Public Eye
Encyclopedia
Public Eye is a British television
series that ran from 1965 to 1975 (7 series in total). It was produced by ABC Television
for three series, and Thames Television
for a further four series. The series depicted the investigations and cases handled by the unglamorous enquiry agent (i.e., a Private Eye - hence the twist in the title) Frank Marker, an unmarried loner who is in his early forties when the series begins. In the words of an ABC trailer for the third series: "Marker isn't a glamorous detective and he doesn't get glamorous cases - he doesn't even get glamorous girls! What he does get is people who are in trouble - the sort of trouble you can't go to the police about, even if you are innocent."
. This decision allowed for flexibility in the structure and plot lines of the episodes (each individual episode usually dealt with an individual case for Marker, but story arcs spanning several episodes, or in one case an entire series, were produced during the life of the programme). The breadth of Marker's work - from routine matters such as gathering evidence for divorce
s (at a time when British law required evidence of infidelity or other compelling reason for annulling a marriage) or creditworthiness enquiries, to more exotic investigations such as tracing missing people (or in one case, a prize-winning whippet
) - meant that he had little idea what a person walking into his office at the start of an episode would be wanting of him. Of course, this variety also meant that the viewer was kept entertained and continually interested in the series. Many of these situations portrayed in the series conclude imperfectly, often with Marker leaving the status quo as it is, for instance in the episode "The Man Who Didn't Eat Sweets" he fails to tell his client that she is one of her husband's three wives!
in the early 1990s) - the rest being victims of the common television company policy of wiping
. Two episodes from the first series do however exist and provide a revealing insight into the early style of the show.
Nobody Kills Santa Claus, the second episode of the first series (transmitted 30 January 1965), is very different from the programme's later style - for instance the character of Marker still retains some of the "tough guy" heroism that Burke was keen to move away from. He also plays comparatively little part in the plot: indeed, with minor redrafting the episode would still work without Marker. The episode does establish key aspects of Marker's character: his modest lifestyle arising from his modest fees for his work - the oft-quoted "6 guineas a day plus expenses" (which became £6.30 a day in the later Thames-produced episodes, once Britain converted to decimal currency), his shabby office and the fact that he is often compelled to take on almost any offer of work just to earn his living. The plot concerns Marker being hired to protect a rather unlikeable businessman, Carson, who is receiving death threats. In keeping with the series' ethos of downplaying physical strength and violence Marker insists on being employed as a chauffeur rather than a bodyguard. He ends up taking a physical beating for his unlikeable client - a beating that is mostly off-screen and one that the viewer only sees the results of. The episode ends with Marker refusing an offer of permanent employment by Carson and returning to his freelance ways.
Whilst full of variety and, from the two samples available for viewing, original and entertaining the programme had one further surprise for its viewers. Marker's work of necessity often involved him with the police and the criminal underworld - both factions dislike him but, although they have some need for him, make his life difficult. The other surviving series 1 episode The Morning Wasn't So Hot sees Marker cross paths with an organised criminal gang and he is thrown into the River Thames
by underworld figures as "persuasion" to drop his enquiries into the whereabouts of a missing girl he has been hired to trace - she has been forced into a life of professional vice at the behest of the gang. Partly as a result of this, the beginning of the second series he decides to leave London and moves to England's second city of Birmingham
. Things do not improve and he continues to be mixed up in a world of shadowy figures.
The ABC episodes ended with Cross That Palm When We Come To It (broadcast on 13 April 1968) as Marker acts for a solicitor over some stolen jewels, as a go-between with the gang who stole them and want the reward money. Taking the recovered jewels back to his office, Marker receives a visit from the police and is convicted of receiving stolen property - the solicitor that hired him was crooked and has disappeared. Marker pleads guilty to the charge and is sentenced to two and a half years in prison. Cross That Palm is unfortunately not one of the five surviving ABC episodes. Contemporary audiences must have wondered if they would ever see Marker or his cases again, and for over a year they didn't.
franchises in Britain in 1968, and ABC had been forced to merge with rival company Rediffusion London to create what became one of the powerhouses of UK television production - Thames Television
. Thames picked up the series again in 1969 and produced 46 more episodes; unlike their ABC precursors all 46 remain safely in the archives, although 11 of these were still produced and broadcast in black and white. One other was made in colour (but broadcast in black and white) as a test of Thames' new colour equipment, which was first used for broadcasting from November 1969 - two months after the fourth series of Public Eye finished its on-air run.
