It starts as a simple favour for an unknown lady. To Don it looks like a story. To Eddie it looks like trouble. In the event they are both right…

EPISODE GUIDE

CAST & CREW

Original BBC1 tx: 12 OCTOBER 1980 2105 - 2155hrs, watched by 12 million Filming dates: 14 to 30 July 1980 (drn. 52'00")

Blackmailer Stanley Reeves

SYNOPSIS BY NICK:

At one point the Radio West DJ played by ROY NORTH can be heard mentioning The Goons and he says "Ah, Peter Sellers...are you listening aloft?". This is a nice tribute to the incomparable Mr Sellers, who sadly passed away on 24 July 1980, at the time of the filming of "THE TEDDY BEARS' NIGHTMARE".

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS BY DENE:

I wasn't sure about this one the first time I watched it, but it's an episode that demands, and rewards, close attention. What begins as simply as Don out fishing when he spots a handbag being stolen on shore escalates into a rather involved plot involving blackmail and the protection of an important witness. Despite the complexities of the story, it is character, as usual, which is of the utmost importance. And at the centre of it all is Ken 'Boxer' Beatty, pragmatic drugs squad police officer who feels so threatened by Cahill that he gives up the location of the witness Joe Anderson. Arguably not the most pleasant individual in the world, in the end Beatty has to be forced by Eddie into doing the right thing, doubtless to the detriment of his career and marriage. Another successful characterisation for Shoestring. The shopping centre set piece, when Christine Page is being given instructions on where to deliver the blackmail money via public telephone, etc. by Stanley Reeves, is superbly-staged by Martin Campbell and almost a mini-homage to Dirty Harry! And Eddie has a amusing scene early on when convinces a sceptical shop assistant that he really is Private Ear Eddie Shoestring by turning on the radio and anticipating his recording during the broadcast of a trail for his show!

EPISODE GUIDE