay) the music rights would be a nightmare to secure – and possibly if ‘Radio West’ now exists I guess that could be a pain too.

  2. THX 1139

    February 8, 2020 at 8:46 pm

    Things that get stuck in your head despite being of no use whatsoever: Buster ran a contest to design a new comic character, and one of those featured was Eddie Bootlace, a detective who had no gimmick other than being called a variation on Shoestring. If that was among the best entries, I dread to think what the rest were like.

    What kind of a name is Shoestring, anyway?

  3. Tom Ronson

    March 31, 2022 at 3:39 am

    One episode sticks in my mind because of its odd cast – Lynda Bellingham was a beauty queen, Christopher Biggins (fresh from his stellar turn as Benger in the Look and Read series Dark Towers) was the crook, Reece ‘Threads’ Dinsdale was a tennis champ, and in what must have been a huge stretch for her, Toyah Wilcox was a new wave singer called… Toola!

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