Travelling Man: A critical guide to Roger Marshall's TV series

Updated 2025, including actor lists and an essay exploring the importance of locations in Travelling Man.

Drawing inspiration from the private detective and Western genres, as well as the cult 1960s series The Fugitive, Roger Marshall's mid-1980s drama Travelling Man was both critically acclaimed and commercially popular, drawing audiences of up to 13.2 million viewers. Ex-Drugs Squad detective and prisoner Alan Lomax is a fascinatingly flawed protagonist, but it is the setting of the canals and inland waterways of Britain which provide the unique charm of Travelling Man, offering the perfect backdrop for Lomax's nomadic quests. The canals also dictate the show's leisured pace. Writer and podcaster Rodney Marshall offers a critical guide to all thirteen episodes, exploring the scripts, direction, characterisation, acting and music.