ABC's audience research had shown that many viewers found the character of Marker as interesting as his cases - if not more so. For this reason, the first Thames series is quite different in style to the other three and was written entirely by Public Eye co-creator Roger Marshall. Commonly referred to as "the Brighton series" the collection of seven episodes links together to tell the story of Marker's release from prison and his gradual rehabilitation into everyday life, culminating in him renting a new office and starting up again as an enquiry agent. This series also introduces regular characters such as Marker's probation officer Mr Hull and his landlady Mrs Mortimer - the first such characters in the series apart from Marker himself.
before being released on parole
to complete his sentence. He is determined not to fall into a life of crime, despite what his fellow prisoners tell him ("You've crossed over the line now mate - you're not one of them, you're one of us!"). In the first half of the episode, Marker is released from prison and heads for Brighton
where the parole system has arranged accommodation for him with a Mrs Mortimer (Pauline Delaney). Through an extensive location-shot sequence on the sea front at Brighton, the viewer experiences Marker's disorientation at a world which appears to have changed considerably since he was sent to prison. He immediately encounters the very same sort of people with whom he dealt every day in his pre-prison life - a semi-drunken encounter with a woman who tries to steal his money and using his detective skills to trace the wife of a fellow inmate from the prison he has just been released from. Marker meets his parole officer Mr Hull (played by John Grieve
) and gets a job with a local builder, Mr Kendrick.
In the third episode of the series, Paid In Full, a colleague at Kendrick's yard has his pay packet stolen (workers in Britain were still paid in cash, rather than by cheque or bank transfer, in the late 1960s). Although completely innocent of any wrongdoing (as he points out, he would be stupid to steal the money as it would immediately end his parole and send him back to prison) Marker is placed under immense pressure by Kendrick's other employees once they find out he is an ex-prisoner. The episode ends with Marker reluctantly agreeing to give up the job at Kendrick's and graphically illustrates the problems faced by ex-convicts as they try to reintegrate themselves with society. Paid In Full also contains a charming scene where Marker visits an antiques shop in Brighton to enjoy his newfound freedom to purchase something with the money he is earning. A beautifully written conversation with the old lady proprietor of the shop ensues where Marker explains some of his family history.
The Brighton series sees Marker establish a real (platonic) friendship with Mrs Mortimer. Although he is told that she is a widow, she later confides in him that she has a husband who left her, and who she presumes is still alive. She tells the probation service she is a widow because she feels it would be more socially acceptable for a widow to be seen to take in ex-prisoners as lodgers - an interesting comment on the social attitudes of late-1960s England. Towards the end of the series, Marker works briefly for another enquiry agent, Rylands - in The Comedian's Graveyard he is hired to trace a young girl who has run away from her home and is now appearing in a run-down end-of-pier theatre act. Unthinkable for the character during the ABC episodes, he invites Mrs Mortimer out for an evening at the theatre, together with the girl's aunt who has hired him. The partnership with Rylands soon splits up as Marker finds his working methods intolerable and makes it clear he thinks Rylands is less than honest with his clients.
The final episode of the Brighton series was A Fixed Address broadcast (in monochrome) on 10 September 1969 - although it was actually made in colour, as noted above. One of the real strengths of the series was the character development it afforded to secondary characters, and in some ways Mrs Mortimer is the real star of this episode. Her estranged husband suddenly turns up on her doorstep claiming that he wants to restart their relationship. It transpires that his employers have offered him a lucrative post in an exotic overseas location - but only if he is a married man accompanied by his wife. Aside from the excellent writing and acting as Helen Mortimer resists the charms of her estranged husband Denis, the episode is notable for Marker setting up on his own again as an enquiry agent. Fittingly, the end credits are played over shots of him admiring his new (but still run-down and dingy) office. The series left no doubt that Marker would be back and, as if to emphasis the point, in the end credits we are returned to the original theme music of previous series rather than the barer, more static arrangement that had been used especially for the Brighton episodes.
companies in the early 1970s faced strike action as unions demanded better wages for handling the more complex colour broadcasting equipment. As a result, the first five episodes of series five were made in black and white - although they were juggled around for transmission so that all five were not shown together.
