Series 1 – Episode 3
|
Marker
Judy Manning Alex Maxwell Throstle Brown Miss Bryant Mrs Carter Rob Susan Manning Phil Madley Harold Jackson Sally Alan |
Alfred Burke
Rosemary Leach Philip Latham Allan McClelland Garfield Morgan Jane Eccles Hazel Bainbridge Leo Kayne Sheila Keith Henry McGee Clifford Parrish Aviva Marks William Wilde |
Thug Model |
Patrick Durkin Gillian French |
Uncredited cast:
The rehearsal script also called for a second thug and a policeman, neither of whom were credited in TV listings
The rehearsal script also called for a second thug and a policeman, neither of whom were credited in TV listings
Production
Series based on an idea by Roger Marshall & Anthony Marriott
Theme Music composed by Robert Earley Story Editor: Richard Bates Floor Manager: not known |
Stage Manager: not known
Production Assistant: not known Designed by Terry Green Producer: Don Leaver Directed by Robert Tronson |
Rehearsed from around Thursday 15 October 1964 (venue not known)
Camera rehearsed from Wednesday 28 October 1964 at ABC Television Studios, Broom Road, Teddington, Middlesex (studio not known)
Recorded on Thursday 29 October 1964 at Teddington (studio not known)
Camera rehearsed from Wednesday 28 October 1964 at ABC Television Studios, Broom Road, Teddington, Middlesex (studio not known)
Recorded on Thursday 29 October 1964 at Teddington (studio not known)
TV World Synopsis
Tues. 10.30: Throstle – Easiterms, S.W. Car repossession. “Back-alley outfit. Reg. ’63. Nothing definite, could be dodgy.” Invoice personally – no cheques!
Click here for detailed synopsis
Click here for detailed synopsis
Transmission
Saturday 6 February 1965, 9.10pm (ABC Midlands, ABC North, Southern and Ulster)
Saturday 5 June 1965, 10.10pm (ATV London, Border, Channel and Westward)
Tuesday 6 July 1965, 10.35pm (Grampian)
Sunday 25 July 1965, 11.05pm (Scottish)
Saturday 21 August 1965, 10.10pm (TWW)
Saturday 11 September 1965, 10.10pm (Tyne Tees)
Saturday 5 June 1965, 10.10pm (ATV London, Border, Channel and Westward)
Tuesday 6 July 1965, 10.35pm (Grampian)
Sunday 25 July 1965, 11.05pm (Scottish)
Saturday 21 August 1965, 10.10pm (TWW)
Saturday 11 September 1965, 10.10pm (Tyne Tees)
Archive
Rehearsal script – held in the BFI Special Collections
Story Notes
This is the first of four episodes of Public Eye to be penned by Martin Worth (1926–2018). His full surname was Wigglesworth, and he was born in Balham, South-West London, into a theatre-loving family. His mother Muriel worked with Elsie Fogerty, founder of the Central School of Speech and Drama, and, as a child, when his family was living in Stratford-upon-Avon, he played background roles in several Shakespeare productions. He shortened his surname to Worth when, as a young actor with a bit part in a Sheffield repertory company play, the director thought it took up too much space on the programme. Today he is best known for his work on series such as the gritty BBC science fiction dramas Doomwatch and Survivors, as well as the same broadcaster’s historical sagas The Onedin Line and Poldark – according to his ex-wife Angela, it was Worth who helped persuade author Winston Graham to allow his Poldark novels to be adapted for the small screen in the 1970s. Worth’s scripts for the 1974 BBC2 documentary drama series Microbes and Men, about the history of microbiology, won him that year’s prestigious Best British Documentary award from the Writers’ Guild. Prior to Public Eye, he had written for film series such as ITC’s William Tell, before moving to Associated-Rediffusion, where he was one of the first writers on that company’s programmes for schools, including Producing Macbeth and The Terrible Choice, submitted scripts to shows such as the police drama No Hiding Place and became a story editor. “I got into the business when commercial television started,” Worth recalled in the telefantasy magazine Time Screen (Number 14) in September 1989. “I was a journalist before that and I’d also had several radio plays produced. There were more opportunities for young writers then than there are perhaps nowadays. There were so few of us.” His previous work for ABC had been a couple of episodes of the 1963 ocean-bound anthology series Jezebel ex U.K., and it was at around this time that he approached Richard Bates regarding The Avengers. “I remember trying to write on the first season of The Avengers, but nothing came of it,” Worth told Time Screen in September 1989 – though his attempt is more likely to have been made during The Avengers’ second or third series, rather than its first, as Bates did not join the Avengers production team until Series 2. “For Richard Bates, I did, however, write lots of scripts for his later series, Public Eye,” added Worth. “He wasn’t an Avengers writer,” Bates explained to Andrew Pixley in July 2012, “but he was a very good Public Eye writer.” Roger Marshall echoed this sentiment, describing Worth as “an excellent choice” for the series.
