Free and Easy
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Free and Easy was the name given to an unaired pilot for a police drama set in Stoke-on-Trent and produced by Thames Television in 1968. The focus of the programme was on two crime fighting detectives, David Free and Michael Easy, hence the name Free and Easy. It was one of the first attempts by a British Television production company to produce a more gritty approach to crime orientated drama long before the likes of The Sweeney began to portray police work as violent.
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[edit] Origins
Free and Easy began as an experiment for Thames Television to see if audiences would respond to a less jocular depiction of law enforcement, as shows like Dixon of Dock Green, Z Cars and The Saint dominated the airwaves. The pilot episode, titled 'How Long is a Piece of String', was written by Elwyn Jones a well known writer who had worked on Z Cars for BBC Television and Peter Thompson a budding screen writer from Hanley, Stoke. The idea for a set of odd couple detectives was born out of the re-occurring rivalry between Simon Templar and Inspector Teal in The Saint. Jones felt that a little bit of banter, but an underlying respect, was the perfect premise for a police show and thus Free and Easy was born.
[edit] Characters
The two principal characters were David Free (aka ben babb) and Michael Easy (aka richard sale), who drove a Maserati Ghibli.
[edit] David Free
Detective David Free is a young up and comer, new to Stoke, he wants to make his mark by going after the top crimelords in the area. He's a no nonsense kind of guy, red tape be damned he always shoots first and asks questions later. Free's main weakness is women, he's a chronic womanizer - though his chat up lines tend to be awful (For example, 'How do you like your eggs in the morning? Scrambled or fertilized? [thrusts groin]). He always thinks he's in the right and loves to take the micky out of Michael Easy's especially his old fashioned tastes and attention to detail. He was played by Michael Elphick
[edit] Michael Easy
Michael Easy is an old hand on the streets of Stoke. He does things by the book but always gets results though his attention to detail causes friction with his restless partner. His high profile amongst crime bosses means he never goes under cover. In contrast to David, Michael is a family man. He has two children by his first wife (Mary, deceased) and remarried to Imogen, a sultry girl almost half his age. He treats David as another son, trying to steer him in the right direction and away from the vices of drink and women. He was played by Dennis Price.
[edit] Production
The filming of the pilot took ten working days, shooting about five minutes of edited screen time per day. Because of this the number of different filming locations had to be restricted to ten, i.e. one location per day. Shooting took place through the summer, so exterior night shooting was expensive and limited to 3 minutes of external night material in any episode.
In total the pilot had an eight and a half week production schedule: two weeks pre-production (for casting, finding locations etc.), two weeks shooting, four weeks picture editing (the first two weeks of which overlap with the shoot), two weeks sound editing and two and a half days dubbing.
[edit] Pilot and Series One (Three Episodes)
The pilot didn't prove popular with test audiences who weren't ready for the on screen sex scenes of David Free, while many frowned upon the relationship between Michael and Imogen. Though the swearing would be considered tame by modern standards it was considered explicit for 1968 and the use of violence was deemed too strong by both ITV and the BBC. Though the remaining six episodes were never filmed the basic plot was penned
[edit] Episode One
Free and Easy investigate a murder carried out by a known drug dealer. Yet trying to establish a connection between victim and killer proves more difficult than they imagine.
[edit] Episode Two
The intrepid duo come across a couple of albino twins who work as mercenaries for hire, Troy and Trojan (alias T.N.T). Free and Easy narrowly stop the murder of a key witness in a Cold War conspiracy.
[edit] Episode Three
Free, while undercover, falls for Diana Might, the head of a organised criminal gang. While Easy discovers that his wife has been sleeping with an MI5 agent.
[edit] Trivia
Though a failure, Free and Easy can be said to be the first of the cop buddies type of show that would later achieve success with Miami Vice. It is surely no coincidence that just seven years later The Sweeney (again produced by Thames Television) built on the hard hitting, close to bone example set by Free and Easy