The series opened with A Mug Named Frank - some months have passed since A Fixed Address and Marker is still living with Mrs Mortimer. Mrs Mortimer comments to him that his old problems are still present in Brighton - the police all know of him and of his record of being in prison. She points out that, by his own admission, life has not been easy for Marker since he set up office on his own again and that he isn't getting much work. A chance encounter in a supermarket ultimately results in Marker making the decision to move to Windsor
- to emphasise this, the opening titles to the episode are those used for the Brighton series, whereas the closing credits play over a film of Marker walking around Windsor, as used for the rest of the series. The episode also introduces the new regular character of Detective Inspector Percy Firbank (played by Ray Smith
) - a local police officer whose interest is piqued by Marker. Firbank is an excellent addition to the series and the remaining 12 episodes of series 5 often explore the Marker-Firbank relationship in detail. In some ways this relationship mirrors the "Don't like him but need his help" mutual feelings that Jon Pertwee's
incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who
has with Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
- Marker is very suspicious of authority figures, especially policemen, and Firbank initially at least considers enquiry agents to be a lower form of life. The two gradually come to like each other, even when their relationship is tested - the final episode of the series is the typically strong John VII, Verse 24 (29 September 1971) in which it appears Firbank is corrupt and is accepting money from known criminals.
Series 5 also demonstrates the great variety that the programme could offer: in Well - There Was This Girl, You See... Marker becomes involved in stolen jewels again but is exceptionally careful - too careful as it turns out, as his tactic of exerting pressure on a young man he thinks is involved backfires when he chooses to run to the police rather than Marker and wrecks Marker's chances of getting a share of the reward money. An embarrassed Marker has to explain to an amused Firbank what has gone wrong.
In Shades Of White Marker is hired to monitor the suspicious activities of an ambitious local businessman's daughter - he becomes friendly with the businessman's housekeeper but then has his trust betrayed (again) when it transpires the housekeeper is acting to receive items stolen by the daughter's friends. The episode seems even more powerful for being one of the five black and white examples.
Lighter moments in series 5 come with Transatlantic Cousins as a visiting American hires Marker to trace his English relatives, assisted by the tourist's daughter. They find out that the American family does have an English relative who has inherited a knighthood and title - but the daughter also discovers that, because of a previously unknown member of the family who was killed in a war, her father is actually the rightful inheritor of the title!
The next episode, How About A Cup Of Tea?, recalls the Brighton era as Marker comes out of hospital and his friends (including Firbank and a returning Mrs Mortimer) attempt to rally round him and cheer him up. He tries to find a career other than enquiries but is told by an unhelpful job centre clerk (Robin Askwith
) that he is too old to do anything new. The episode concentrates again on Marker and how, with his friends to help him, he pulls himself out of the negative cycle of self-pity and depression.
The final episode of the trilogy is How About It, Frank? - he reluctantly takes revenge on those responsible for his beating up and narrowly avoids another encounter with the wrong side of the law. He enters into a partnership with another enquiry agent Ron Gash (Peter Childs
) - Gash is an ex-policeman and, although much more likeable than Rylands (of the Brighton episodes) he does have very different ideas about the job to Marker. Although Marker would show interest in money if a large quantity of it appeared to be heading his way (such as Well - There Was This Girl, You See...) he never considers raising his fees to provide himself with a more comfortable living standard. Gash is far more profit-motivated and also considers Marker's shabby appearance to be off-putting to potential clients. Yet again, Marker decides he doesn't like working with a partner and in the episode What's To Become Of Us? (10 February 1975) Gash and he part ways peacefully and amicably. For the final half-dozen episodes Marker relocates to Chertsey
in Surrey
, partly to avoid a clash of location with Gash's business.
The move to Chertsey sees the series return to its traditional format of a new case each week for Marker. The old themes return - in Fit of Conscience he is asked to investigate the collapse of a residential apartment block and it becomes apparent that the concrete has been incorrectly formulated. Those responsible for this, the primary cause of the collapse, leave the country and avoid being brought to British justice for their actions, apparently unscathed by the mental burden they bear. The series often produced such downbeat endings, with the villains getting away with their crimes - or at the very least, with the resolution unclear and further thought required on the part of the viewer.
Thames had not wanted to end the series at this point: the intention had been that Euston Films
, Thames' film-making subsidiary, would continue the series from 1976 on to film, rather than the video format on which it had been carried. Euston had already scored major successes with Van der Valk, their revamped version of Special Branch
, and The Sweeney
, but these were larger-scale, glossier and more 'action-packed' operations. Alfred Burke, fearing that this would mean the series would lose its particular, low-key identity, decided not to take up the option.
Public Eye was then confined to archival oblivion for almost twenty years, despite being a popular favourite and a ratings topper in its time. One episode (the rather weak Who Wants To Be Told Bad News? from series 5) was repeated in 1989 to mark Thames'
21st anniversary but nothing more happened. Thames lost their franchise in controversial circumstances in 1992. Their successors, Carlton Television
, considered remaking the series in the 1990s but again nothing came of this. Long-overdue recognition came in 1995 when British satellite channel UK Gold, which was then part-owned by Thames, repeated all the colour Thames episodes from series 5 onwards. Sadly, UK Gold had a policy of not showing any black and white material and thus exceptionally strong material such as the Brighton episodes and Shades of White remained unscreened.