The rehearsal script, which is dated 29 September 1964 (a Tuesday), bears the working title Curtains on the Windows? Can You Beat It. This reflects the final line of dialogue in the script, spoken by Judy Manning. Ultimately, the title would be changed to the more enigmatic They Go Off in the End – Like Fruit, another phrase used by Judy, this time in Act Two.
The first name of Judy’s lover Maxwell is given as Alec in the body of the rehearsal script, in ABC publicity material relating to this episode (see Who Wants to Be Told Bad News?) and in billings in TV Times. However, other paperwork, including the list of characters at the front of the script and a feature in the Midlands region listings magazine TV World, suggest he is called Alex. The surname of Judy’s photographer friend Phil is referred to inconsistently within the script as Madley (one instance in dialogue) and Ladley (one instance in directions), but ABC publicity material and TV listings confirm that his surname is Madley. Brown is named Moreton in the script, while the thugs he sends to retrieve the car are referred to as “1st Man” (i.e. the speaking part played by Patrick Durkin) and “2nd Man” (his non-speaking colleague).
The rehearsal script, which is dated 29 September 1964 (a Tuesday), bears the working title Curtains on the Windows? Can You Beat It. This reflects the final line of dialogue in the script, spoken by Judy Manning. Ultimately, the title would be changed to the more enigmatic They Go Off in the End – Like Fruit, another phrase used by Judy, this time in Act Two.
The first name of Judy’s lover Maxwell is given as Alec in the body of the rehearsal script, in ABC publicity material relating to this episode (see Who Wants to Be Told Bad News?) and in billings in TV Times. However, other paperwork, including the list of characters at the front of the script and a feature in the Midlands region listings magazine TV World, suggest he is called Alex. The surname of Judy’s photographer friend Phil is referred to inconsistently within the script as Madley (one instance in dialogue) and Ladley (one instance in directions), but ABC publicity material and TV listings confirm that his surname is Madley. Brown is named Moreton in the script, while the thugs he sends to retrieve the car are referred to as “1st Man” (i.e. the speaking part played by Patrick Durkin) and “2nd Man” (his non-speaking colleague).
According to the rehearsal script, Marker interviews Susan Manning in the showroom of Manning Handicrafts. There are “various contemporary-style weaves on display,” which Susan is in the process of putting away, as “it’s just on closing time”. However, a surviving photograph (see left) appears to indicate that the scene was relocated to a back room, as it shows Susan (Sheila Keith) working at a loom while she speaks to Marker.
In the script, in addition to putting curtains on the back window of her car, Judy claims to have trimmed the steering wheel with fur. There is no sign of the latter in a surviving still of the car’s interior (see top of page), which shows Judy (Rosemary Leach) at the wheel, though a small bouquet of flowers can be seen in a holder near the windscreen. |
Production Notes
To save on studio space, Martin Worth’s script never shows the upper part of the staircase or the bathroom of Judy’s flat. When characters occupy these areas, we merely hear their voices from off camera. The only rooms to be seen are the bedroom and the sitting room. Not showing the full staircase would also have allowed designer Terry Green to avoid having to construct a set on two levels.
