Daniel Pike
Created by Edward Boyd (1916-1989)

Forget Scotland the Brave -- this is Scotland the Hard.

DANIEL PIKE is a Glasgow-based private investigator and debt collector who was featured in a handful of episodes of British television in the early 70's. He's a hard man who decorates his office with pictures of riots, violence and atrocities committed by humans against humans. He's described by some as looking like a "well-dressed cement-mixer."

He's got a mouth on him too. After brushing off one potential client whose daughter he has once tracked down, he returns to his office only to find the same man sitting behind HIS desk, going through his bills. "Do I have to marry you to get rid of you?" he asks.

Later, when on the hunt for the daughter again, he has this exchange with the owner of a hotel as he checks in:

PIKE: (CASUALLY) This young lady ...
HAMISH: Miss Stevens ...
PIKE: She have a little red mini?
HAMISH: She has indeed. Are you acquainted with her?
PIKE: No. I just like little red minis.

And follows it up with this when he catches up with the owner of the mini in question:

NELLY: I've been talking to Hamish MacKenzie . He mentioned my name and you asked if I had a little red Mini.
PIKE: I'm hooked on little red Minis. I've got a pocketful of lump sugar for feeding little red Minis.
NELLY: So you didn't know I was up here?
PIKE: (AFTER A MOMENT) Was reading this crappy book the other day. Bloke kept going on about something called the Fallacy of the Central Position. You know, the feeling that the sun shines out of your particular backside.
NELLY: Not with you.
PIKE: The world's filled with little red minis.

Pike's creator was Edward Boyd, a Glasgow scriptwriter for radio, TV and films.

TELEVISION

• THE VIEW FROM DANIEL PIKE
  (1971-73, BBC2)
  15 50-minute episodes
  Created by Edward Boyd
  Writers: Edward Boyd
  Directors: ??
  Produced by Anthony Coburn
  Starring Roddy McMillan as DANIEL PIKE
  .

• "Four Walls"
• "Good Morning, Yesterday!"
• "Philomena and the Tattie-Howkers"
• "A Slight Case of Absalom"

STORIES

• "Four Walls" (1974; The View from Daniel Pike, by Bill Knox and Edward Boyd)
• "Good Morning, Yesterday!" (1974; The View from Daniel Pike, by Bill Knox and Edward Boyd)
• "Philomena and the Tattie-Howkers" (1974; The View from Daniel Pike, by Bill Knox and Edward Boyd)
• "A Slight Case of Absalom" (1974; The View from Daniel Pike, by Bill Knox and Edward Boyd)
• "A Tale of Two Cities" (1974; The View from Daniel Pike, by Bill Knox and Edward Boyd)
  .
  Adapted from television episodes by Bill Knox, who also wrote a series of police procedurals set in Glasgow.

COLLECTION

• The View From Daniel Pike (1974; by Bill Knox and Edward Boyd)

RELATED LINKS

• Scottish Plays by EDWARD BOYD
  You can read the script from the episode "A Slight Case Of Absalom" here, reproduced from an unpublished television script.

Respectfully submitted by Dale Stoyer.