A small group of British Television enthusiasts, Kaleidoscope, did much to promote the programme and negotiated the rights to rescreen, at conventions and meetings, many of the black and white Thames episodes and the remaining ABC episodes. They also unearthed a 1968 ABC promotional reel, on a long-obsolete domestic videotape format, which included a five minute extract from the otherwise-missing third series episode Must Be the Architecture, Can't Be the Climate and audio recordings of several lost ABC episodes. Most notably, Kaleidoscope organised and hosted a Public Eye: Thirtieth Anniversary convention in 1995. This was attended by Alfred Burke in person, who was clearly delighted that some of his old work was finding a new audience.
Finally, in mid-2004, the enterprising company Network Video issued the Brighton series in a three DVD box set complete with some restoration work. Bonus material included the complete ABC episode Nobody Kills Santa Claus and the above-mentioned extract from Must Be The Architecture... Sales of the box set were moderate and a follow up four disc set of Series 5, including the ABC episode Don't Forget You're Mine, was released in December 2004. Sadly, this second release didn't sell particularly well. In 2008, Network released the 1972/3 and 1975 series on DVD as exclusive releases through its website and it is hoped the remaining ABC material will follow in due course.
, musical director of Opportunity Knocks, writing under the pseudonym
of Robert Earley.
British television
Public television broadcasting started in the United Kingdom in 1936, and now has a collection of free and subscription services over a variety of distribution media, through which there are over 480 channelsTaking the base Sky EPG TV Channels. A breakdown is impossible due to a) the number of...
series that ran from 1965 to 1975 (7 series in total). It was produced by ABC Television
Associated British Corporation
Associated British Corporation was one of a number of commercial television companies established in the United Kingdom during the 1950s by cinema chain companies in an attempt to safeguard their business by becoming involved with television which was taking away their cinema audiences.In this...
for three series, and Thames Television
Thames Television
Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....
for a further four series. The series depicted the investigations and cases handled by the unglamorous enquiry agent (i.e., a Private Eye - hence the twist in the title) Frank Marker, an unmarried loner who is in his early forties when the series begins. In the words of an ABC trailer for the third series: "Marker isn't a glamorous detective and he doesn't get glamorous cases - he doesn't even get glamorous girls! What he does get is people who are in trouble - the sort of trouble you can't go to the police about, even if you are innocent."
Background
The series was created by writers Roger Marshall and Anthony Marriott with the aim of getting away from "square-jawed" heroes of the type featured in Hollywood movies, an aim shared by the actor chosen to play Marker - Alfred BurkeAlfred Burke
Alfred Burke was a British actor, best known for his portrayal of Frank Marker in the drama series Public Eye, which ran on television for ten years.-Early life:...
. This decision allowed for flexibility in the structure and plot lines of the episodes (each individual episode usually dealt with an individual case for Marker, but story arcs spanning several episodes, or in one case an entire series, were produced during the life of the programme). The breadth of Marker's work - from routine matters such as gathering evidence for divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
s (at a time when British law required evidence of infidelity or other compelling reason for annulling a marriage) or creditworthiness enquiries, to more exotic investigations such as tracing missing people (or in one case, a prize-winning whippet
Whippet
The Whippet is a breed of dog in the sighthound family. They are active and playful and are physically similar to a small Greyhound.- Description :...
) - meant that he had little idea what a person walking into his office at the start of an episode would be wanting of him. Of course, this variety also meant that the viewer was kept entertained and continually interested in the series. Many of these situations portrayed in the series conclude imperfectly, often with Marker leaving the status quo as it is, for instance in the episode "The Man Who Didn't Eat Sweets" he fails to tell his client that she is one of her husband's three wives!
Episodes Produced by ABC Television 1965-1968
The first episode of the series was broadcast (in black and white) in January 1965 and was set in London, although very little (if any) location work was actually performed and the episodes were mostly confined to the TV studio. Of the 41 episodes produced by ABC, only five are currently known to exist in television-broadcastable format (and of these two were found by accident by researchers checking the archive status of fellow ABC series The AvengersThe Avengers (TV series)
The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...
in the early 1990s) - the rest being victims of the common television company policy of wiping
Wiping
Wiping or junking is a colloquial term for action taken by radio and television production and broadcasting companies, in which old audiotapes, videotapes, and telerecordings , are erased, reused, or destroyed after several uses...
