Eddie. once again alone and fending for himself, flees to Birmingham. Whilst there, he manages to find his way back to possibly the last friend he has in the world. But the truth is never that simple, and Eddie may find that there is no one in England—absolutely no one—he can trust.

About

The third episode of Dead Head, ‘The War Room’, aired on the 29th January 1986 on BBC Two. Made in-house at the BBC by Pebble Mill, it was written by Howard Brenton, directed by Rob Walker, and produced by Robin Midgeley. This episode stars Denis Lawson as ‘Eddie Cass’, Norman Beaton as ‘Caractacus’, Susannah Bunyan as ‘Jill’ and Larrington Walker as ‘Stoker’.

Availability: Out on DVD in the UK since 2013. Howard Brenton did a commentary for the first two episodes which serves to illuminate just how it ended up so bizarre.

The War Room

Completely alone in the world, Eddie flees to Birmingham. Squatting, Eddie seems to be surviving on booze alone. (He has, however, picked up a rather fetching jacket that makes him look like a rebel fighter pilot, which is honestly, the highlight of the series.) With the money Dana gave him, he goes ‘investing’—which seems to consist largely of betting on horses.

In a pub, Eddie spots Jill. Jill, who’d been seeing his friend Caractacus, who’d been there on the night when Eddie’s life changed forever. Jill does not take kindly to seeing Eddie again. The pair of them—Jill not voluntarily—head to Bristol to see Caractacus.

Jill and Eddie stick out like sore thumbs in the cafe they go too, both being white. Someone takes them downstairs, where Caractacus seems to be in total control of the place. Eddie begs for help. Caractacus initially seems dismissive, but after Eddie shows what seems to be some genuine emotion—possible the first time it hasn’t been anger—Caractacus takes him in.

Eddie tells him everything. Eddie observes that Caractacus has changed since Eddie knew him. He’s different; calmer, cooler. Caractacus knows what Eddie needs to do; he needs to be in shape to fight the war.

The first step of that; get Eddie off the booze. Then? An exercise regime. Neither of these things are particularly successful at first, but eventually Eddie gets into the swing of things.

At one point the cafe is raided by the Police. Eddie thinks the gig is up. But they don’t want him. They’ve merely noted an untaxed car sitting outside, and naturally thought that the cafe full of black people was the place to go to find the culprit.

After a lot of hard work—on a variety of different exercise regimines—Eddie finally gets into shape. Enough so that he can overturn the pool table, which is apparently the measure of success.

Eddie, sober and finally thinking clearly, knows that he has to find out who committed the murder he’s been framed for. It has to be someone worth protecting. Jill, Caractacus and Eddie head back to Birmingham. There, they find Stoker; the man who gave Eddie the mission to collect the severed head in the first place.

Eddie threatens Stoker, trying to uncover some traceable information on the man who framed him. Stoker gives up a number, and upon further persuasion, part of an address. But before he can finish Jill has a gun aimed at Eddie.

It appears that nothing is as it seems. Caractacus, Jill and Stoker all seem to be working for the police—and Jill outranks everyone. Caractacus has gone a little off the operational plan. But they were tasked with following Eddie, playing along, and discovering how much about the plot he knew.

Caracatcus confesses to the entire thing. He was recruited, the night Eddie was framed. Promised a pension and security. Sadly, that security appears to have been useless, as Jill shoots him dead.

Once again, Eddie finds himself running for his life after a friend is shot dead. He really, really, cannot catch a break.

Verdict

While the previous episode focussed on Eddie’s interaction with England’s ruling class, this one focuses on Eddie’s natural home; the people he goes to when he’s down and out on his luck. For Eddie, this is his friend Caractacus, and Caractacus pulls him into this alternate underground, with entirely different power dynamics.

Is there any accuracy in the show’s portrayal of black culture in the 1980s? I don’t know. I’m not qualified to answer it, and my experience of this episode is less for my lack of understanding of it. Knowing the rest of this show, I suspect exaggeration, a broad strokes pastiche; there’s a truth in here somewhere, but the details aren’t quite right.

The show does make a point of Eddie’s privilege. For him, being pursued by the police and MI5, being blamed for a crime he didn’t commit, having his life turned upside down and completely ruined? It’s exceptional. Something that should never happen. For Caractacus—and the rest of the black men in Caractacus’s crew—it’s just another day of the week. Of course the police and the ruling class aren’t on their side, and Eddie was foolish to ever think they were.

The entire ‘get-fit’ sequence (giffed here) is quite something. If you’ve ever wanted to see Lawson skipping rope, dancing, boxing—well, this episode is here to fulfil your dreams. After being scrawny for episodes one and two, Lawson appears to have packed on just a little bit of bulk for this episode. Though, honestly, I suspect he was already that strong. The sequence is good fun, a much needed dose of levity in amongst the seriousness of the rest of this series. It also provides the eye-candy. This episode is notably, after the previous two, light on nudity.

The mystery gets even deeper this episode. Eddie thinks he’s found refuge, people who believe him and can help him, but it’s just another lie. Caractacus, Jill and Stoker have all been recruited to the service, committed to the cause of framing Eddie and ensuring that he never finds answers, never knows peace. It drums in the power of the man causing this, and the loyalty he inspires. And if the only friend Eddie has is ready to turn on him—what hope does Eddie have?

Overall? This episode is almost of two parts. The get-fit sequence, in the cafe/club, almost seems to belong to an entirely different series to the double-agent betrayals that follow it. Coherency has never been Dead Head’s strong suit. We’re left with far more questions than answers, and have to desperately hope that the last episode of the series might provide them.

Next time

Without a friend left in the world, Eddie needs answers. As he stumbles onwards, desperately looking for something that will make his world make sense again—will he find it? And at what cost? All that and more in Dead Head: Patriot