The
lowdown: 'Boon' is a British drama series that stars Michael
Elphick as Ken Boon, a fireman who is forced to retire
early after his lungs are
damaged by smoke when he is rescuing a boy from a fire. The series' other
main characters are
David Daker as Harry Crawford,
a retired fireman and friend of Boon who invests in a number of ventures,
including several
hotels and a reception/conference
centre, and Neil Morrissey as Rocky Cassidy, a young man whom Boon employs
in his
various ventures after leaving
the fire brigade. Boon initially undertakes odd jobs in order to make a
living, while helping out
people as an amateur private
detective. Boon starts a motorcycle courier business in the second series,
while in the fourth
series he formally establishes
a private enquiries firm called Boon-Daly Investigations in partnership
with a former police
officer, Margaret Daly.
The sixth series sees him start a new private investigations and security
consulting firm with Harry,
called Crawford Boon Security.
A total of 92 episodes were broadcast on ITV1 between 14 January 1986 and
1 December
1992, with a one-off special
that was broadcast in May 1995 but was made in 1992.
The
episode: 'Coverup' was the fourth episode of the sixth
season, broadcast on 15 October 1991. Two young men hit
a couple while joyriding
in a stolen car. They ditch it in a gravel pit (unused since Doctor Who
ceased productuon) and
the driver, Mark (Christopher
Eccleston), warns his accomplice John not to tell anybody what happened.
John's mother
comes to Boon when she is
concerned about her son's sudden change in behaviour, fearing that he is
using drugs. The
couple who were hit by the
car turn out to be a local doctor and his mistress, Ann Fielding, and although
she was injured
in the accident, the doctor
didn't want her details to go on record at the hospital in case his wife
found out. John works as
an orderly at the hospital
and has been stealing drugs for Mark, who continues to bully and threaten
him into remaining
silent. Mark steals Harry's
Jaguar and kidnaps John, driving him to the quarry. Boon and Harry locate
Mark and force him
to take them to John, although
Harry seems much more concerned about his car. Boon promises John's mother
that he
will try to keep her son
out of prison, but Ann Fielding has called the police and both Mark and
John are arrested.
Who
connections: David Daker had two appearances in Doctor
Who, as Irongron in The Time Warrior and Captain Rigg
in The Nightmare of Eden),
while Mark Benton (Clive in Rose) had a role as a recurring character
in the final series. Other
Doctor Who actors
to appear in 'Boon' included Camille Coduri, Clive Swift, Anthony
Head, Denis Lill and Brian Blessed.
The
verdict:
'Boon' was a popular series in its day, with a combination of family-friendly
stories, little violence, engaging
characters
and gentle humour. Like many British shows from the past, a major attraction
is seeing actors when they were
much
younger or not very well-known, including Daniel Craig, John Nettles, Ray
Winstone, Clive Owen, Warren Clarke and
Dennis
Waterman. Indeed, nearly every episode has at least one actor whom you
will remember seeing in something else.
Video
clips: Car accident
6.6mb
Entering and breaking
4.0mb
Mark and John 4.4mb |
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