Boon (TV series)


Boon is a British television crime drama starring Michael Elphick, David Daker, and later Neil Morrissey. It was created by Jim Hill and Bill Stair and filmed by Central Television for ITV. It revolved around the life of an ex-fireman called Ken Boon. Since 16 January 2017 it has been rerun on UKTV channel Drama.

Premise

Ken Boon and Harry Crawford were both old-fashioned 'smokeys' in the West Midlands Fire Service. In episode 1 Crawford takes early retirement and moves to Spain to open a bar, leaving Ken behind. In the same opening episode, Ken attends a house fire where a child is trapped upstairs. Realising he must act quickly he goes into the house without breathing apparatus, rescues the child but is severely injured by inhaling toxic smoke. He attempts to prove he can still make it but he is declared unfit for duty after collapsing during a practice-simulation because his lungs have been permanently damaged, and he is forced to retire from working in fire service.
He started a market garden called 'The Ponderosa' in a village about ten miles outside of Birmingham but found that it wasn't working out. As he struggled to pay bills and keep afloat, he was surprised when a visitor arrived at the garden; Harry had returned from Spain to Birmingham, after his wife Alison had left him for a young hairdresser. Harry had acquired a hotel in Birmingham and offered a 'port in a storm' for Ken.
On Ken's behalf, and without his knowledge, Harry places a Post Office box-number advert in a newspaper stating: "Ex-fireman seeks interesting work. Anything legal considered." From these humble beginnings, Boon's career as a Courier, 'Minder' and Private Investigator began.
During the time that Ken and Harry worked together, portrayed in series 1–3, Harry ran two hotels and a ballroom ; from series 4 he operated a country club and later a security firm. Ken ran a motorbike courier firm, two private investigation firms and CBS. CBS was a joint venture, with Ken being responsible for private investigations and Harry for security.
The series moved away from Birmingham to Nottingham at the beginning of series 4, with production of the show being based at Central Television's studio in Nottingham. The Birmingham episodes were made on film whereas the Nottingham episodes were made on videotape, as were interior scenes for Series 1. Apart from studio interiors of Series 1, all filming was done on location.

Cast

The cast included Michael Elphick and David Daker. Neil Morrissey joined in the second series as Rocky, his first major television role. Other regular characters were played by Rachel Davies, Lesley-Anne Sharpe, Amanda Burton, Elizabeth Carling, Brigit Forsyth, Saskia Wickham and Joan Scott. Christopher Eccleston had a small role, one of his first ones. Also includes Gordon Warnecke who plays Hanif in series 1.

Writers

The show's writers included Geoff McQueen, Kevin McNally, Bernard Strother, Anthony Minghella, Tony McHale, Kieran Prendiville and Veronica Henry. Ted Childs was the first executive producer.

Episodes

Series 1

  1. "Box 13"
  2. "Fools Rush In"
  3. "Answers to the Name of Watson"
  4. "Grass Widows"
  5. "Unto Us Four a Son"
  6. "Glasshouse People"
  7. "Northwest Passage to Acock's Green"
  8. "Something Old, Something New"
  9. "For Whom the Chimes Toll"
  10. "Jack of All Tradesmen"
  11. "Billy the Kid"
  12. "Grand Expectations"
  13. "Full Circle"

    Series 2

  14. "Texas Rangers"
  15. "Special Delivery"
  16. "Day of the Yokel"
  17. "Smokey and the Band"
  18. "Taken for a Ride"
  19. "Wheels of Fortune"
  20. "A Ride on the Wild Side"
  21. "Credit Where It's Due"
  22. "Trudy's Grit"
  23. "A Fistful of Pesetas"
  24. "Paper Mafia"
  25. "Fiddler Under the Roof"
  26. "A Once Fluid Man"

    Series 3

  27. "Charity Begins at Home" Part 1
  28. "Charity Begins at Home" Part 2
  29. "Topspin"
  30. "Have a Nice Day"
  31. "Beef Encounter"
  32. "Never Say Trevor Again"
  33. "Honourable Service"
  34. "Peacemaker"
  35. "The Devil You Know"
  36. "Banbury Blue"
  37. "One Reborn Every Minute"
  38. "The Fall and Rise of the Bowman Empire"
  39. "The Not So Lone Ranger"

    Series 4

  40. "Walking Off Air"
  41. "The Relief of Matty King"
  42. "Vallance's Liberty"
  43. "Of Meissen Men"
  44. "Arms and the Dog"
  45. "Sickness and Health"
  46. "In It for the Monet"
  47. "Do Not Forsake Me"
  48. "Love Letters from a Dead Man"
  49. "Big Game Hunt"
  50. "Don't Buy From Me, Argentina"
  51. "All in a Day's Pork"
  52. "The Eyes of Texas"

    Series 5

  53. "Trouble in the Fields"
  54. "Tales from the River Bank"
  55. "Rival Eyes"
  56. "A Night at the Ballet"
  57. "Work, Rest & Play"
  58. "Bully Boys"
  59. "The Belles of St Godwald's"
  60. "Burning Ambition"
  61. "Undercover"
  62. "Daddy's Girl"
  63. "Best Left Buried"
  64. "Thicker Than Water"
  65. "The Tender Trap"

    Series 6

  66. "Help Me Make It Through the Night"
  67. "Two Men in a Vault"
  68. "Trial and Error"
  69. "Coverup"
  70. "The Barefaced Contessa"
  71. "Lie of the Land"
  72. "Lost on the Range"
  73. "Pillow Talk"
  74. "Cab Rank Cowboys"
  75. "Houseguests"
  76. "Bad Pennies"
  77. "When Harry Met Janice"
  78. "Stamp Duty"
  79. "The Night Before Christmas" 90-minute Christmas Special

    Series 7

  80. "MacGuffin's Transputer"
  81. "Queen's Gambit"
  82. "Walkout"
  83. "Deadline"
  84. "Away From It All"
  85. "Message in a Bottle"
  86. "The Sharp End"
  87. "Is There Anybody There?"
  88. "Minder"
  89. "Love or Money"
  90. "Blackballed"
  91. "Whispering Grass"
  92. "Shot in the Dark"
  93. "Thieves Like Us"

    DVD releases

History of the show

According to Jim Hill, the name 'Boon' was derived as follows: "Originally called 'Anything Legal Considered', we fell foul of the vogue of the main character's name being all or part of the title. Boon had been derived from an American TV series from the 1950s that Bill Stair and I both watched and liked. It was called 'Have Gun – Will Travel' – a troubleshooting cowboy answered distress calls. He was called Paladin and was played by the actor Richard Boone. We dropped the E and we had BOON – a modern-day trouble shooter on a motorbike instead of a steed."