Shoestring Episode Rating Graph
Sep 1979 - Dec 1980

Sep 1979 - Dec 1980
4.7

| E1 | E2 | E3 | E4 | E5 | E6 | E7 | E8 | E9 | E10 | E11 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S1 | |||||||||||
| S2 |
Browse episode ratings trends for Shoestring. Simply click on the interactive rating graph to explore the best and worst of Shoestring's 21 episodes.
S1 Ep7
9.0
11th Nov 1979
After Molly Tasker, director of a local women's refuge, accuses Radio West of ignoring domestic violence, Eddie investigates why the late Jackie Craig, whose wife is in the hostel, was unaccountably wealthy when he drowned. Eddie traces Craig's belongings to his ex-employer Jimmy Colefax, who is sailing round the world and whose wife Val is providing a daily link-up with him. However, a local radio ham alerts Eddie to the fact that Jimmy is apparently broadcasting from a nearby location, rather than thousands of miles away. He may be a fraud but is he also a murderer?
S2 Ep6
8.0
9th Nov 1980
After her debt-ridden husband Tim has killed himself, Mary Reynolds asks Eddie's help in discovering why her credit facilities have been stopped when the debt concerned was twelve years earlier and apparently cancelled. Eddie discovers that Tim was working on a computer which diagnosed faults in cars and that the debt collection firm harassing Mary is linked to a large computer company anxious to bankrupt small firms like the Reynolds'. By leaning on a former colleague who has joined the debt collectors through fraudulent means Eddie is able to help Mary but not, apparently, his own credit rating.
S1 Ep6
8.0
4th Nov 1979
A distraught woman asks Eddie to find her daughter, who she is sure has been kidnapped by her ex-husband.
S1 Ep4
8.0
21st Oct 1979
Marion Cutler, a social worker, asks Eddie to look for Nick Forrest, one of her charges who has gone missing. Nick is a remarkable fellow who had been living in a hut on the beach. But Steve, the owner of the hut, tells Eddie he's never heard of him. The mystery begins to centre on some aerial photographs of the coast-line taken by Nick, and Eddie soon finds he is onto a dangerous gang of drug-smugglers.
S2 Ep7
7.5
16th Nov 1980
Erica's secretary Lois meets charming Clive Wright through a dating agency but he disappears whilst they are in a restaurant and the staff and dating agency workers are equally unhelpful as to whether he existed.
S2 Ep3
2.0
19th Oct 1980
Young women are being mugged around the city and the perpetrator, a caller with an Ulster accent, keeps ringing Eddie and taunting him for his inability to catch him. Police are called in but smug inspector Healey is little help. After Sonia is attacked, Tom, a security guard at the station and former policeman, recognizes the caller's voice from his days as a hospital DJ and points Eddie towards him.
S1 Ep1
5.0
30th Sep 1979
Private detective Eddie Shoestring is asked by Radio West to look into the life of Sarah Marshall, a prostitute who has committed suicide. She died in a Rolls Royce belonging to David Carn, the station's most popular disc jockey, immediately after she had desperately tried to see him, and Radio West wants Eddie to show Sarah had no connection with their man.
S1 Ep10
6.0
9th Dec 1979
Sonia is concerned for her friend, travel agent Jenny Kelson, whom she sees apparently being threatened by a young man. Eddie follows him, leading to a remote country house owned by a couple of dog breeders, where he discovers that they're burglars, tipped off by Jenny as to when householders will be on holiday and their homes empty.
S1 Ep3
6.5
14th Oct 1979
Eddie goes to work for Jean, the wife of Major Hansford, a tough prep school headmaster (and retired Army officer) whose small school is being threatened by a series of nasty pranks.
S2 Ep2
6.5
12th Oct 1980
While out fishing, Don sees a thief rob a young couple of the woman's handbag but the couple themselves flee and fail to report the theft. Don retrieves the bag and Eddie traces it to Christine Page, who eventually admits that she and her married lover, Ken Bailey, are being blackmailed. However, the blackmailer is not after money...
