Public Eye (partially found ITV drama series, 1965-1968)

Title logo used in the first series.

Status: Partially Found

Public Eye was a drama series produced by ABC Television and later Thames Television for ITV that ran for 7 consecutive series between January 23rd, 1965 and April 7th, 1975 starring Alfred Burke as down-at-heel inquiry agent Frank Marker, with the show depicting the numerous cases he would undertake.

Availability

While the latter 4 series produced by Thames Television between 1969 and 1975 remain intact in the archives with all episodes from these surviving, the first 3 series produced by ABC Television between 1965 and 1968 have been badly affected by wiping, with only 5 of the 41 episodes produced by ABC surviving in full.

In 1989, a 16mm film copy of the Series 2 episode "Don't Forget You're Mine" was discovered at Pinewood Studios by Chris Perry of the TV preservation group Kaleidoscope when investigating the holdings of Weintraub Entertainment Group, the then-owners of the ABC archive.

In addition to the 5 episodes that exist in full, a 5-minute clip from the otherwise missing Series 3 episode "It Must Be the Architecture - Can't Be the Climate" was discovered on an ABC promotional tape recovered during the 1990s. This clip along with the 5 surviving ABC episodes was released on the "Public Eye: The ABC Years" DVD in 2012.

4 episodes from Series 2 also exist as complete audio recordings along with a short audio extract from the episode "Tell Me About the Crab". Of these only a restored version of the audio recording of "Twenty Pounds of Heart and Muscle" has been made publicly available as of 2024, being included as a bonus feature on the "Public Eye: The Complete 1971 Series" DVD in 2005.

The final missing episode, the 3rd series finale "Cross That Palm When We Come To It", notable as the episode where Frank Marker is wrongly imprisoned on a charge of handling stolen property, was adapted as a novelization in 1974 by Audley Southcott, whose book also adapts the events of the surviving fourth series.

Episode List

Series 1

Episode	Title	Airdate	Status
1	“All For A Couple Of Ponies”	23 January 1965	Lost
2	“Nobody Kills Santa Claus”	30 January 1965	Found
3	“They Go Off In The End - Like Fruit”	6 February 1965	Lost
4	“Dig You Later”	13 February 1965	Lost
5	“I Went To Borrow A Pencil And Look What I Found”	20 February 1965	Lost
6	“But The Joneses Never Get Letters”	27 February 1965	Lost
7	“A Harsh World For Zealots”	6 March 1965	Lost
8	“And A Very Fine Fiddle Has He”	13 March 1965	Lost
9	“My Life, That's A Marriage”	20 March 1965	Lost
10	“You Think It’ll Be Marvellous – But It’s Always A Rabbit”	27 March 1965	Lost
11	“Protection Is A Man's Best Friend”	3 April 1965	Lost
12	“The Morning Wasn't So Hot”	10 April 1965	Found
13	“You Should Hear Me Eat Soup”	17 April 1965	Lost
14	“You Have To Draw The Line Somewhere”	24 April 1965	Lost
15	“Have It On The House”	1 May 1965	Lost

Series 2

Episode	Title	Airdate	Status
1	“All The Black Dresses She Wants”	27 June 1966	Lost
2	“Don't Forget You're Mine”	4 July 1966	Found
3	“I Could Set It To Music”	11 July 1966	Lost
4	“It's A Terrible Way To Be”	18 July 1966	Lost
5	“You Can Keep The Medal”	25 July 1966	Lost
6	“You're Not Cinderella, Are You?”	5 August 1966	Lost
7	“Works With Chess, Not With Life”	12 August 1966	Found
8	“It Had To Be A Mouse”	19 August 1966	Lost
9	“Tell Me About The Crab”	26 August 1966	Partially Found
10	“No, No, Nothing Like That”	2 September 1966	Partially Found
11	“There Are More Things In Heaven And Earth”	9 September 1966	Partially Found
12	“Twenty Pounds Of Heart And Muscle”	16 September 1966	Partially Found
13	“What's The Matter? Can't You Take A Sick Joke?”	23 September 1966	Partially Found

Series 3

Episode	Title	Airdate	Status
1	“If This Is Lucky, I'd Rather Be Jonah”	20 January 1968	Lost
2	“But What Good Will The Truth Do?”	27 January 1968	Lost
3	“Memories Of Meg”	3 February 1968	Lost
4	“Have Mud, Will Throw”	10 February 1968	Lost
5	“But They Always Come Back For Tea”	17 February 1968	Lost
6	“Mercury In An Off-White Mac”	24 February 1968	Lost
7	“Strictly Private And Confidential”	2 March 1968	Lost
8	“Honesty Is The Best Policy - But Who Can Afford The Premiums”	9 March 1968	Lost
9	“The Bromsgrove Venus”	16 March 1968	Found
10	“It Must Be The Architecture - Can't Be The Climate”	23 March 1968	Partially Found
11	“It's Learning About The Lies That Hurts”	30 March 1968	Lost
12	“There's No Future In Monkey Business”	6 April 1968	Lost
13	“Cross That Palm When We Come To It”	13 April 1968	Lost

External Links

• Wikipedia page for Public Eye

• IMDb page for Public Eye

• Public Eye - Frank Marker Investigates, website containing information about the series

• The Missing Markers, website dedicated to collating information about the first 3 series including scripts, press coverage and production details for the missing episodes