. Two episodes from the first series do however exist and provide a revealing insight into the early style of the show.
Nobody Kills Santa Claus, the second episode of the first series (transmitted 30 January 1965), is very different from the programme's later style - for instance the character of Marker still retains some of the "tough guy" heroism that Burke was keen to move away from. He also plays comparatively little part in the plot: indeed, with minor redrafting the episode would still work without Marker. The episode does establish key aspects of Marker's character: his modest lifestyle arising from his modest fees for his work - the oft-quoted "6 guineas a day plus expenses" (which became £6.30 a day in the later Thames-produced episodes, once Britain converted to decimal currency), his shabby office and the fact that he is often compelled to take on almost any offer of work just to earn his living. The plot concerns Marker being hired to protect a rather unlikeable businessman, Carson, who is receiving death threats. In keeping with the series' ethos of downplaying physical strength and violence Marker insists on being employed as a chauffeur rather than a bodyguard. He ends up taking a physical beating for his unlikeable client - a beating that is mostly off-screen and one that the viewer only sees the results of. The episode ends with Marker refusing an offer of permanent employment by Carson and returning to his freelance ways.
Whilst full of variety and, from the two samples available for viewing, original and entertaining the programme had one further surprise for its viewers. Marker's work of necessity often involved him with the police and the criminal underworld - both factions dislike him but, although they have some need for him, make his life difficult. The other surviving series 1 episode The Morning Wasn't So Hot sees Marker cross paths with an organised criminal gang and he is thrown into the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
by underworld figures as "persuasion" to drop his enquiries into the whereabouts of a missing girl he has been hired to trace - she has been forced into a life of professional vice at the behest of the gang. Partly as a result of this, the beginning of the second series he decides to leave London and moves to England's second city of Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
. Things do not improve and he continues to be mixed up in a world of shadowy figures.
The ABC episodes ended with Cross That Palm When We Come To It (broadcast on 13 April 1968) as Marker acts for a solicitor over some stolen jewels, as a go-between with the gang who stole them and want the reward money. Taking the recovered jewels back to his office, Marker receives a visit from the police and is convicted of receiving stolen property - the solicitor that hired him was crooked and has disappeared. Marker pleads guilty to the charge and is sentenced to two and a half years in prison. Cross That Palm is unfortunately not one of the five surviving ABC episodes. Contemporary audiences must have wondered if they would ever see Marker or his cases again, and for over a year they didn't.
Episodes Produced by Thames Television 1969-1975
Big changes had occurred in the ITVITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
franchises in Britain in 1968, and ABC had been forced to merge with rival company Rediffusion London to create what became one of the powerhouses of UK television production - Thames Television
Thames Television
Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....
. Thames picked up the series again in 1969 and produced 46 more episodes; unlike their ABC precursors all 46 remain safely in the archives, although 11 of these were still produced and broadcast in black and white. One other was made in colour (but broadcast in black and white) as a test of Thames' new colour equipment, which was first used for broadcasting from November 1969 - two months after the fourth series of Public Eye finished its on-air run.
ABC's audience research had shown that many viewers found the character of Marker as interesting as his cases - if not more so. For this reason, the first Thames series is quite different in style to the other three and was written entirely by Public Eye co-creator Roger Marshall. Commonly referred to as "the Brighton series" the collection of seven episodes links together to tell the story of Marker's release from prison and his gradual rehabilitation into everyday life, culminating in him renting a new office and starting up again as an enquiry agent. This series also introduces regular characters such as Marker's probation officer Mr Hull and his landlady Mrs Mortimer - the first such characters in the series apart from Marker himself.
The Brighton episodes
The first episode of the fourth series, "Welcome To Brighton?" (broadcast 30 July 1969) starts with a custom title sequence giving a brief recap of Marker's offence and his prison career: a useful introduction for both old and new viewers. The first shot is of Marker lying awake in bed with the judge's voice going through his head, passing sentence on him. It is about a year since the events of Cross That Palm When We Come To It and Marker has been transferred to an open prisonOpen prison
An open prison is an informal description applied to any penal establishment in which the prisoners are trusted to serve their sentences with minimal supervision and perimeter security and so do not need to be locked up in prison cells...
before being released on parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
to complete his sentence. He is determined not to fall into a life of crime, despite what his fellow prisoners tell him ("You've crossed over the line now mate - you're not one of them, you're one of us!"). In the first half of the episode, Marker is released from prison and heads for Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
where the parole system has arranged accommodation for him with a Mrs Mortimer (Pauline Delaney). Through an extensive location-shot sequence on the sea front at Brighton, the viewer experiences Marker's disorientation at a world which appears to have changed considerably since he was sent to prison. He immediately encounters the very same sort of people with whom he dealt every day in his pre-prison life - a semi-drunken encounter with a woman who tries to steal his money and using his detective skills to trace the wife of a fellow inmate from the prison he has just been released from. Marker meets his parole officer Mr Hull (played by John Grieve
John Grieve (actor)
John Grieve was a Scottish actor, best known as the engineer Macphail in the 1970s BBC adaptation of Neil Munro's Para Handy stories, The Vital Spark....
