Sidepod: Fuzz (1972) - Nourish A Vagrant

Hark! It's an 87th Precinct Sidepod!

In this episode, Paul is joined by fan-of-Burt-Reynolds and podcaster (in that order?), John Rain. You can find info about John's fantastic James Bond and Michael Caine podcast, SMERSHPOD through the Twitter page and keep an eye open for John's new podcast, All Rather Mysterious, which aims to solve the mysteries of the past, in the presence of comedians Eleanor Morton and David Reed.

John and Paul got together to chat through the 1972 film version of Ed McBain's 1968 book, Fuzz (find that podcast using this link!) which finds the 87th Precinct now mysteriously in the real world, in Boston and features Burt Reynolds as Steve Carella, Raquel Welch as Eileen McHenry (think Eileen Burke, eight-seven fans!), Tom Skerritt as Bert Kling and many more of the squad - not to mention Yul Brynner as The Deaf Man. We contemplate why the film never got a sequel, harassment in the workplace, whether McBain wrote mucky books and whether Dom DeLuise should have been in the film. Warning: Contains a couple of rude bits (the podcast, not the film). 

The film was adapted by Evan Hunter himself and was directed by Richard A. Colla (Battlestar Galactica, Ironside).

If you've seen the film, let us know what you think at our Twitter or FB page and if you fancy dropping us the price of a digital coffee, pop to KOFI and drop some coins in the jar. Anything we get will go back into the podcast.

Roger Moore and the Crimefighters

In the new Bonus episode you'll hear me (Paul) surprise Stevo and Morgan with a second-hand book I'd come across that weekend. It was too good an opportunity to miss sharing this with them. I mean, just look at the cover!

This is a good example of why you should always take the time to investigate the different shelves in second hand bookshops, but especially in charity shops/thrift stores. Very often the staff make an attempt to categorise and alphabetise the books, but they're looked over by so many people it's hard to trust to that fact. Usually there's some gold hidden between the forty-seven copies of The Da Vinci Code and celebrity biographies. I found "The Siege" on a "4 for £1" shelf. There were no other books there that I wanted and ended up paying 50p for it.

It's really extraordinary. It's like having a book series come out these days with, I don't know, Daisy Ridley appearing in it as herself, using her career-connections to act on a hunch about human trafficking or something. To be honest I would read that, but only if it was written by Doctor Who author Rona Monro, to keep the pattern of the book/celebrity/author connections. The author of "The Siege", Malcolm Hulke, wrote a good run of Third Doctor stories in the 1970s, including the plastic-dinosaur extravaganza, Invasion of The Dinosaurs (1974). Clearly he was so immersed in the world of Doctor Who production and life at BBC TV centre, he's written it into the book as an important factor.

I hope you enjoy listening to our response to this novelty on the last bonus episode. I'm sure the next one we do will be more McBain based, but I'm not promising anything...

Listen to this bonus episode herex

Ed McBain's Give The Boys A Great Big Hand - Episode 11, Bonus: The Incredible Malcolm Hulke

Hark! It's an 87th Precinct Bonus Episode!

And what a bonus episode it is! After discussing our copies of the 87th Precinct book, with Paul demonstrating his inability to grasp the relative costs of pre-decimal currency, we get down to some important business.

Imagine a world where Roger Moore appears as himself in a children's crime-fighting story-book written by Doctor Who writer Malcolm Hulke, all set in or around an African Embassy and the BBC in 1977... now, STOP IMAGINING and listen to our reactions as we discuss "The Siege" - the first entry in the Roger Moore and The Crimefighters series! A book that almost defies description!

Listen out in the background for mysterious Mic-stand-spring noises (sorry) and contemplate why George Lazenby never organised children into an impromptu militia.

See you in the New Year for probably more discussion back on the topic of Ed McBain and "The Heckler". Merry Christmas!