Trivia

The radio station was called Radio West. In 1981, shortly after the series had finished, a real-life radio station of the same name was launched in Bristol. It used a picture of Trevor Eve as Eddie Shoestring in the publicity information announcing its launch. The real-life Radio West was not very successful, but merged in 1985 with Wiltshire Radio to form the station "GWR". GWR became very successful, and has now grown into a large company whose portfolio includes stations such as CLASSIC FM

Robert Holmes was brought in as script editor having previously enjoyed an excellent working relationship with producer Robert Banks Stewart on two Doctor Who (1963) serials ("Terror of the Zygons" and "The Seeds of Doom"), when Holmes had been the script editor and Banks Stewart had been commissioned as a writer by him.

Robert Banks Stewart and Richard Harris jointly created Shoestring. The BBC commissioned Harris to write the first episode Private Ear (1979) but then rejected his script. Banks Stewart had to re-write the episode and Harris left the programme.

Robert Banks Stewart got the idea for the series while listening to an advice programme on the radio and thought it would be a fun, quirky idea to have a private eye lead with his own radio show who then goes out of the studio and solves his listener's problems.

Robert Banks Stewart considered making the lead character a Jewish man named Eddie Schusting.