Bognor (ITV 1981-1982, David Horovitch, Joanna McCallum)

Crime drama series Bognor follows the cases of Simon Bognor who works for SIDBOT or to give it’s full title the Special Investigations Department of the Board of Trade where he investigates some rather strange cases – including shenanigans at a dog show, a theft by a communist group of a top secret honey recipe and in the second season dirty goings on in the restaurant business.

Broadcast twice weekly with a 30 minute running time for it’s first season it reverted to hour long for it’s very short 3 episode second season. The first series was made up of three complete stories each running for 6 episodes under the overall titles Unbecoming Habits, Deadline and Let Sleeping Dogs Lie whilst the second series was one story across three episodes – this had the overall title Just Desserts.

Bognor is a fun series, mostly played tongue in cheek. Stylistically it is quite similar at times to the Armchair Thriller series but with a better sense of humour. David Horovitch is excellent in the lead and guest stars were quite high calibre across the run of the series including the likes of Patrick Troughton, Nigel Davenport, David Calder, Charlotte Cornwell, Andrew Ray and John Le Mesurier.

production details
UK / ITV – Thames / 18×30 minute episodes 3×60 minute episodes / Broadcast 10 February 1981 – 23 February 1982

Writer: T.R. Bowen / Novels:Tim Heald / Music: Mike Steer / Producer: Bernard Krichefski / Executive Producer: John Frankau

cast
DAVID HOROVITCH as Bognor
JOANNA McCALLUM as Monica
EWAN ROBERTS as Parkinson
TIM MEATS as Lingard
PATRICK TROUGHTON as Xavier
EDWARD PEEL as Vivian
CHARLES LLOYD PACK as Matthew
ANNA PALK as Lena Strudwick
IAN LINDSAY as Bert Watson
ROBIN BAILEY as Percy Pocklington
SHANE RIMMER as Horace Higgins
NIGEL DAVENPORT as Edgar Eagerly

THE EPISODES
SEASON ONE 10 February – 9 April 1981
Each six part story, shown twice weekly, was made up of six individually titled episodes as listed below.
1. UNBECOMING HABITS
A. Colingdale’s Dead (10 Feb 1981)
B. Batty Tom (12 Feb 1981)
C. The Cross Country Monk (17 Feb 1981)
D. Lord Dismiss Us (19 Feb 1981)
E. Keeping Up With The Jones (24 Feb 1981)
F. Making A Bog Of It (26 Feb 1981)

2. DEADLINE
A. They Don’t Make Them Like That Anymore (3 Mar 1981)
B. Who Goes Home? (5 Mar 1981)
C. There Comes No Answer (10 Mar 1981)
D. The Cricketer’s Almanack (12 Mar 1981)
E. Good Luck Willy (17 Mar 1981)
F. Hard Cheese On Eric (19 Mar 1981)

3. LET SLEEPING DOGS LIE
A. Dog’s Dinner (24 Mar 1981)
B. A Handful Of Ashes (26 Mar 1981)
C. Meet The Mole (31 Mar 1981)
D. I Am Yellow – Memoirs Of A Danish Dog Lover (2 Apr 1981)
E. Dummy Run (7 Apr 1981)
F. Feeding Time (9 Apr 1981)

SEASON TWO 9 – 23 February 1982
One story across three individual episodes of 60 minutes each.
1. JUST DESSERTS
A. Scoff Not (9 Feb 1982)
B. A Health Warning (16 Feb 1982)
C. The Fastest Cork In The West (23 Feb 1982)