S1 Ep1
5.0
30th Sep 1979
Private detective Eddie Shoestring is asked by Radio West to look into the life of Sarah Marshall, a prostitute who has committed suicide. She died in a Rolls Royce belonging to David Carn, the station's most popular disc jockey, immediately after she had desperately tried to see him, and Radio West wants Eddie to show Sarah had no connection with their man.
S1 Ep2
7.5
7th Oct 1979
Eddie nervously does his first ""Private Ear"" program and tries to locate the drivers of a van who are responsible for killing a young woman's husband in a car accident.
S1 Ep3
6.5
14th Oct 1979
Eddie goes to work for Jean, the wife of Major Hansford, a tough prep school headmaster (and retired Army officer) whose small school is being threatened by a series of nasty pranks.
S1 Ep4
8.0
21st Oct 1979
Marion Cutler, a social worker, asks Eddie to look for Nick Forrest, one of her charges who has gone missing. Nick is a remarkable fellow who had been living in a hut on the beach. But Steve, the owner of the hut, tells Eddie he's never heard of him. The mystery begins to centre on some aerial photographs of the coast-line taken by Nick, and Eddie soon finds he is onto a dangerous gang of drug-smugglers.
S1 Ep5
28th Oct 1979
Mel Shepherd threatens to throw herself off the roof of the Radio West building unless Eddie investigates her claim of a miscarriage of justice. Her husband Harry was jailed for killing a shop assistant while robbing a local jeweller's shop — but did he do it?
S1 Ep6
8.0
4th Nov 1979
A distraught woman asks Eddie to find her daughter, who she is sure has been kidnapped by her ex-husband.
S1 Ep7
9.0
11th Nov 1979
After Molly Tasker, director of a local women's refuge, accuses Radio West of ignoring domestic violence, Eddie investigates why the late Jackie Craig, whose wife is in the hostel, was unaccountably wealthy when he drowned. Eddie traces Craig's belongings to his ex-employer Jimmy Colefax, who is sailing round the world and whose wife Val is providing a daily link-up with him. However, a local radio ham alerts Eddie to the fact that Jimmy is apparently broadcasting from a nearby location, rather than thousands of miles away. He may be a fraud but is he also a murderer?
S1 Ep8
7.0
18th Nov 1979
Stamp dealer Joss Hargreaves collapses and dies whilst being bundled into a car by heavies working for Strickland, a corrupt businessman whom Eddie is trying to expose. Milkman Andy Stapleton witnesses everything but is spotted and goes on the run, having told Eddie. Knowing Andy's reputation as a liar when they were psychiatric patients together, Eddie is unconvinced until he himself is attacked and thrown from a car. Having discovered Hargreaves' double life and his connection with Strickland, Eddie sets a trap.
S1 Ep9
2nd Dec 1979
Rock singer Toola asks Eddie to dissuade her sacked bass player Mole from his belief that his beauty queen girlfriend Chrissie was killed out of jealousy by the band's manager, Malcolm Kenrick. Mole is persistent despite a beach photographer showing Eddie a recent picture of Chrissie and the lady herself. When Mole is killed, apparently the victim of a drug overdose, Eddie sees that he stumbled on something Kenrick wished to keep quiet and that he was right in his accusation.
S1 Ep10
6.0
9th Dec 1979
Sonia is concerned for her friend, travel agent Jenny Kelson, whom she sees apparently being threatened by a young man. Eddie follows him, leading to a remote country house owned by a couple of dog breeders, where he discovers that they're burglars, tipped off by Jenny as to when householders will be on holiday and their homes empty.
S1 Ep11
7.0
12th Dec 1979
When Maddy Hopkins joins religious cult, The Starshiners, her anxious mother, convinced that the group is out to get her trust fund money from her 21st birthday, asks Eddie to investigate. Maddy will hear nothing against the group but Eddie suspects a racket and meets the apparently sincere cult founder Stephen Steele. However, forging an uneasy alliance with reporter Felicity Lamb, Eddie sets out to expose a conspiracy.
The first episode of Shoestring aired on September 30, 1979.
The last episode of Shoestring aired on December 21, 1980.
There are 21 episodes of Shoestring.
There are 2 seasons of Shoestring.
No.
Shoestring has ended.