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. [1]
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. [2] 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. [3]
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. [4]
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 |