The series ran from 1981 to 1991. It was created by producer Robert Banks Stewart after another of his popular detective series, Shoestring, starring Trevor Eve, came to an abrupt end.[3][4] Like Shoestring, the series begins with a man returning to work after a particularly bad period in his life: Eddie Shoestring from a nervous breakdown; Jim Bergerac from alcoholism and a broken leg.Bergerac sometimes dealt with controversial topics – for example when an old man was unmasked as a Nazi war criminal his age raised various moral dilemmas. Supernatural elements occasionally appeared in the series, and some episodes ended with unpleasant twists, as in “Offshore Trades“ and “A Hole In The Bucket“.