Travelling Man (TV series)
Travelling Man is a Granada TV series broadcast in the United Kingdom in 1984 and 1985. Influenced by The Fugitive, it was created and written by Roger Marshall and starred Leigh Lawson.
Ex Detective Inspector Alan Lomax seeks answers for the time he has spent in prison for a bribe he never took. On his release he finds his wife is suing him for divorce and his son, Steve is missing.
He is reunited with his one luxury, a narrow boat called Harmony and his budgie, Frankie.
Broadcast in two series in 1984 and 1985, each episode had its own plot, with the overall plot of Max searching for his son and seeking answers to his imprisonment throughout. It has since been made available on DVD by Network and Marshall's own son has written a short critical guide to the series which provides the description below:
Roger Marshall’s mid-1980s Granada television drama Travelling Man has often been compared to the mid-1960s American classic The Fugitive. Marshall’s series draws on the earlier show, both structurally and thematically. On the run from the police, Dr. Richard Kimble’s quest to find the one-armed man who killed his wife provides the plot base for the series as a whole. While Marshall’s Alan Lomax is not strictly speaking ‘on the run’, having served a two-year prison sentence for a framed bribe, it is made clear in the opening episode that the authorities do not believe that he is innocent. Police, journalists and gangsters alike sense that Lomax has a large consignment of hidden drugs money and that he will, eventually, lead them to it. Lomax himself has two ‘nomadic quests’: to hunt down whoever framed him and to find his missing son. These provide story arcs for the two season, thirteen episode series – an initial six episodes followed by a further seven – with some individual storylines concerned directly with the twinned missions, while others offer self-contained sub-plots. If The Fugitive leaned heavily on the popular Western character of the man on the run from an alleged crime, then Travelling Man not only pulls this tradition into the modern drug world of the mid-1980s, but also offers a location which adds both an Englishness and a unique slant to the fugitive subgenre: the canal network.
The canals offer a distinctive setting to the series. The ‘open road’ tradition of road movies becomes the canals and inland waterways of Britain, a key element of the Industrial Revolution which was soon bypassed by the emergence of the railways. Lewis observes that the ‘open road’ is often associated with freedom, but it should be pointed out that in Travelling Man the canals are also potential traps. Reworking the Alien publicity slogan, on the deserted waterways no one can hear you scream. Rather than simplistically offering Lomax freedom, the canals often exude a sense of quiet menace, while providing him with both a mobile home and a means of transport. However, there is an advantage, as he wryly observes in the opening episode: "One thing about quiet waterways, you can hear footsteps." For most television viewers it is an alien or at least unfamiliar environment, offering a sense of ‘otherness’. It also allows for some fantastic location shooting, dramatic backdrops and alternative camera ‘angles’. It is somewhere which might be seen as cut-off from the modern world, reinforcing the impression of Lomax as both a deracinated outsider and an alternative action hero. In addition, it demands a completely different pace from the traditional road movie, allowing Marshall/Lomax the time to explore other people’s narratives and providing the ex-policeman’s pursuers with ample opportunity to spy on him and follow him at leisure. Returning to the Western idea, Lomax’s boat Harmony represents both his faithful horse and his wagon. On another level, the canal network is a visual representation of the complex narrative strands which the series offers the viewer. Marshall was also drawing on his own writing past, in particular the private detective he co-created for the 1960s/1970s drama Public Eye. Lomax shares some of Frank Marker’s characteristics and moral dilemmas, particularly in the self-contained 1969 Brighton-based mini-season. Marker’s challenging role as a private eye is complicated by his time served in prison. Both he and Lomax will frequently be pre-judged about their current actions and future plans, based solely on their supposedly ‘shady’ pasts. As in the Brighton mini-season, one of the strengths of Travelling Man is that Marshall wrote each episode himself, adding a sense of continuity to the self-contained episodes. The fact that these offer the viewer both one-off stories and a narrative arc adds layers to the show. Travelling Man proved to be a popular series in the nine to ten o’clock evening ITV slot, drawing in audiences of up to 13.2 million. (A further run of thirteen episodes was commissioned but Leigh Lawson chose to leave, following an earlier disagreement with Granada who had refused to release him from his contract to take the lead role in Roman Polanski’s The Pirates.)
Cast
- Leigh Lawson as Alan Lomax, Max.
- Terry Taplin as Robinson, a Fleet Street Reporter
- Lindsay Duncan as Andrea
- Derek Newark as Det. Chief Supt. Sullivan
- Sue Robinson as Karen
- John Bird as Jack Ormand
- Bobbie Brown as Muriel
Series 1
1 First Leg 7 Nov. 1984
Max is released from prison and returns to London, finding his son is missing and his wife has emigrated and suing for divorce. He is warned off by Det. Chief Supt. Sullivan. He leaves London and sets out in his narrow boat. A sub plot of an ex nurse and a drug dealer play out during the episode.
2 The Collector 14 Nov. 1984
Max continues his search and is accompanied by Andrea. Max has to visits his sick mother in London, and while he is away, Naylor asks Andrea about 'The Money'. He sets fire to the boat and on max return he seeks out Naylor.
3 The Watcher 21 Nov. 1984
Max quest continues where he comes under suspicion in a Welsh village as a girl goes missing.
4 Grasser 28 Nov. 1984
A hit man accidentally sends a bullet through a window on Harmony, and Max thinks someone is out to get him.
5 Moving On 5 Dec. 1984
Max continues his search for Steve, and a girl thinks she recognises him.
6 Sudden Death 12 Dec. 1984
Max attends his Mother’s funeral in London, not knowing that Steve was also there. He meets an ex colleague call Neil Pember
Series 2
7 A Token Attempt 3 Sep. 1985
Robinson asks a favour from Max, to look after his Godchild, Billy.
8 Weekend 10 Sep. 1985
Max spends a weekend away from Harmony, looking after a hotel, where the only couple to be staying are a mystery.
9 The Quiet Chapter
Max is helping out in a pub, where a gang of Motorcyclist is upset.
10 Hustler 24 Sep. 1985
Steve challenges Max to prove his innocence and robs a betting shop. Unknowlingly he upsets the local gang boss Jack Ormand
11 On the Hook
Max meets up with an ex-cell mate, Granny Jackson.
12 Blow-Up 8 Oct. 1985
Max is getting closer to finding the man who set him up. An ex-girlfriend gives him the name Len Martin, but he remains one step ahead.
13 Last Lap
Max finally catches up with Len Martin, and a chase ensues.