Public Eye - The Collection

When you think of down-at-heel private eyes, it’s usually the American variety which springs to mind… the hard-drinking, fast-talking, shabbily dressed guy who doesn’t shy away from danger and often, against his better judgement, gets involved with a femme fatale. British enquiry agent Frank Marker (memorably played by Alfred Burke) is none of the above: his preferred tipple being seemingly endless cups of tea, his cases are banal at best, and the one woman he’s incredibly fond of is his landlady Mrs. Mortimer – a dame with a heart of gold who is a ‘fatal’ as your grannie’s underwear! This 17-disc DVD-set contains every surviving episode of the beloved drama series (which ran from 1965 to 1975).

Back in the day, the simply unforgivable company policy of ‘wiping’ was common practice among TV-companies and thus, countless episodes of series such as ‘Adam Adamant’ or ‘Mystery and Imagination’ fell prey to said practice, as indeed did ‘Public Eye’. However, thanks to the remaining episodes presented in this release, viewers not familiar with the series will get a fair impression of Frank Marker’s often downtrodden existence while for those familiar with the series, it will make for a trip down memory lane.

In ‘Nobody Kills Santa Claus’ we get acquainted with Marker’s trademark characteristics, which are his modest lifestyle (accompanied by his modest fees), his shabby appearance (matched by his shabby office) and the fact that, as far as ‘enquiry agents’ go, he’s usually at the bottom of the pecking order… meaning, more often than not he is in no position to choose when it comes to accepting cases. He’s also described as a ‘forty-something’ loner. That said, Frank Marker is a man of principles: when his unpleasant client (Keith Baxter) initially tries to hire him as a bodyguard after having received death threats, Marker insists on being installed as a chauffeur instead (this was also done to keep within the series’ ethos of downplaying any graphic violence). At the end of the episode, and after Marker has taken a beating (which we don’t really see), his client offers him a permanent job… with Marker walking out of the door and returning to his self-employed and financially shaky ways.

More unpleasant things happen over the course of the first three series and in episode Nr. 1 (series 4) titled ‘Welcome to Brighton’ we are given a recap of why Marker ended up in prison for twenty-eight months, namely after he acted as a go-between for a solicitor over stolen bling, the solicitor turned out to be crooked and Marker ending up taking the rap for apparently receiving stolen jewellery. Now he’s in Brighton and under the watchful eye of Mr. Hull (John Grieve), an assigned parole officer who tries to help Marker re-enter society and become a law-abiding citizen. Marker also finds accommodation in a guesthouse run by the sympathetic Mrs. Mortimer (Pauline Delaney) who believes in Marker’s integrity from day one and with whom he establishes a platonic relationship over the next few episodes. Initially, Mrs. Mortimer pretends to be a widow (for reasons of social respectability) but in a later episode, her no-good husband returns and tries to worm his way back in, only to receive his final marching orders (much to Marker’s delight).

Marker’s first job assignment (of course, Mr. Hull got him the job) is for a local building firm, Kendricks. At first everything seems to run smoothly, but when one of the workers (played by Brian Croucher) gets wind of Marker being on parole, he steals a colleague’s pay packet (yes, before cheques and e-transfers there were pay packets!) and makes sure Marker gets the blame – after all, no one would believe someone just out of prison. Luckily, Mr. Hull and the local police detective do believe Marker is innocent but the damage is done because now everyone knows he’s an ‘ex-con’ and it comes with a stigma attached. Thus, Marker moves on to his next ‘high profile’ job, which is that of a shelf stacker in a supermarket. All is not as bad as it seems though thanks to endless cups of tea, endless slices of toast and friendly banter back in Mrs. Mortimer’s guesthouse. The dear landlady trusts him so much, she leaves him in charge of the guesthouse when she has to visit her sister for a few days… and the poor bloke promptly gets the guest from hell in Stephanie Beacham (episode: ‘My Life’s My Own’) who rents a room to commit suicide (Marker makes sure she doesn’t succeed though).

When Marker gets the chance to leave the supermarket job (after another misunderstanding) he finally gets the chance to indulge in a bit of detective work after Mr. Hull sorts him out with an assistant job at Rylan’s, an enquiry agency. One of his assignments (episode: ‘The Comedian’s Graveyard’) brings him to the world of seaside music hall when he is tasked with tracing a missing girl, whose ambitions to break into the world of showbiz are initially nurtured by an ageing and cynical seaside entertainer who has never quite made it. Will Marker succeed in tracing the girl and talk her out of a life filled with hardship and disappointment? You bet!

Following his success at Rylan’s, you’d think our walking teapot investigator might finally have landed a cushy job but Marker being Marker decides that Mr. Rylan is a bit of a jerk and promptly quits, leaving the long-suffering Mr. Hull even more despairing. When Marker expresses his wish to open his own enquiry agency, Mr. Hull is opposed to it, not least because he reckons it might be against parole regulations. However, given Marker’s abysmal track record of never holding a job for more than six weeks, Mr. Hull finally gives in and the hunt for suitable premises is on.

In the episode ‘A Fixed Address’ Marker can be seen moving into a ramshackle basement office which is transformed into a reasonably respectable place with the help of Mrs. Mortimer. This is also the first episode in colour. As Marker takes on his first cases, the opening titles change too though during the course of the entire series, Marker moves office a few more times, first to Eton and later to Surrey but no matter where his office is, there’s always a kettle whistling in the background and a cup ready to be filled with tea. The cases aren’t overly exciting it must be said and are usually confined to tracing missing persons, cheating husbands (or the other way around), fake paintings sold as genuine masterpieces and so on. It makes for cosy watching best enjoyed with, well, lots of tea and biscuits! Mind you, Alfred Burke is perfect casting as the underdog with a heart whose stance of helping people rather than bleeding them dry by charging extortionate fees will never catapult him to a better lifestyle. Robert Earley’s jazzy downbeat score hits the mark(er) only too well.

Special Features include:
1966 interview with Alfred Burke / Extract from missing episode ‘It Must Be the Architecture ‘ Can’t Be the Climate’ plus Audio soundtrack from missing episode ‘Twenty Pounds of Heart and Muscle’.