The Top Secret Life of Edgar Briggs
Genre	Comedy
Written by	Bernard McKenna Richard Laing
Directed by	Bryan Izzard
Starring	David Jason Noel Coleman Michael Stainton
Theme music composer	Sam Fonteyn
Opening theme	"Defective Detective"
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Producer	Humphrey Barclay
Production company	London Weekend
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	15 September (1974-09-15) – 20 December 1974 (1974-12-20)

The Top Secret Life of Edgar Briggs is a 25-minute British television comedy series created by Bernard McKenna and Richard Laing and produced by Humphrey Barclay for LWT. It was transmitted on the ITV network in 1974 and featured David Jason as the inept Edgar Briggs, personal assistant to the Commander of the British Secret Intelligence Service^[1] who, in spite of his cluelessness (and ineptness), manages to solve case after case.

Cast

• David Jason as Edgar Briggs
• Noel Coleman as The Commander
• Michael Stainton as Buxton
• Mark Eden as Spencer
• Barbara Angell as Jennifer Briggs
• Elizabeth Counsell as Cathy

Episodes

Reception

According to David Jason's biographers, Edgar Briggs was not a ratings success in Britain but proved popular in overseas markets. Nevertheless, Jason reportedly vetoed repeat screenings of the series for many years on the grounds that he "[knew] how raw he looked in those days" and was "not at all anxious to share that with his public."^[2]

DVD release

The complete series was eventually released on DVD in March 2015.^[3]