Boon (TV series)

Did You Know?

• Ken Boon's motorcycle is a red and silver 1965 BSA Lightning nicknamed 'White Lightning,' registration EVK 284C.
• Rocky Cassidy rides a black and gold 1973 Norton Commando 850 Interstate.
• The show's writers included Geoff McQueen, Kevin McNally, Bernard Strother, Anthony Minghella, Tony McHale, Kieran Prendiville, and Veronica Henry.

Premise

Ken Boon and Harry Crawford are former firemen in the West Midlands Fire Service. In the first episode, Crawford takes early retirement and moves to Spain, while Boon rescues a child from a house fire without breathing apparatus, suffering permanent lung damage that forces him to leave the fire service. The series follows their various business ventures, which often involve shady characters and criminal underworld figures, requiring them to outwit or fight their way out of trouble. Many episodes feature sub-plots where the pair help others who have been wronged. In later series, Boon becomes a private investigator and bodyguard, with Harry's business activities as a backdrop. Comedic elements come from Harry's misfortunes and plans going awry, with Ken sorting out the mess. In the first series, Ken starts a market garden called the Ponderosa, but it fails. Harry returns from Spain after his wife leaves him, acquires a hotel in Birmingham, and offers Ken a job. Anything legal considered. In the second series, Harry invests in a larger hotel, and Ken starts a motorcycle courier firm called Texas Rangers, recruiting fellow biker Rocky Cassidy.

Cast

The cast includes Michael Elphick as Ken Boon, David Daker as Harry Crawford, and Neil Morrissey as Rocky, who joined in the second series. Other regulars include Rachel Davies, Julie Graham, Lesley-Anne Sharpe, Amanda Burton, Elizabeth Carling, Brigit Forsyth, Saskia Wickham, Joan Scott, and Gordon Warnecke. Jerome Flynn and Christopher Eccleston appeared in early roles.

Title sequences

Each series of Boon used a different title sequence, which served as a thematic device to establish settings and plotlines rather than promoting the overall premise. The sequences chronicle a narrative progression through Ken's life as he moves to new locations and business ventures, with a central theme of Ken imagining himself as a Lone Ranger-type hero riding to the rescue on his motorbike White Lightning. This underscores the lyrics of the theme tune "Hi Ho Silver" and Ken's drive to help others. In earlier series, the association between Ken riding his motorbike and envisioning himself on horseback in a Western setting is more apparent. From series 4 onward, the idea of Ken's soul riding around town on his motorbike provides the core theme, though this diminishes in the final series. The first title sequence shows Ken reading a Western comic strip titled "White Lightning," then imagining himself as the cowboy hero, intercut with shots of him riding his motorbike on a motorway. The second sequence is largely identical, beginning with Ken flipping TV channels before finding a Western movie and imagining himself as its hero. The third sequence opens with Ken entering a building in Birmingham, finding a vintage camera, and imagining himself as a Lone Ranger character in a Wild West saloon meeting Margaret and Harry.

History of the show

Boon shared conceptual similarities with the ITV drama series Minder, both being set in a gritty working-class city and centering on the relationship between a 'heavy' and a businessman. However, unlike Minder, neither Ken nor Harry's activities are illegal. Both shows explored the criminal underworld and moral issues while blending in comedic relief. The name 'Boon' was derived from the American TV series Have Gun – Will Travel (1957), whose protagonist was called Paladin, played by Richard Boone. Co-creators Jim Hill and Bill Stair dropped the 'e' to create 'Boon,' a modern-day troubleshooter on a motorbike. Michael Elphick and Neil Morrissey later reunited for the Central-TV horror comedy I Bought a Vampire Motorcycle.