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.
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.
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.
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.
The wife of a convict threatens to throw herself off the roof of the Radio West building unless Eddie investigates her claim of a miscarriage of justice. Her husband was jailed for killing a shop assistant while robbing a local jeweller's shop - but did he do it?
A distraught woman asks Eddie to find her daughter, who she is sure has been kidnapped by her ex-husband.
A militant defender of abused women lodges a complaint with Eddie that leads him to Jimmy Colefax, who is trying to sail around the world in a homemade boat.
Andy Stapleton, an old friend of Eddie, witnesses the murder of a stamp dealer and asks his old friend for help when the thugs come after him.
Toola, a rock singer, asks Eddie to find the missing girl friend of an ex-member of her band but the search leads to secrets someone is willing to kill for.
Sonia witnesses a casual friend, Jenny Kelson, being harassed by a bully. When Jenny later accidentally leaves an envelope full of money with Sonia, Eddie picks up the story and looks into what Jenny is hiding.
A distraught mother asks Eddie to look into a cult her daughter has gotten involved with called the ""Starshines"", and who stand to receive her 15,000 pound inheritance in a few weeks.
A 76-year-old woman asks Eddie to look into something she saw through the window of the empty house across the street that she believes to be murder.
Don sees a man stealing a handbag from a woman's car, and when he asks Eddie to return the empty bag to its owner, the Radio West 'private ear' hears a nasty tale of blackmail.
Eddie finds himself on the edge of another breakdown when a caller taunts him with several muggings and an attack on Sonia, daring the ""Private Ear"" to catch him.
Satchley asks Eddie to find a long-forgotten rock star whose records have found new popularity on Radio West's nostalgia program.
Rosemary Mortimer, the wife of a water cress farmer, has disappeared for the second time, and her husband David is being persecuted by villagers who believe he has killed her. Don wants Eddie to raise the profile of his radio show, and Eddie offers to help Mortimer find what has happened to Rosemary.
At the request of a bereaved wife, Eddie investigates when Tim Reynolds jumps to his death from the top of a building in the city centre. Reynolds was developing a new fuel-efficiency computer system and was also in debt, and two shady business men, Rodgers and Parry, are somehow mixed up in a dishonest computer deal.
Erica's friend Lois goes on a blind date with Clive, but he is chased out of a restaurant dining room into the bathroom and disappears. Eddie investigates.
Eddie is asked to investigate when Philip and Diana Hosken's furniture vanishes while being moved to their new house. Retired boxer Terry Bowen, an acquaintance of Erica's, proves to be up to no good.
Suffering from over-work, Keith Amery takes off onto the moors with a tent to get away from it all. While there, he has a strange experience, bangs his head and loses part of his memory. Eddie's mission is to find out what has happened. Meanwhile, the mysterious Australian Denise tricks her way into Eddie's confidence.
Pete Johnson, a market trader dealing in dodgy goods, gives his young son Mike an early Christmas present - a powered moon buggy called Lunar Race 2000. As soon as the buggy is plugged in, it bursts into flames, causing Mike severe burns, and he finds himself in hospital. However, Pete lies to the hospital staff about the cause of the accident, as he had bought a box of the games believing them to be stolen.Eddie meets Mike while he is at the hospital delivering presents in the children's ward, and a doctor tells him that Mike has given a different story which may need investigation. Eddie gets the truth out of Pete, who says he has sold the other moon buggies, and Eddie begins broadcasting warnings about the potentially dangerous toy - but then the radio station is threatened with legal action by Wing's, the manufacturers, who say there is no such product...
Series which unearths the history and anecdotes behind cult British Sunday night drama series looks at downbeat maverick Bristolian detective and radio DJ, Eddie Shoestring. The programme gives clues as to why the slouching man with a moustache and an on-off relationship with his landlady drew audiences of 20 million, explains the role the aristocracy played in it finding a home on Sunday nights, and uncovers what actor Trevor Eve was thinking when he called time on the role after two series.
