Public Eye (TV series)

Public Eye
Genre	Drama
Starring	Alfred Burke
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	7
Production company(s)	ABC Television (Series 1-3) Thames Television (Series 4-7)

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 (Alfred Burke), an unmarried loner who is in his early forties when the series begins.

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 Burke. 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 divorces (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. 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.

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—the rest being victims of the common television company policy of wiping. Two episodes from the first series do however exist.

In "Nobody Kills Santa Claus", the second episode of the first series (transmitted 30 January 1965), Marker plays comparatively little part in the plot. 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 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.

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