I have been watching Minder again particularly series 1 and have to say this episode ranks very high on the list.
Terry gets disturbed by Arthur at night to give a local gangster for a lift which gets them both into trouble with the local police and also a nasty villain played by George Baker.
Terry again displays Sweeney techniques again to track down the money and unravel the mystery. More brain than brawn is used by Terry here with only one punch thrown by the fearless minder.
This was a common thread to series 1 and really worked before the series and Terry were dumbed down a little in later episodes .
A very good supporting cast adds greatly to this one and the writing as well as a very cinematic musical score is used to add to the mysterious and dangerous feel of this episode.
Brilliant stuff and again gets better with every watch , the mark of greatness.
3 Reviews
The natural habitat of Terry McCann
feargal-9155828 April 2023
Warning: Spoilers
As someone else pointed out there is a totally different vibe to this intriguing episode that probably requires repeat viewing.
The plot itself is pretty straightforward Minder stuff but where Dennis Waterman takes centre stage and where George Cole as Arthur was originally planned to stay as a sort of comic sidekick.
Terry has a huge flirtatious section with the almost irresistible Deborah Grant and it's no coincidence that it does play like an episode of Bergerac which started its own long run on BBC a couple of years later.
Anyway it all ends with Arthur being a fool of ( which George Cole didn't mind for whatever reason) and Terry saving the day and punching the bad guy in a vicious and very dangerous and convincing manner.
The plot itself is pretty straightforward Minder stuff but where Dennis Waterman takes centre stage and where George Cole as Arthur was originally planned to stay as a sort of comic sidekick.
Terry has a huge flirtatious section with the almost irresistible Deborah Grant and it's no coincidence that it does play like an episode of Bergerac which started its own long run on BBC a couple of years later.
Anyway it all ends with Arthur being a fool of ( which George Cole didn't mind for whatever reason) and Terry saving the day and punching the bad guy in a vicious and very dangerous and convincing manner.
An unusually dark entry in the Minder catalogue
ArtVandelayImporterExporter19 June 2023
The final episode of Series 1 is very much no-nonsense, dark drama.
Arthur comes home drunk to find an old buddy in the bushes, looking all beat up. Begs for a ride. So Arthur gets Terry to give the guy a lift to the middle of nowhere. Before long, the Ol' Bill are arresting Terry for being an accessory to something or other.
Along come a couple of thugs to bring Terry to the head gangster, who wants a bag of loot back.
Now it's up to Terry to unravel things to keep himself out of jail and keep Arthur alive.
The dark tone of the episode is matched by the cinematic score. The usual light comedic touches are missing. And that's OK as a Series 1 clincher. It came as a bracing tonic after Episodes 8,9,10, which had muddled storylines that tried too hard to wring stories out of obscure global or street-level politics. This was old-fashioned gangster stuff and watching it in real time, viewers must have wondered whether they were going to end Minder right then and there with Arthur getting topped.
Arthur comes home drunk to find an old buddy in the bushes, looking all beat up. Begs for a ride. So Arthur gets Terry to give the guy a lift to the middle of nowhere. Before long, the Ol' Bill are arresting Terry for being an accessory to something or other.
Along come a couple of thugs to bring Terry to the head gangster, who wants a bag of loot back.
Now it's up to Terry to unravel things to keep himself out of jail and keep Arthur alive.
The dark tone of the episode is matched by the cinematic score. The usual light comedic touches are missing. And that's OK as a Series 1 clincher. It came as a bracing tonic after Episodes 8,9,10, which had muddled storylines that tried too hard to wring stories out of obscure global or street-level politics. This was old-fashioned gangster stuff and watching it in real time, viewers must have wondered whether they were going to end Minder right then and there with Arthur getting topped.
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