) and gets a job with a local builder, Mr Kendrick.
In the third episode of the series, Paid In Full, a colleague at Kendrick's yard has his pay packet stolen (workers in Britain were still paid in cash, rather than by cheque or bank transfer, in the late 1960s). Although completely innocent of any wrongdoing (as he points out, he would be stupid to steal the money as it would immediately end his parole and send him back to prison) Marker is placed under immense pressure by Kendrick's other employees once they find out he is an ex-prisoner. The episode ends with Marker reluctantly agreeing to give up the job at Kendrick's and graphically illustrates the problems faced by ex-convicts as they try to reintegrate themselves with society. Paid In Full also contains a charming scene where Marker visits an antiques shop in Brighton to enjoy his newfound freedom to purchase something with the money he is earning. A beautifully written conversation with the old lady proprietor of the shop ensues where Marker explains some of his family history.
The Brighton series sees Marker establish a real (platonic) friendship with Mrs Mortimer. Although he is told that she is a widow, she later confides in him that she has a husband who left her, and who she presumes is still alive. She tells the probation service she is a widow because she feels it would be more socially acceptable for a widow to be seen to take in ex-prisoners as lodgers - an interesting comment on the social attitudes of late-1960s England. Towards the end of the series, Marker works briefly for another enquiry agent, Rylands - in The Comedian's Graveyard he is hired to trace a young girl who has run away from her home and is now appearing in a run-down end-of-pier theatre act. Unthinkable for the character during the ABC episodes, he invites Mrs Mortimer out for an evening at the theatre, together with the girl's aunt who has hired him. The partnership with Rylands soon splits up as Marker finds his working methods intolerable and makes it clear he thinks Rylands is less than honest with his clients.
The final episode of the Brighton series was A Fixed Address broadcast (in monochrome) on 10 September 1969 - although it was actually made in colour, as noted above. One of the real strengths of the series was the character development it afforded to secondary characters, and in some ways Mrs Mortimer is the real star of this episode. Her estranged husband suddenly turns up on her doorstep claiming that he wants to restart their relationship. It transpires that his employers have offered him a lucrative post in an exotic overseas location - but only if he is a married man accompanied by his wife. Aside from the excellent writing and acting as Helen Mortimer resists the charms of her estranged husband Denis, the episode is notable for Marker setting up on his own again as an enquiry agent. Fittingly, the end credits are played over shots of him admiring his new (but still run-down and dingy) office. The series left no doubt that Marker would be back and, as if to emphasis the point, in the end credits we are returned to the original theme music of previous series rather than the barer, more static arrangement that had been used especially for the Brighton episodes.
The Windsor episodes
Thames commissioned a further series, this time of 13 episodes, and the fifth series began on 5 July 1971. Several ITVITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
companies in the early 1970s faced strike action as unions demanded better wages for handling the more complex colour broadcasting equipment. As a result, the first five episodes of series five were made in black and white - although they were juggled around for transmission so that all five were not shown together.
The series opened with A Mug Named Frank - some months have passed since A Fixed Address and Marker is still living with Mrs Mortimer. Mrs Mortimer comments to him that his old problems are still present in Brighton - the police all know of him and of his record of being in prison. She points out that, by his own admission, life has not been easy for Marker since he set up office on his own again and that he isn't getting much work. A chance encounter in a supermarket ultimately results in Marker making the decision to move to Windsor
Windsor, Berkshire
Windsor is an affluent suburban town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is widely known as the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British Royal Family....
- to emphasise this, the opening titles to the episode are those used for the Brighton series, whereas the closing credits play over a film of Marker walking around Windsor, as used for the rest of the series. The episode also introduces the new regular character of Detective Inspector Percy Firbank (played by Ray Smith
Ray Smith (actor)
Ray Smith was a Welsh actor who notably played the tough-talking police chief, Detective Superintendent Gordon Spikings, in the television series, Dempsey & Makepeace.- Early life :...
