Really enjoyed this. Quite risqué for its day. Interesting premise with a host of familiar faces. Last episode, the confrontation with the guy who'd framed him, was unnecessarily violent in my opinion. It also had the continuity announcer saying how he was pardoned and returned to his old job with the Met while the credits were coming up! A bit clumsy even by the standards of the time.... Still a good series though. Shame we didn't see Leigh Lawson more often on British TV; probably too busy driving Twiggy to M&S photo shoots! The excellent- and much missed - Tony Doyle was great as the baddie. If I get the chance to rewatch it I will.
4 Reviews
Thirty years old and still looking great
rodneymarshall16 May 2015
I should confess that I am biased as my father created and wrote this series in the mid-1980s. Nevertheless, having recently purchased and watched this thirty years on, I think it is still a wonderful drama series. It offers the three key ingredients which any successful detective series requires: a fascinating but flawed protagonist; a memorable setting; first class guest actors/characters. Leigh Lawson plays the framed ex-cop to perfection, setting off on a series of one-off tales while also searching for both his missing son and the diabolical mastermind who put him in jail for two years. The canals allow the show to have an ever-changing backdrop and dictate the delightfully leisurely pace. Harmony, Lomax's narrow-boat, becomes both his home and his means of transport. Drawing on the Western tradition, it is his horse and wagon. The guest actors are, generally speaking, superb: Colin Jeavons, Tony Doyle, John Bird, Tom Wilkinson, Julian Glover, Morag Hood, Lindsay Duncan, Susan Fleetwood. Terry Taplin steals the 'guest' billing as a surprisingly complex gutter journalist. Travelling Man is both a series and a serial, with self-contained stories and overarching narratives. The fact that one writer wrote every script provides an organic consistency. Private detective, Western, action adventure, drugs...there is a fascinating blend. Twelve of the thirteen episodes are first class. (I enjoyed re-watching the series so much that it inspired me to write a critical guide. The show really is that good.)
Wonderful series, long forgotten unfortunately..
stuartgray00315 April 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Leigh Lawson (the actor who should have been the Bond of the 80s) stars in this excellent drama set around the canals of Northern England. I remember watching this as a 14 year old and it had a profound effect on me! Though a troubled production, it was wonderfully shot with some excellent locations and a strangely chilling, yet compelling central storyline. Lawson portrays Lomax perfectly as a man betrayed by society and the system, who takes to the canals in search of the man that framed him. A menacing, yet poignant aura of loneliness always seems to haunt Lomax and the way the final series ended was perhaps the bleakest ever conclusion to any TV series I have ever seen. Probably had a lot to do with the excellent musical score that accompanied it! This so warrants a DVD release, or at the very minimum a repeat on Freeview..
Nostalgia and more....
rsd-charisma12 March 2014
I first watched this series when it was shown in 1984/5. I really enjoyed it at the time and became interested in the canals and canal boats and the possibility of living on a boat. That didn't happen but I did go on several canal holidays, firstly in 1985 with a school friend and his brother and with other friends after that.
Of course the series is dated but isn't that part of the appeal of rediscovering old TV programmes from our youth. I find it fascinating watching this, a time when no one had a personal computer, mobile phone etc. The episode called The Quiet Chapter where Lomax and the pub landlord are terrorised by a bunch of hooray henrys whilst inside an isolated pub is notable for its total lack of technology, which of course is taken for granted now - the only connection with the outside world an old Bakelite GPO phone. The fashions, haircuts, cars - it all adds to the sense of nostalgia.
I bought and still have the cassette soundtrack by Duncan Browne, in addition to the single and the blue padded Berghaus jacket as worn by Max on the canal in winter. Still keeps me warm and one day I'll take it on another canal holiday but this time with my wife and kids.
Of course the series is dated but isn't that part of the appeal of rediscovering old TV programmes from our youth. I find it fascinating watching this, a time when no one had a personal computer, mobile phone etc. The episode called The Quiet Chapter where Lomax and the pub landlord are terrorised by a bunch of hooray henrys whilst inside an isolated pub is notable for its total lack of technology, which of course is taken for granted now - the only connection with the outside world an old Bakelite GPO phone. The fashions, haircuts, cars - it all adds to the sense of nostalgia.
I bought and still have the cassette soundtrack by Duncan Browne, in addition to the single and the blue padded Berghaus jacket as worn by Max on the canal in winter. Still keeps me warm and one day I'll take it on another canal holiday but this time with my wife and kids.
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