Customs On TV 4 - The Knock

 

Despite the success of the 1987 BBC documentary series, The Duty Men, the failure of the 1986 series The Collectors made it hard for the BBC was unwilling to contemplate another Customs-based drama series. Independent producer Paul Knight was looking for a follow-up to his successful ITV series London’s Burning. He told reporter Annie Leake that, “I realised there were tremendous possibilities there for a fictional series. In many cases HMCE’s powers far outreach those of the police. It’s surprising that the BBC didn’t spot the potential first.” By a strange coincidence, one of the London’s Burning directors was Keith Washington, who had also worked on The Collectors!

Writer Anita Bronson based the scripts for The Knock (named after the call-sign for a raid, and consciously echoing The Sweeney) on extensive research. Inevitably, some of the scenes recall The Duty Men. A “classic-bag-switch” in the penultimate episode seems very much like a scene from the BBC series, right down to the hidden filming from a concealed camera.

Technical advisor was Stuart Frank Stredwick (1932-2010) a long-serving Waterguard and Investigation Branch Surveyor, who appeared with his wife Rosemary as extras in one episode. With the co-operation of HM Customs and Excise filming also took place at Heathrow and the New Kings Beam House headquarters, not far from London Weekend Television’s studios.

The crew had access to behind the scenes areas such as at Heathrow, but only after 6pm, so there was a lot of expensive night shooting.

Bill Adams briefs the team

The series was set in the Investigation Division of the fictional Collection of London and South. The Soho-based investigation team was led by Malcolm Storrey as Bill Adams, a Surveyor (a Senior Executive Officer Grade which the press release told us is “the same rank as a police superintendent”). In his mid-40’s. “He is a man of conscience. Customs officers are not allowed to be aggressive. Their function is to restrain without violence.”

David Morrissey and Susan Crowley

The series starred David Morrissey, already an experienced actor who had starred opposite Timothy Dalton in Lynda La Plante’s Framed (1992).  Here he played Gerry Birch (David Morrissey) a tough South Londoner with money problems. Bronson gave Birch’s character an almost Shakespearean tragic arc. While investigating missing VAT traders, Birch comes across a gang smuggling gold Krugerrands. Morrissey described Birch as, “a very straight guy who’s been through a divorce. He can’t handle it emotionally and the financial and other problems pile up. Stupidly, he gets involved with Webster (Anthony Valentine) by accepting a couple of tickets to a football match.”

The cast also included Susan Crowley as Nikki Lucas “an attractive graduate”, Steve Toussaint as “tall, fit” Barrie Christie, Tracy Whitwell as “punky and ambitious” Jo Chadwick, Martston Bloom a. Arnie Reinhardt, “a studious and gentle graduate, “ and Sheffield-born Enzo Squillino Junior as  George Andreotti, “macho, vain, immaculately coiffured”. Caroline Lee-Johnson (now Gill Templer in the new BBC version of ‘Rebus’), played Diane Ralston, who takes over London Airports investigations when Eddie Barton (Jack Ellis) has to retire due to Motor Neurone Disease.

Barton, depressed and worried about money, makes up the second half of Birch’s tragedy as he share the free football tickets with his friend. Both men are gradually drawn into the gold smuggling operation masterminded by Webster, described in one review as, “all false bonhomie and laugh as infectious as a skin disease.”  While Eddie is just looking for a living, Birch is drawn in by an affair with Webster’s wife (Georgia Allen).

Bronson seems to have based this storyline on a real case: in September 1988, eight men including two former Customs officers, were jailed for a Krugerrands swindle. Police investigating a scrap metal dealer for theft spotted a customs Investigation officer taking  £200 in cash. The case was turned over to customs investigators who spotted a Heathrow uniformed officer escorting gold smugglers back from Jersey with a bag full of undeclared coin The coins would have been sold with 15% VAT added to the price, but as the coins had not been declared the gang would pocket the VAT. The investigation recorded every moment of the swindle including false-bottomed briefcases being exchanged in airport lavatories. The investigation officer, who’d been paid to turn a blind eye to the swindle was jailed with the rest (although the criminal with the worst record escaped capture).

Trevor (Ziggy) Byfield as Scudamore

In the TV show it’s Diane at Heathrow Airport who discovers Eddie and Gerry’s involvement. With the whole team now under suspicion, Jim Scudamore (Trevor Byfield) is drafted in from Liverpool to gather evidence. Diane is placed under surveillance and questioned about her relationship with Eddie. 

One of the most uncomfortable scenes is when Adams is called into New Kings Beam House for a meeting with Scudamore where he is told that Gerry is involved in the gang. Eddie later jumps under a subway train when Scudamore tries to arrest him. Customs and police swoop on the gang, but as in real life, Ian Burfield as Tommy Madden, the most dangerous villain escapes. Gerry is arrested (“you’ve been knocked,” Scudamore tells him in the interview room), while Webster pleads innocence, saying he was unaware of Gerry’s affair with his wife and is later sentenced to community service.

