Looking for Mr Wright

Lois, a legal secretary, enlists the help of a dating agency to meet a potential partner. Clive, her
date, disappears during a meal at a restaurant, having been chased by two men from a dinner
party headed by fairground owner Maggie.

When Lois' work is substandard at the office, Erica asks what is wrong, and duly enlists Eddie
to find Clive. The dating agency puts up a brick wall, and the restaurant can offer no leads.
Eddie realises that Clive must have been there, and made his escape through the bathroom
window. This has obviously been replaced recently, as the putty around the frame is soft.

A girl who works at the restaurant tells Eddie that there was another party at the restaurant that
night, and that there was a brief scuffle in the men's washroom. Bribing the waiter, Eddie finds
out that this was true, and is told about Maggie.

At the fairground, Maggie's sons and the boisterous owner of the family business deny all
knowledge of Clive. Eddie, meanwhile, manages to win a goldfish and a coconut….

Denny and Elvis, Maggie's sons, burgle the dating agency and take all the files relating to Clive.
Eddie is accused of being the thief, and has 24 hours to prove that he did not take the files. An
unexpected lead is provided when Eddie remembers about the flower which Clive gave Lois.
Although withered, it is still in its presentation box and visiting the flower shop at which it was
purchased, Eddie discovers that Clive's surname is Wright.

Eddie is also able to discover Clive's address. Visiting the block of flats where Wright lives,
Eddie is warded off by an unfriendly caretaker, but makes his way into the building when the
front office is empty, only to be knocked unconscious by Denny and Elvis, who have been
searching Wright's room.

Recovering at Erica's, Eddie realises that further information about Clive can be found on the
files of other people whom he has dated in the past. Visiting the dating agency during
lunchtime, when the owner is out, Eddie poses as a computer technician who has come to
service the firm's printer. Using the computer to glean more information about Wright's previous
dates, Eddie visits a woman who dated him before Lois.

He learns that Clive Wright worked abroad, and the woman is able to give him the name of the
missing man's company, which provides Eddie with a current address. This leads Eddie to
Wright's place of hiding, a hotel. Maggie and her sons, having been told by the caretaker, whom
they threatened, where Wright is now staying, have taken him before Eddie can arrive.

Driving to the fairground, Eddie finds that Maggie has let Clive Wright go, but secretly told her
workers to beat him up. Wright had a brief relationship with her daughter, who committed
suicide after he left her.

Trying to stop the beating, Eddie is held back, until one of Maggie's son's calls the punishment
off, yelling that Maggie killed her own daughter by denying her a life of her own. She fell in love
with the first man she met - the unreliable Wright - and killed herself out of loneliness when he
left her. Maggie storms off and Wright thanks Eddie, who tells him in turn that he should pass
his gratitude on to Lois. When Wright says that he has no idea what Lois has to do with recent
events, Eddie leaves in disgust, having to tell the legal secretary that she won't be seeing any
more of her elusive date.

Series 2, Episode 7:

Lois's humiliation may just be the result of a dating agency's mismatch. But Eddie
soon begins to suspect there could be more at stake than the lady's dignity…

"LOOKING FOR MR WRIGHT"

written by ROBERT BENNETT

directed by LAURENCE MOODY

Original BBC1 tx:

16 NOVEMBER 1980

2125 - 2215hrs,

watched by 13 million

Filming dates:

8 - 23 September 1980

(drn. 49'35")

There's some good material for Erica in this episode, particularly the sequence where she calls
Eddie at Radio West during a live broadcast. It's amusing to watch Erica's reaction when sent to
the dating agency by Eddie to pump them for information for the missing Mr Wright. Diana Dors
features prominently, and had she lived, would have been a prime contender for a role in
EastEnders. Her performance as the bullying, domineering Maggie is well realised. Eddie's verbal
wit is in full flow - "Never trust a man with a moustache", indeed. The empty life of Clive Wright
and the lonely one of Lois are well conveyed in the script, without becoming too overbearing.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS BY DENE:

DIANA DORS as Maggie

Erica agrees to join the dating
agency to help find Clive Wright

Maggie and her sons
locate Wright first

The sudden disappearance of

Lois's date leaves her heartbroken

As the Series 2 progressed, many of Eddie's exchanges were played
more for fun, with the character's eccentricities very much to the fore

This is perhaps the Series 2 equivalent to "THE PARTNERSHIP" in that Eddie is at
his relaxed best. There are a number of opportunities for his unconventional, though
delightful, behaviour to show. Most notably during his visit to the restaurant
pretending to be a researcher for a (fictitious) Radio West food programme, then later
on when he poses as a computer engineer to gain access to the dating agency files.
"Never trust a man with a moustache" he tells the secretary during his improvisation
on why Eric, the usual repair man, is absent. "But he doesn't have a moustache",
she replies. "Er, he has now!", he responds after a beat.

Elsewhere in his episode Erica has some nice scenes to play as she, too, goes to
the dating agency, posing as a new client at Eddie's behest. To begin with she
derives some amusement at her potential partners' videoed auditions, but despite the
investigative dead end the deception proves she is heard telling him later on that she
might not dispense with the agency's services just yet!

With all this going on I feel that when the final revelation comes as to just why Maggie
(welcome guest artiste Diana Dors) and her sons want to find Clive Wright, and the
further developments that ensue, they could have used a few more minutes of screen
time. And with Shoestring's perchant for quirkiness, it's perhaps a shame that Ms
Dors' comic talents were not utilised, for hers is very definitely a dramatic role in
"LOOKING FOR MR WRIGHT".

A minor quibble: on the whole, most enjoyable.

Eddie asks for his listeners help in
"LOOKING FOR MR WRIGHT"

After the three previous, bleak episodes, a subtle humour
comes to the fore. In an early scene, Eddie visits the dating
agency and finds himself considered by an interviewee as a
particularly suitable suitor….an engaging episode, albeit one
without any distinctive direction. Script and performances are
the strengths of "Looking for Mr Wright"

And the final scene, when Eddie has to
explain to Lois as tactfully as possible
that although he managed to locate her
missing date, she is unlikely to be
seeing him again, plays well too. He is
clearly out of his depth sympathising
with this lonely, middle-aged spinster
and his slightly guilty shrug to Sonia
after she has gone is an amusing
moment.