Ken Boon
Created by Jim Hill and Bill Stair

"Ex- fireman seeks interesting work--ANYTHING LEGAL CONSIDERED"

Boon was an easy-going, light-hearted U.K. drama about a prematurely-retired firefighter, KEN BOON, who becomes a sort of freelance troubleshooter, and later, an official private eye in the British Midlands. Middle-aged Ken finds himself out of work after his lungs are damaged in a rescue attempt, so he sets himself up as a freelance troubleshooter. Harry Crawford, ken's friend and former colleague, an ambitious, scheming and slightly pompous hotelier, lends his old buddy office space in his hotel in Birmingham.

Ken put on a good show at being a leather-clad tough guy, astride his red and silver BSA 650 motorbike, 'White Lightning', but it belied a romantic streak that "read Raymond Chandler detective stories and day-dreamed about being a modern-day Lone Ranger," and wasprone to wearing his heart on his sleeve.

By the beginning of the second season, Harry had acquired a larger hotel, and Ken had set up a motorcycle dispatch company, employing two assistants, Rocky Cassidy and Debbie Yates. In the fourth season, the action had switched to Nottingham, where Harry had landed a gig managing the classy Woodcote Park, a hotel and country club, and Ken had founded Boon Investigations, with Harry as a more or less silent partner. By the next year, Ken and Harry were full-fledged partners, running Crawford-Boon Security (CBS), with Harry handling the burglar alarm and security guard side of the business.

The series proved to be immensely popular with fans, running for several years, largely due to Michael Elphick's charisma, the warm blend of humour and drama, and the ongoing lives of the ever-expanding cast of characters, as they fell in and out of love. The show's title song, "Hi Ho Silver", recorded by Jim Diamond, even reached number 5 in the Charts in 1986.

TELEVISION

• BOON
  (1986-95, ITV)
  93 episodes (7 13-episode seasons, plus two specials)
  All episodes 60 minutes, unless otherwise noted
  Creators: Jim Hill and Bill Stair
  Writers: Jim Hill, Bill Stair, Geoff McQueen, Anthony Minghella, Kieran Prendiville
  Directors:
  Producers: Kenny McBain (series 1); Esta Charkham (series 2,3,4); Simon Lewis (series 6,7)
  Executive Producers: Ted Childs (series 1,2,3,5,6,7); William Smethurst (series 4)
  A Central Independent Television Production
  Title song: "Hi Ho Silver" performed by Jim Diamond
  Starring Michael Elphick as KEN BOON
  with David Daker as Harry Crawford
  Neil Morrisey as Rocky Cassidy
  Lesley-Anne Sharpe as Debbie Yates
  and Elizabeth Carling as Laura Marsh
  Guest stars: Bruce Alexander, Jenny Agutter, Stephen Rea, Nicholas Ball, Warren Clarke, Dave Hill, Jane Horrocks, Geoffrey Hughes, David McCallum, Stephen Moore, Pete Postlethwaite, Ray Winstone, Jimmy Yuill
  

• 1st series (1985-86)
• "Box 13"
• "Fools Rush In"
• "Answers To The Name Of Watson"
• "Grass Widows"
• "Unto Us Four A Son"
• "Glasshouse People"
• "Northwest Passage To Acock's Green"
• "Something Old, Something New"
• "For Whom The Chimes Toll"
• "Jack Of All Tradesmen"
• "Billy The Kid"
• "Grand Expectations"
• "Full Circle"
  .
• 2nd series (1987)
• "Texas Rangers"
• "Special Delivery"
• "Day Of The Yokel"
• "Smokey And The Band"
• "Taken For A Ride"
• "Wheels Of Fortune"
• "A Ride On The Wild Side"
• "Credit Where It's Due"
• "Trudy's Grit"
• "A Fistful Of Pesetas"
• "Paper Mafia"
• "Fiddler Under The Roof"
• "A Once Fluid Man"
  .
• 3rd series (1988)
• "Charity Begins At Home (Part 1)"
• "Charity Begins At Home (Part 2)"
• "Topspin"
• "Have A Nice Day"
• "Beef Encounter"
• "Never Say Trevor Again"
• "Honourable Service"
• "Peacemaker"
• "The Devil You Know"
• "Banbury Blue"
• "One Reborn Every Minute"
• "The Fall and Rise Of The Bowman Empire"
• "The Not So Lone Ranger"
  .
• 4th series (1989)
• "Walking Off Air"
• "The Relief Of Matty King"
• "Vallance's Liberty"
• "Of Meissen Men"
• "Arms And The Dog"
• "Sickness And Health"
• "In It For The Monet"
• "Do Not Forsake Me"
• "Love Letters From A Dead Man "
• "Big Game Hunt"
• "Don't Buy From Me, Argentina"
• "All In A Day's Pork"
• "The Eyes Of Texas"
  .
• 5th series (1990)
• "Trouble In The Fields"
• "Tales From The River Bank"
• "Rival Eyes"
• "A Night At The Ballet"
• "Work, Rest & Play"
• "Bully Boys"
• "The Belles Of St. Godwalds"
• "Burning Ambition"
• "Undercover"
• "Daddy's Girl"
• "Best Left Buried"
• "Thicker Than Water"
• "The Tender Trap"
  .
• 6th series (1991)
• "Help Me Make It Through The Night"
• "Coverup"
• "Two Men In A Vault"
• "Lost On The Range"
• "Lie Of The Land"
• "Cab Rank Cowboys"
• "The Barefaced Contessa"
• "Trial And Error"
• "Pillow Talk"
• "Houseguests"
• "Bad Pennies"
• "When Harry Met Janice"
• "Stamp Duty"
  .
• "The Night Before Christmas" (special 90-minute Christmas episode, dedicated to Bill Stair, May 1939 - March 1991, co-creator)
  .
• 7th series (1992)
• "MacGuffin's Transputer"
• "Queen's Gambit"
• "Walkout"
• "The Sharp End"
• "Deadline"
• "Message In A Bottle"
• "Is There Anybody There?"
• "Away From It All"
• "Minder"
• "Love Or Money"
• "Blackballed"
• "Whispering Grass"
• "Shot In The Dark"
  .
• "Thieves Like Us" (extra episode, not shown in 1992, finally aired in 1995)

NOVELIZATIONS

• Boon (1986; by Anthony Masters; novelization based on a composite of several Series 1 episodes)

RELATED LINKS

• The Boon Homepage
  Martin Undewood's excellent site dedicated to Boon, complete with episode guide, cast lists and all kinds of other goodies.

Report respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.

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