Bird Of Prey (BBC-1 1982 and 1984, Richard Griffiths, Nigel Davenport)

Bird Of Prey was made up of a pair of four part thriller serials that focused on the beginnings of the computer industry. Civil servant Henry Jay working in computer fraud uncovers a massive financial conspiracy that implicates a prominent Euro Mp. In the second serial Henry Jay and his wife Anne found themselves forced to go on the run.

Fast paced and quite good fun, all the more interesting these day to look back at how far technology has come in such a short space of time. In the first serial Henry pays a fortune for a computer with a tiny amount of processing power and has to “steal” some network time from a company in order to do some background digging.

The first series ends with Henry using his computer knowledge to secure the safety of both himself and his wife but season two, which appeared two years after the first story, has them running for their lives once again. The fabulous Bob Peck has a prominent role in this second story too.

production details
UK / BBC-1 / 8×50 minute episodes / Broadcast 22 April 1982 – 27 September 1984

Serial 1:22 Apr – 13 May 1982 / Serial 2:6 Sep – 27 Sep 1984

Writer: Ron Hutchinson / Script Editor: Sandra Rudkin / Music: Dave Greenslade / Producer: Michael Wearing (serial 1), Bernard Krichefski (serial 2) / Director: Michael Rolfe (serial 1), Don Leaver (serial 2)

cast
RICHARD GRIFFITHS as Henry Jay
CAROLE NIMMONS as Anne Jay
JEREMY CHILD as Tony Hendersley
NIGEL DAVENPORT as Charles Bridgnorth
ROGER SLOMAN as Harry Tompkins (serial 1)
JIM BROADBENT as Detective Inspector Richardson (serial 1)
TERENCE RIGBY as Duggan (serial 2)
BOB PECK as Greggory (serial 2)
HEATHER TOBIAS as Halston (serial 2)