''The Ghostbusters of East Finchley'' is a British comedy-drama series written by Tony Grounds, starring Paul Reynolds,

Catherine Holman Catherine Holman (born in Surrey) is an English actress. She trained at Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London. She made her theatre début as Scout in ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' opposite ''Alan Dobie'' at the ''Mermaid Theatre''. This w ...

, Bill Paterson, Jan Francis and Ray Winstone. It was developed by

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

and ran for one series, a total of six episodes were produced and was shown on

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

in 1995.

Premise

The series focuses on a young misfit Kevin Pullen (Reynolds) who lives on a council estate in East Finchley. He's a work-shy dreamer who becomes suspicious about his mother Grace's (Francis) lecherous employer Thane (Winstone), so he organises a surveillance operation by following him around town in order to find out more about his activities. His friend and neighbour Jackie (Holman) works at the Inland Revenue and is intrigued by Kevin's efforts, so she encourages him to join her organisation and learn the tropes as a tax fraud investigator. The local tax office is run by the ambitious and shrewd Mr. Small (Paterson) who uses unorthodox methods such as ghosting (going undercover) potential tax evaders in order to uncover their crimes. Kevin agrees to work at the Inland Revenue on condition that Jackie will use her skills in her trade to assist him with his investigations on Thane and find a way to prosecute him for his tax dodging offences.

Background

Following on from his success with his offbeat comedy drama series '' Gone to the Dogs'', Tony Grounds was approached by BBC producer Andree Molyneux about the idea for doing a serious drama series about tax evasion. Although initially apprehensive about the project, Grounds agreed to do the series on condition he was able to reformat it as a comedy. His concept for the series was for a burgeoning love story between Kevin and Jackie set within the everyday operations of a tax office, with an on-going subplot focussing on their investigations into Thane's financial dealings. When interviewed about the series by Lucy Vanoli from '' The Stage'', Grounds noted "to me, if you look at the world, everything seems strange. Everyone seems mad except you and your family." He further elaborated that he wanted to do a series that was quirky and original and unlike anything else seen on television. He gave the series a surrealistic angle by including eccentric characters, dream sequences and bizarre set pieces such as the hole in the ceiling which Kevin and Jackie use to communicate from their respective bedrooms.

Cast

* Paul Reynolds – Kevin Pullen *

– Jackie * Bill Paterson – Mr. Small * Jan Francis – Grace Pullen * Ray Winstone – Thane * Christopher Fulford – Frankie Pullen * Jane Cox – Brenda * Sheila Reid – Hilda *

Joe Melia Joe Melia ( Giovanni Philip William Melia; 23 January 1935, Camden Town, Camden, London - 20 October 2012, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire) was a UK, British actor. Educated at the City of Leicester College, City of Leicester Boys' Grammar Sch ...

– Stan * Marc Warren – Butch * Anthony Head – Terry *

Carol MacReady Carol MacReady is an English actress. She is perhaps best known for the role of Mrs Dribelle in Bodger and Badger. Carol is married to actor James Laurenson. Other television shows she appeared in include: *''Agatha Christie's Poirot'' - Milly C ...

– Elizabeth * Ace Bhatti – DI Cunliffe

Episodes

Reception

The series received a mixed response from journalists at the time of its transmission. Joe Steeples from the

Sunday Mirror The ''Sunday Mirror'' is the Sunday sister paper of the ''Daily Mirror''. It began life in 1915 as the ''Sunday Pictorial'' and was renamed the ''Sunday Mirror'' in 1963. In 2016 it had an average weekly circulation of 620,861, dropping marke ...

described the series as too quirky for its own good and was one to miss, while Jaci Stephen from the Daily Mirror, described the series as a very funny comedy, full of lovely, funny lines and characters; she particuarly praised Holman and Paterson for their unlikely double act. Meanwhile, the surreal angle of the series, Melanie Henderson writing for the

Aberdeen Evening Express The ''Evening Express'' is a daily local newspaper serving the city of Aberdeen, Scotland. History It was first published in November 1879. It was a tabloid during the 1930s to the 1950s until it resumed as a broadsheet in November 1958, six da ...

, states was almost perverse and rather refreshing, but not exactly intriguing.

Home Media

To date, the series has not been commercially released on VHS or DVD.

References

External links

*
''The Ghostbusters of East Finchley''
at TVDB
''The Ghostbusters of East Finchley''
at British Comedy Guide {{DEFAULTSORT:Ghostbusters of East Finchley, The 1990s British comedy-drama television series BBC comedy-drama television shows 1995 British television series debuts 1995 British television series endings 1990s British television miniseries English-language television shows Television shows set in London