For my money, the best two episodes of this series are Mocking Bird and Find The Lady - and because the latter is the only story I captured on VHS this is the only one I feel qualified to review. For me, this has everything and everyone: Toyah Willcox as the lead singer of a band managed by Christopher Biggins; Gary Holton as the band's sacked and disgruntled bassist; Peter Dean as a traffic cop and Holton's older brother; Lynda Bellingham and Diana Weston as swimsuit models; and Brian Capron as a seaside smudger. The episode opens with Biggins' entrance in a chauffeur driven Iso Grifo - one of the rarest, iconic and expensive cars ever made - even from a rental point of view I hate to think how much the Beeb paid the owner for its 20 seconds of screen time. Biggins emerges from this vehicle in fine style: clad in a white dinner jacket and making it quite clear he is the Mr Big of the show (yes, pun intended). His scenes are intercut with Toyah Willcox and her band in a live end of the pier performance of a song that easily out shadows everything she would later do when known as Toyah 15 months later when she achieved fame. We are then introduced to Gary Holton as Mole, the sacked bassist drowning his sorrows and next being thrown into the sea to almost drown by Biggins' heavies. The unfolding plot is quite simple; and I shall not give away the gist. Standout performances here are Biggins who does a surprisingly believable crime boss, and the late, great and wonderful Gary Holton - at this time I imagine still navigating his way from his job as lead singer with rock band Heavy Metal Kids and the acting job which would culminate with Auf Widersehen, Pet. Add the late and utterly lovely Lynda Bellingham and Diana Weston in swimsuits; then add Peter Dean many years before he became Pete Beale in Eastenders - who has "a special right" regarding his younger brother Holton. The episode climaxes with Toyah and her band performing the best song she ever made: Danced.
Review of Shoestring
