London based petty crook, Eddie Cass (Denis Lawson) agrees to pick up a package and courier it across the capital. When nobody answers the door at the drop off address Eddie opens the package and finds a woman's severed head in a hatbox. He panics and dumps it in the River Thames. Returning home Cass is kidnapped by the mysterious Eldridge (George Baker) and his heavies who inform Eddie that he has been framed for the murder. The hatbox belonged to his ex-wife and his fingerprints are all over it. Eddie panics and goes off the rails - boozing and sleeping rough. Eventually he ends up at his ex-wife Dana's house, played by Lindsay Duncan. Whilst he sleeps there, his former partner informs on him, and Eddie once again has to go on the run. The next morning the newspaper headlines reveal the discovery of the gruesome hatbox. Eddie's own private atom bomb has gone off...
Written in 50-minute episodes by playwright Howard Brenton and directed by Rob Walker the series has a top-notch cast including Denis Lawson (Bleak House, Holby City, Perfect Sense) as Eddie Cass, Don Henderson , George Baker (The Spy Who Loved Me, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Hopscotch), Simon Callow (Amadeus, Four Weddings and a Funeral) and Lindsay Duncan (Rome, Under the Tuscan Sun)
Here's a clip from Dead Head
Never repeated, but never forgotten - this much loved series from the BBC is set to be released in the UK for the first time on any home entertainment format. Available in a 2-disc Special Edition DVD from 15 April 2013.
