The archetype of the cheeky-yet-lovable rogue was one which seemed to lay claim to a great deal of popularity in the 80's. This was the heyday of the Arfur Daleys and Del Boy Trotters of this world, as our TV screens were increasingly inundated with diamond geezers getting away with charmed robbery. As the early 90's approached, however, this trend slowly ebbed away: the Empire of the Cockney Wideboys crumbled slowly away, leaving only Bob Hoskins to stand as a remnant, and a reminder, of better days. And, in the history books which recorded this parabolic rise and fall, there was Boon, relegated to little more than a footnote.

Starring Michael Elphick as the motorcycle-borne hero, Boon differed little from the general formula of pleasantly picaresque capers and amusing denouements which was the hallmark of this type of show. Also like the other shows its genre, Boon had a kind of naive charm, an endearingly light-hearted way of depicting the criminal underworld and social corruption which, whilst inadequately equipping its audience for the HARSH REALITIES of the world at large, couldn't help but sway impressionable young viewers away from a life of piracy on the high-seas to the more socially acceptable, if equally eventful, profession of motorbike courier.