The script was brought to life by director Robert Tronson (1924–2008), who was born in Chilmark, Wiltshire, and educated at Churcher’s College in Hampshire, followed by the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth in Devon. He served with the Royal Navy from 1941, and was involved in the D-Day landings on the beaches of Normandy on Tuesday 6 June 1944. After leaving the service at the end of the Second World War, he decided to become a poet, but by the early 1950s he was working for the BBC, initially as a writer of children’s television programmes such as At Your Service, Ltd, a seven-week, half-hour thriller. Within a few years, he had trained as a producer and director, and was taking charge of shows including Happy Holidays, a six-part situation comedy for young viewers, and the longer-running children’s variety series Whirligig. In 1955, he moved to the newly formed Associated-Rediffusion, where he helmed drama series such as Secret Mission, which dramatised the stories of women who served the Allies during the war, and the spy thriller Destination Downing Street. He turned freelance in 1959, and his first work in this capacity was for ABC, directing episodes of Armchair Theatre and a single instalment of The Avengers. Known for his flamboyant fedoras, colourful handkerchiefs and exotic socks, Tronson would direct one more episode of Public Eye, Honesty is the Best Policy – But Who Can Afford the Premiums!, in Series 3. His directing career spanned almost 50 years, taking in episodes of Callan, Man in a Suitcase, the BBC version of All Creatures Great and Small and Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, as well as several feature films.
Guest actress Rosemary Leach recounted a couple of on-set mishaps when interviewed for the 6–12 February 1965 edition of the listings magazine TV World. Describing the scene in Act Two in which Judy tries to escape from Marker in her car, Leach recalled, “Trouble was, I couldn’t get the blessed thing into first gear – only into reverse. I kept going backwards instead of forward. All the studio staff said all those horrid things men always say about women drivers. I managed it in the end, though.” The other incident took place towards the end of the recording session. “We were taping the final part, where Philip Latham leaves me, when the bed collapsed! I was on it at the time and slipped on the floor – stunned. The whole studio had hysterics. We had to do the whole scene again.”
From this episode, Public Eye was moved to 10.10pm in the TWW region, having previously occupied a 9.50pm slot.
The script was brought to life by director Robert Tronson (1924–2008), who was born in Chilmark, Wiltshire, and educated at Churcher’s College in Hampshire, followed by the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth in Devon. He served with the Royal Navy from 1941, and was involved in the D-Day landings on the beaches of Normandy on Tuesday 6 June 1944. After leaving the service at the end of the Second World War, he decided to become a poet, but by the early 1950s he was working for the BBC, initially as a writer of children’s television programmes such as At Your Service, Ltd, a seven-week, half-hour thriller. Within a few years, he had trained as a producer and director, and was taking charge of shows including Happy Holidays, a six-part situation comedy for young viewers, and the longer-running children’s variety series Whirligig. In 1955, he moved to the newly formed Associated-Rediffusion, where he helmed drama series such as Secret Mission, which dramatised the stories of women who served the Allies during the war, and the spy thriller Destination Downing Street. He turned freelance in 1959, and his first work in this capacity was for ABC, directing episodes of Armchair Theatre and a single instalment of The Avengers. Known for his flamboyant fedoras, colourful handkerchiefs and exotic socks, Tronson would direct one more episode of Public Eye, Honesty is the Best Policy – But Who Can Afford the Premiums!, in Series 3. His directing career spanned almost 50 years, taking in episodes of Callan, Man in a Suitcase, the BBC version of All Creatures Great and Small and Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, as well as several feature films.
Guest actress Rosemary Leach recounted a couple of on-set mishaps when interviewed for the 6–12 February 1965 edition of the listings magazine TV World. Describing the scene in Act Two in which Judy tries to escape from Marker in her car, Leach recalled, “Trouble was, I couldn’t get the blessed thing into first gear – only into reverse. I kept going backwards instead of forward. All the studio staff said all those horrid things men always say about women drivers. I managed it in the end, though.” The other incident took place towards the end of the recording session. “We were taping the final part, where Philip Latham leaves me, when the bed collapsed! I was on it at the time and slipped on the floor – stunned. The whole studio had hysterics. We had to do the whole scene again.”
From this episode, Public Eye was moved to 10.10pm in the TWW region, having previously occupied a 9.50pm slot.
Home and Away
This episode appears to have contained a rare instance of specially filmed material in Series 1 – a short sequence showing Judy’s estate car being driven along a main road, passing a public telephone box and quickly coming to a halt during Act Two. This was presumably pre-filmed during the late October rehearsal period on 35mm stock on the roads around Teddington. According to the rehearsal script, the interiors of the car and the telephone box were realised in the television studio.
