villains getting away with their crimes or at the very least, with the resolution unclear and further thought required on the part of the viewer. The end of the series, its fate and legacy Public Eye came to an end on 7 April 1975 with the episode "Unlucky For Some". A hotel owner asks Marker to investigate his wife's odd behaviour. It transpires that her first husband is still alive and she is being blackmailed about this. Marker traces the first husband and plans to claim a large reward on offer for doing so, only to find that, 15 minutes before he could stake his claim, the blackmailer has carried out his threat and has therefore obtained the money. Marker is left with nothing and, ten years after he first appeared on British TV screens, Frank Marker still needs to take every case that comes his way in order to make ends meet. Thames had not wanted to end the series at this point. The intention was that Euston Films, Thames' film-making subsidiary, would continue with an eighth and final series but would make it on film, rather than the PAL 625-line video format which it had been recorded on up till then. This made sense as Euston had a good track record, having scored major successes with Van der Valk, their revamped version of Special Branch, and The Sweeney. These were generally larger-scale, glossier and more 'action-packed' operations than the more intimate Public Eye. Alfred Burke, fearing that the move onto film would mean the series would lose its particular, low-key identity, decided not to take up the option. Public Eye became largely forgotten and confined to archival oblivion for almost twenty years, despite being a popular favourite for a decade and a ratings-topper in its time. One episode ("Who Wants To Be Told Bad News?" from series 5) was repeated in 1989 to mark Thames Television's 21st anniversary, but thereafter nothing more happened. Thames then lost its franchise in controversial circumstances in 1992. Thames' successor Carlton Television considered remaking the series in the 1990s, but again nothing came of this. Recognition returned in 1995 when British satellite channel UK Gold (then part-owned by Thames) repeated all the colour Thames episodes from series 5 onwards. UK Gold had a policy of not showing any black and white material; thus the Brighton episodes and "Shades of White" remained unscreened. A