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Actor Trevor Eve took his first big step toward stardom in the British cop series Shoestring. The title referred to private eye Eddie Shoestring (Eve), who'd been hired to solve a baffling mystery on behalf of the BBC's Radio West service. The ensuing publicity prompted the radio network to offer Eddie his own series, Private Ear, in which he tried to solve the problems of his call-in and write-in fans. On each 50-minute episode, Eddie embarked upon a case sent to him by one or another of his devoted listeners. Other regulars included Doran Godwin as Eddie's girlfriend Erica, and Liz Crowther and Michael Medwin as Eddie's fellow Radio West employees Sonia and Don. Filmed on location near Bristol, Shoestring has been compared to another British cop show, Bergerac, in that both programs dealt with crime-solving in the furthest-flung regions of the British isles. Created by Robert Banks Stewart, the 21-episode Shoestring originally aired over BBC1 from September 30, 1979 to December 21, 1980.