The exterior of Judy’s mews flat, including the front door (which the script specified should open outwards), the base of the staircase directly behind it and enough space for a car in front of it, as well as an open garage for Rob’s barrow, was also realised in the studio.
The exterior of Judy’s mews flat, including the front door (which the script specified should open outwards), the base of the staircase directly behind it and enough space for a car in front of it, as well as an open garage for Rob’s barrow, was also realised in the studio.
Who Wants to Be Told Bad News?
On Friday 5 February 1965, the personal column of the Daily Telegraph completed a peculiar promotional campaign for Public Eye. It had begun on Friday 15 January, and ran for seven instalments on Mondays and Fridays, charting Marker’s investigation into a shady character called Alec Guildenstern with help from a woman named Joan:
- Friday 15 January 1965: ANYONE with knowledge whereabouts ALEC GUILDENSTERN, late Harlow Road, Stepney, please contact Marker. This column.
- Monday 18 January 1965: MARKER. Have information re whereabouts Guildenstern. Advise. JOAN.
- Friday 22 January 1965: JOAN. Waterloo station. Entrance Platform 4. Sunday 5pm. MARKER.
- Monday 25 January 1965: MARKER. Sorry missed you Sunday. Guildenstern there too. Couldn’t speak. JOAN.
- Friday 29 January 1965: JOAN. Under Nelson’s column. Sunday 3pm. MARKER.
- Monday 1 February 1965: MARKER. Missed you Sunday. What happened? JOAN.
- Friday 5 February 1965: JOAN. Many thanks. Guildenstern rose to bait. Now facing music. MARKER.
In those days, the Telegraph’s list of private messages, which cost 17 shillings and sixpence for a minimum of two lines, was very widely read and had been used previously in a publicity campaign for the 1957 film Sea Wife. Starring Joan Collins and Richard Burton, the movie concerned a love triangle that played out in the personal column. The film was based on the successful 1955 novel Sea-Wyf and Biscuit, written by James Maurice Scott – the father of Roger Marshall’s former co-writer, Jeremy Scott. A similarly enigmatic series of small ads had preceded the publication of the novel by four years. Between Wednesday 7 March and Monday 21 May 1951, a series of messages were printed in the Telegraph’s personal column, in which “Biscuit” appeared to be seeking a reunion with “Sea-Wyf”, but was discouraged by “Bulldog”. There was a great deal of public speculation about these exchanges, and the Daily Mirror reprinted the whole set on Saturday 26 May.
On Friday 5 February 1965, history repeated itself and the Daily Mirror ran a short piece (see left) reporting on the intriguing Guildenstern exchanges that concluded that day in the Telegraph. “All very mysterious,” opined the article entitled Message received, “And all very silly, too. The messages are being paid for by ABC-TV – to publicise Public Eye, a new series already screened in the provinces and due for London in April.” |
ABC’s publicity machine drew attention to the programme’s idiosyncratic episode titles. The press release for They Go Off in the End – Like Fruit explained that the words are uttered by the character of Judy Manning, played by Rosemary Leach. “Judy is referring to ‘kept women’, for she herself is a nice girl who has left a country village for London life and drifted into an affair with businessman Alec Maxwell (Philip Latham). But living on his money has given Judy ideas above her income, and she has fallen behind in the payments on her car.” When the finance company hires Marker to get the car back, “this proves to be one of those cases where Marker’s Robin Hood instinct has him ending up on the side of the quarry rather than the client.” (Pre-publicity for the series had already likened Marker to Robin Hood, a name the character sardonically gives to the police in All for a Couple of Ponies.) The press release described Leach as “an ABC ‘discovery’ who has had notable successes in the Armchair Theatre plays Mr Big, Sharp at Four (which was second in the list of TAM’s Top Twenty TV Plays of 1964), Pleasure Where She Finds It and Mug’s Game. Rosemary, a Birmingham girl who gained her experience in repertory there, now lives with her husband John Waugh in a flat above the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, where he is technical director.” |
TV World promoted the episode with a feature in its Series & Serials section entitled Strange Titles, But They’re All Spoken. “The titles are always words spoken by a character in the episode,” explained producer Don Leaver. “This week they’re spoken by Judy Manning … when she rows with her lover Alex Maxwell.” In the rehearsal script, Judy says these words to Marker rather than Maxwell, so unless there had been a major rewrite, Leaver’s statement was not entirely accurate.
