2.12 The Lotus Eaters

An A to Z of UK Television Drama

Summer is finally here, so Andy & Martin are off on their hols to Crete to spend some time at Shepherd's Bar in Agios Nickolaos! Back in 1972 The Lotus Eaters was the flagship new BBC2 drama and the first of Michael J. Bird's quartet of Mediterranean-set serials. Starring Ian Hendry and Wanda Ventham, the series focused on the failing marriage of Erik and Ann Shepherd and the lives and loves of the community meeting at their taverna. What no-one expects, including the viewer, is that Ann is a sleeper agent who is about to be activated, nor that despite this revelation such a development is not always going to be the focus of the show. Instead Bird's serial is about anyone who is running from something, looking for a place to start again and the threat that if you eat the fruit of the lotus you will never leave... As well as Bird, the scripts were written by David Weir, David Fisher and Jack Ronder. The series was directed by Cyril Coke, Douglas Camfield, David Cunliffe and Viktors Ritelis, and produced by Anthony Read and Michael Glynn The Lotus Eaters was a new direction for UK TV drama which helped the package holiday market no end. Notably, it would find itself to be life imitating art, as Ian Hendry, just like Erik Shepherd, continued his battles with drink, love and life. With numerous other excellent regular and guest actors - Stefan Gryff, Sylvia Coleridge, Thorley Walters, Carol Cleveland, Maurice Denham, Susan Engel, Timothy Carlton, Anouska Hempel, Godfrey James, Alethea Charlton, John Savident and Julia Goodman - this Cretan-set series is a fascinating exploration of love, motivation, trust, deceit and spying, with a large side order of raki. So it's time to get you swimsuit on, slap on some lotion and get in the back garden. Put this in your ears for a couple of hours and float back in time to the Seventies. Next Time: Moonbase 3