RBS Part 1
HOME
The SHOESTRING Story Part Two
Robert Banks Stewart discusses the cast and production of "Shoestring".
Dene Kernohan and Nick Stewart: Tell us about the casting of the central
characters.

Robert Banks Stewart: Apart from Shoestring himself, there were three other
regular characters - Don Satchley, the radio station boss, Erica Bayliss, a
barrister, from whom Shoestring rented room, and a receptionist called Sonia.
Casting directors were not then used by BBC drama producers and directors.
You were expected to come up with your own ideas.
Liz Crowther as Sonia
("THE PARTNERSHIP")
DK/NS: Choosing the directors must have been
equally important.

RBS: I had worked with Douglas Camfield on "Dr
Who", but he'd also directed many successful BBC
series, especially the Greek-located series "Who Pays
the Ferryman?", and he was obviously a terrific talent, a
director who threw his wonderful energy, and a
sensitive touch into his direction.
With thanks to Robert Banks Stewart.
HOME
RBS Part 1
The illustrious Doctor Who Magazine featured an interview with Robert Banks
Stewart by Peter Griffiths in Issue 273, dated January 1999 (Mr Stewart penned
the mid-Seventies Tom Baker stories 'Terror of the Zygons' and 'The Seeds of
Doom' for Doctor Who). In it, he spoke about Shoestring:

"I was invited by the BBC to take over an all-film cop show called Target. I'd been
there for a couple of weeks when Graeme McDonald, the Head of Series, came
into the office and said , 'Listen, why don't we just scrap Target? Nobody likes it,
and it's been judged too violent. Is there anything else you'd like to do?' That was
a very fateful moment for me, in 1978. I said, 'I really love quality American film
drama. Why can't we make something like that here? Why not a really good
private eye series?

"From that came this crazy idea about a radio programme offering listeners the
services of an investigator, who for some reason I called Eddie Shoestring. I went
to a meeting on the sixth floor of the BBC with the controller, Bill Cotton, and the
managing director, Alisdair Milne. There was a great pause after I did the pitch,
and I thought everyone hated it, but suddenly it was caps in the air. The money was
in place for Target, so I wrote the opening episode of Shoestring, and off we
went."

Shoestring only ran for two seasons, but it was consistently top-rated, taking
between 18 and 23 million viewers every Sunday night. Robert was "terrified"
when asked to develop a replacement. "I was in the privileged position of being
asked what I'd like to do next. I thought back to a comedy pilot I'd written at
Thames, about a German officer in Jersey who falls in love with a lady who runs a
hotel, and there was something about this off-shore tax haven that clicked in my
mind. After talking to the Jersey police, I invented this bureau within the force which
dealt with millionaire tax exiles, tourists etc, and wrote the first script for Bergerac.

"We were nervous about the series, and it was jokingly called 'Jersey Five-O' in the
beginning because of its high yacht and beach content. The press showing at
BAFTA was terrifying, but our reviews were marvellous. The TV critic for The
Times came by, tapped me on the shoulder and said, 'Quality, quality' and walked
out. We were onto another number one series…"

[...but that's another story.]
Added 12th December 2004