Exit, softly
The writing of doom is on the wall for BBC-TV's most popular programme, Softly Softly (a steady 11+ million viewers). The series beginning in September will almost certainly be the last, and at least one pro- minent member of the cast has asked to be 'written out' of the series fairly quickly.
The clue to the future is to be found in the three 'kite-flying' programmes that will precede Softly in late summer. They will feature Charlie Barlow (Stratford Johns), still, pro tern, head of Thamesford's cto but seconded to an investigation elsewhere. If viewers accept him as a peripatetic cop, Barlow at Large will replace Softly, Softly next year. Beginning in Z Cars, Barlow has alWays been regarded as the linchpin of these police series, and the time has come to give the theory a searching test.
Unavailable for comment on precisely how the trick will be worked, scriptwriter Elwyn Jones is on holiday in Cyprus—the setting, I'm told, for part of Barlow's solo investigation this summer.
Previous page