) - a local police officer whose interest is piqued by Marker. Firbank is an excellent addition to the series and the remaining 12 episodes of series 5 often explore the Marker-Firbank relationship in detail. In some ways this relationship mirrors the "Don't like him but need his help" mutual feelings that Jon Pertwee's
Jon Pertwee
John Devon Roland Pertwee , was an English actor. Pertwee is best known for his role in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, in which he played the third incarnation of the Doctor from 1970 to 1974, and as the title character in the series Worzel Gummidge...
incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
has with Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, generally referred to simply as the Brigadier, is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, played by Nicholas Courtney...
- Marker is very suspicious of authority figures, especially policemen, and Firbank initially at least considers enquiry agents to be a lower form of life. The two gradually come to like each other, even when their relationship is tested - the final episode of the series is the typically strong John VII, Verse 24 (29 September 1971) in which it appears Firbank is corrupt and is accepting money from known criminals.
Series 5 also demonstrates the great variety that the programme could offer: in Well - There Was This Girl, You See... Marker becomes involved in stolen jewels again but is exceptionally careful - too careful as it turns out, as his tactic of exerting pressure on a young man he thinks is involved backfires when he chooses to run to the police rather than Marker and wrecks Marker's chances of getting a share of the reward money. An embarrassed Marker has to explain to an amused Firbank what has gone wrong.
In Shades Of White Marker is hired to monitor the suspicious activities of an ambitious local businessman's daughter - he becomes friendly with the businessman's housekeeper but then has his trust betrayed (again) when it transpires the housekeeper is acting to receive items stolen by the daughter's friends. The episode seems even more powerful for being one of the five black and white examples.
Lighter moments in series 5 come with Transatlantic Cousins as a visiting American hires Marker to trace his English relatives, assisted by the tourist's daughter. They find out that the American family does have an English relative who has inherited a knighthood and title - but the daughter also discovers that, because of a previously unknown member of the family who was killed in a war, her father is actually the rightful inheritor of the title!
Marker's failed alliances
A further series of Windsor-based episodes aired from 8 November 1972 to 14 February 1973 with the series now fully in colour - albeit with Marker's world remaining one of pastel shades and dubious characters. The final series began on 6 January 1975 with another arc of related episodes. Starting off with Nobody Wants To Know Marker investigates a horse-doping racket being run by an organised criminal gang. He ignores warnings to drop the case, because he "doesn't like being bullied" - but gets a serious beating up for this.The next episode, How About A Cup Of Tea?, recalls the Brighton era as Marker comes out of hospital and his friends (including Firbank and a returning Mrs Mortimer) attempt to rally round him and cheer him up. He tries to find a career other than enquiries but is told by an unhelpful job centre clerk (Robin Askwith
Robin Askwith
Robin Askwith , is an English film actor, most famous for his role as Timmy Lea in the Confessions... sex comedies.-Confessions...:...
) that he is too old to do anything new. The episode concentrates again on Marker and how, with his friends to help him, he pulls himself out of the negative cycle of self-pity and depression.
The final episode of the trilogy is How About It, Frank? - he reluctantly takes revenge on those responsible for his beating up and narrowly avoids another encounter with the wrong side of the law. He enters into a partnership with another enquiry agent Ron Gash (Peter Childs
Peter Childs (actor)
Peter Childs was a British character actor who shot to fame playing Cockney Detective Sergeant Ronnie Rycott, nemesis of Arthur Daley in the top rated ITV series, Minder....
) - Gash is an ex-policeman and, although much more likeable than Rylands (of the Brighton episodes) he does have very different ideas about the job to Marker. Although Marker would show interest in money if a large quantity of it appeared to be heading his way (such as Well - There Was This Girl, You See...) he never considers raising his fees to provide himself with a more comfortable living standard. Gash is far more profit-motivated and also considers Marker's shabby appearance to be off-putting to potential clients. Yet again, Marker decides he doesn't like working with a partner and in the episode What's To Become Of Us? (10 February 1975) Gash and he part ways peacefully and amicably. For the final half-dozen episodes Marker relocates to Chertsey
Chertsey
Chertsey is a town in Surrey, England, on the River Thames and its tributary rivers such as the River Bourne. It can be accessed by road from junction 11 of the M25 London orbital motorway. It shares borders with Staines, Laleham, Shepperton, Addlestone, Woking, Thorpe and Egham...
in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, partly to avoid a clash of location with Gash's business.