The programme billing in the Southern edition of TV Times was accompanied by a photograph showing an earnest discussion between Rosemary Leach as Judy and Alfred Burke as Marker. Judy and Marker also appeared in a photograph on the TV page of the Liverpool Echo and Evening Express on Saturday 6 February 1965 (see left). The image was from near the end of the episode, with Judy looking at the new hire-purchase agreement that Marker has managed to obtain from Easiterms Ltd. Meanwhile, Nottingham newspaper The Guardian Journal preferred to show Gillian French as Phil Madley’s photographic model (see above). Also that day, just three episodes into its run, Public Eye was chosen as a Pick of the Week for the second time by the Liverpool Daily Post. “Alfred Burke, as an unusual kind of detective, sees how They Go Off in the End – Like Fruit, which is the title of Martin Worth’s play,” wrote Priscilla Hodgson, who was clearly unable to discern any more about the plot from ABC’s cryptic synopsis. Marker shared the glory as Saturday’s selection with BBC1’s scientific research drama R3. |
In the Western Daily Press on Saturday 21 August, Peter Forth also picked out this episode, despite continuing to find the adventures of “the anti-hero private detective” a bit sleazy. “The acting in this series is good, even if the themes are on the sordid side,” he declared. “Recommended to those viewers who prefer their crime against a modern British background.”
Nobody Wants to Know
In Act One of the rehearsal script, when Marker points out the unusually short interval between the warning letters sent out by Easiterms Ltd, Throstle replies, “We’re not playing Santa Claus.” One wonders whether this line would have been dropped from the completed episode, given that a similarly themed phrase had already formed the title of Nobody Kills Santa Claus, recorded several weeks earlier.
They Go Off in the End – Like Fruit is the first episode in ABC transmission order in which Marker states his fee – he asks Throstle whether six pounds a day plus expenses is agreeable. His fee would stay at this level for the remainder of Series 1.
In this episode as well as But the Joneses Never Get Letters, and possibly also My Life, That’s a Marriage, Marker has the use of a car – presumably hired for the occasion. Press coverage promoting the launch of Public Eye (see All for a Couple of Ponies) had indicated that Marker did not possess a vehicle, and earlier promotional literature from ABC had stated that: “when he needs a car, he hires a runabout from the local garage.”
In Acts Two and Three, Marker and Judy refer to London Airport. (It is also mentioned by Paul Garston in Nobody Kills Santa Claus, by Marker in You Should Hear Me Eat Soup and by Janet Morgan in the unmade The Drug Merchants.) This is a reference to Heathrow Airport, the largest international airport serving Greater London, which was known as London Airport between 1946 and 1966.
They Go Off in the End – Like Fruit is the first episode in ABC transmission order in which Marker states his fee – he asks Throstle whether six pounds a day plus expenses is agreeable. His fee would stay at this level for the remainder of Series 1.
In this episode as well as But the Joneses Never Get Letters, and possibly also My Life, That’s a Marriage, Marker has the use of a car – presumably hired for the occasion. Press coverage promoting the launch of Public Eye (see All for a Couple of Ponies) had indicated that Marker did not possess a vehicle, and earlier promotional literature from ABC had stated that: “when he needs a car, he hires a runabout from the local garage.”
In Acts Two and Three, Marker and Judy refer to London Airport. (It is also mentioned by Paul Garston in Nobody Kills Santa Claus, by Marker in You Should Hear Me Eat Soup and by Janet Morgan in the unmade The Drug Merchants.) This is a reference to Heathrow Airport, the largest international airport serving Greater London, which was known as London Airport between 1946 and 1966.
With thanks to Jonny Davies, Andrew Pixley, the BFI Special Collections, the British Newspaper Archive and Network Distributing.
The Missing Markers is a not-for-profit fan website written and edited by and copyright © Richard McGinlay. All rights reserved.
Public Eye (the ABC years) is copyright © StudioCanal. No attempt to infringe this copyright is intended.
The Missing Markers is a not-for-profit fan website written and edited by and copyright © Richard McGinlay. All rights reserved.
Public Eye (the ABC years) is copyright © StudioCanal. No attempt to infringe this copyright is intended.