The Knock was not without its own backstage dramas. Adrian Shergold, director of the 90 minute opening episode, was originally scheduled to direct the whole series. But according to an insider, “We'd just completed a fairly tough shoot in Notting Hill when Adrian was ordered to report back to the production office bar at the Depository in Barlby Rd. He was summarily fired without any reason being given for his dismissal. We were pretty much on schedule, the unit was working well, and it was a complete and utter mystery to everyone why Adrian was fired.” *

Despite this the series shown in April 1994 was an immediate success and ITV ordered a second series. 

(*Shergold would go on to direct Holding On for the BBC in 1997 starring David Morrissey as a troubled Inland Revenue fraud inspector.)

Series two shown in April 1996 was boosted to 13 episodes. The second series identified a set pattern of a well-known ‘sexy’ actor playing a colourful villain who the ensemble cast of Customs investigators try to bring down.

The first seven covered attempts to bring Tommy Madden and Webster to justice with smuggling of alcohol, pornography, bear bile and caesium among the background stories. Gerry’s replacement Katharine Roberts (Alex Kingston from ‘Crocodile Shoes’) is similar in some ways to Calum Mill’s character in The Revenue Men, going to reckless lengths to obtain evidence against a VAT fraudster.  The second run of seven episodes brought things full-circle from The Revenue Men, with Ian Kennedy Martin (of The Sweeney fame) scripting. Oliver Tobias and John Vine played out-of-their-depth middle class dabblers in a Russian drugs smuggling conspiracy. There was a  lot of production value on the screen and the  second series attracted 12 million viewers.

A hiding place reveals its secrets

Within HMCE, a new National Investigation Service had replaced the Collection investigation units between April and October 1996 with eight regions and a number of specialisms. Although the series already had a fictionized setting the internal changes and resource challenges may have been reflected in a more fractious relationship for Bill Adams with Scudamore.

Series three had only seven episodes but was shown a year later in April 1997. Daniel Brown and Sarah Malin joined the cast as “Glaswegian” Alex Murray and “single mother” Lynn Hickson. 

In episodes one and two, written by Geoffrey Case, Steve Toussaint as Barry, travelled to Zimbabwe on the trail of a gang trading in counterfeit medicines (both import and export) led by Benedick Blythe and Shelagh McLeod. In the second four-part story, written by Ian Kennedy Martin, smuggler John Danson (Dennis Waterman) prepares to collect his latest shipment of illegal cargo from the Suffolk coast, unaware that he is being watched by a pair of thugs hired by a former group of East German police who are determined to become part of Danson's operation, having recently also infiltrated a major counterfeiting operation being run by Dewhurst (Colin Baker), a plate replicator.  Andreotti and Reinhardt are sent to Tangiers on Dewhurst’s trail (ironically the crew spent ten days in Tangiers experiencing the worst rainstorms in 30 years). Episode 7 was a standalone story by Geoffrey Case about dodgy car importers and ecstasy mules.

In July 1997, Granada TV broadcast Undercover Customs, six half hour documentaries presented by newsreader Trevor McDonald. With surveillance footage, interviews with officers and dramatised reconstructions, “these are the real-life versions of the men and women we see in ITV’s Sunday night drama, The Knock.” The series was successful enough to return in April 1998 and February 1999. 

By this time series four of The Knock had been shown from January 1999. Perhaps looking to shake things up, the producers introduced Mark Lewis Jones as “fiery and ambitious” David Ancrom. After being injured during an operation at sea, Ancrom is advised by Scudamore to apply for the post of Surveyor now that Bill Adams has been promoted. Formerly a regular in “Soldier, Soldier”, Lewis Jones was tempted into the role when he was allowed to develop the character with writers so that he slowly revealed his true self. 

Former Dempsey and Makepeace star Michael Brandon starred in the first three episodes as an American socialite who smuggles cocaine and plutonium under cover of metal dealing. Diane (Caroline Lee Johnson) picks up his trail while investigating the smuggling of rifle parts into Heathrow Airport. The first was about plutonium smugglers. In the second story, Cherie Lunghi is Toni Maxwell, who takes over the gang of her jailed husband and organises Thai women smuggling heroin in their breast implants. 

Indicome, Indigo

Sadly, all good things come to an end. ITV executives decided they wanted a big change for series five in October 2000. There were only four 90 minute episodes. Former Neighbours star Peter O’Brien was brought in as Glen Vaughan, head of a new elite flying squad called Indigo. Only Alex, Barry and Diane were retained with Scudamore still in charge. “Indigo was invented for dramatic purposes, “ producer Laura Mackie confessed. “They are an elite team who are not supposed to be representative of any Customs unit, although the work they do is still Customs-based. With fast-moving shows, we have to maintain the viewers’ interest so decided to aim for something that worked dramatically rather than a scenario that was true to life.”

She admitted that this meant HMCE had no involvement in the latest series: “a decision which both parties thought was for the best.”

HMCE press officer Ranald Macdonald told the August 2000 issue of PORTCULLIS, the staff newspaper that, “the new series bears absolutely no relation to real life within the department. Some of the characters behave as if they are in Miami Vice in ways that would be totally unacceptable for our officers. Their day-to-day life is much more exciting. We didn’t want our staff to be portrayed in this way, or for the tax-paying public to think  this is how our officers really behave. So, we met members of the production team and agreed to disagree.”

Having seen the new series, the viewers obviously followed suit.