The move to Chertsey sees the series return to its traditional format of a new case each week for Marker. The old themes return - in Fit of Conscience he is asked to investigate the collapse of a residential apartment block and it becomes apparent that the concrete has been incorrectly formulated. Those responsible for this, the primary cause of the collapse, leave the country and avoid being brought to British justice for their actions, apparently unscathed by the mental burden they bear. The series often produced such downbeat endings, with the villains getting away with their crimes - or at the very least, with the resolution unclear and further thought required on the part of the viewer.
The end of the series, its future fate and legacy
Public Eye came to an end on 7 April 1975 with the episode Unlucky For Some. A hotel owner asks Marker to investigate his wife's odd behaviour - it transpires that her first husband is still alive and she is being blackmailed about this. Marker traces the first husband and plans to claim a large reward on offer for doing so - only to find that, 15 minutes before he could stake his claim, the blackmailer has carried out their threat and has therefore obtained the money. Marker is left with nothing and, ten years after he first appeared on British TV screens, Frank Marker still needs to take every case that comes his way in order to make ends meet.Thames had not wanted to end the series at this point: the intention had been that Euston Films
Euston Films
Euston Films was a British film and television production company. It was a subsidiary company of Thames Television, and operated from the 1970s to the 1990s, producing various series for Thames, which were screened nationally on the ITV network...
, Thames' film-making subsidiary, would continue the series from 1976 on to film, rather than the video format on which it had been carried. Euston had already scored major successes with Van der Valk, their revamped version of Special Branch
Special Branch (TV series)
Special Branch is a British television series made by Thames Television for ITV and shown between 1969 and 1974. A police drama series, the action was centred on members of the Special Branch anti-espionage and anti-terrorist department of the London Metropolitan Police.The first two series were...
, and The Sweeney
The Sweeney
The Sweeney is a 1970s British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London...
, but these were larger-scale, glossier and more 'action-packed' operations. Alfred Burke, fearing that this would mean the series would lose its particular, low-key identity, decided not to take up the option.
Public Eye was then confined to archival oblivion for almost twenty years, despite being a popular favourite and a ratings topper in its time. One episode (the rather weak Who Wants To Be Told Bad News? from series 5) was repeated in 1989 to mark Thames'
Thames Television
Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....
21st anniversary but nothing more happened. Thames lost their franchise in controversial circumstances in 1992. Their successors, Carlton Television
Carlton Television
Carlton Television was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties including the cities of Solihull and Coventry of the West Midlands, south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire,...
, considered remaking the series in the 1990s but again nothing came of this. Long-overdue recognition came in 1995 when British satellite channel UK Gold, which was then part-owned by Thames, repeated all the colour Thames episodes from series 5 onwards. Sadly, UK Gold had a policy of not showing any black and white material and thus exceptionally strong material such as the Brighton episodes and Shades of White remained unscreened.
A small group of British Television enthusiasts, Kaleidoscope, did much to promote the programme and negotiated the rights to rescreen, at conventions and meetings, many of the black and white Thames episodes and the remaining ABC episodes. They also unearthed a 1968 ABC promotional reel, on a long-obsolete domestic videotape format, which included a five minute extract from the otherwise-missing third series episode Must Be the Architecture, Can't Be the Climate and audio recordings of several lost ABC episodes. Most notably, Kaleidoscope organised and hosted a Public Eye: Thirtieth Anniversary convention in 1995. This was attended by Alfred Burke in person, who was clearly delighted that some of his old work was finding a new audience.
Finally, in mid-2004, the enterprising company Network Video issued the Brighton series in a three DVD box set complete with some restoration work. Bonus material included the complete ABC episode Nobody Kills Santa Claus and the above-mentioned extract from Must Be The Architecture... Sales of the box set were moderate and a follow up four disc set of Series 5, including the ABC episode Don't Forget You're Mine, was released in December 2004. Sadly, this second release didn't sell particularly well. In 2008, Network released the 1972/3 and 1975 series on DVD as exclusive releases through its website and it is hoped the remaining ABC material will follow in due course.
Theme music
The theme music for the series was composed by Robert SharplesRobert Sharples
Robert Sharples was a British musical conductor, composer and bandleader, whose work encompassed movies and well-known British television programmes in the 1960s and 1970s....
, musical director of Opportunity Knocks, writing under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
of Robert Earley.
External links
- 'Marker for All Seasons' - full series episode and information guide
- Episode guide for the 1969 series
- Classic Television: article on Public Eye
- Classic Television: episode list and archive holdings for Public Eye
- British Film Institute Screen Online
- Kaleidoscope - The Classic Television Organisation
- Network Video