Sat and watched an episode of Minder today and it got me thinking about which two characters from different programmes would be good pitched up together.
I reckon that Arthur Daley and Delboy in a boozer striking up a deal using all the London lingo whilst smoking the big Cubans would have made for a good scene. Meanwhile Terry and Rodney would be back at the lockup loading the merchandise into the back ot the Three wheel van. I think that Delboy would be a bit in awe of Arthur and try to aspire to him.
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-and theres the romantic interest!
When asked where he would get the Rhino from, "I know someone whos got one going cheap!"
My mates and I threw around this comic fantasy of Daley and
Del Boy pitting their wits against each other in the 80's. Especially as Minder
had started doing Christmas Specials (Minder on The Orient Express for example)
and then OFAH by the late 80's had established itself as the major programme on
Christmas Day.
OFAH was great but IMO went on too long, they should have
left after the watch auction. Of course Minder did overstay it's welcome too.
The last series Dennis Waterman was in was a joke. He didn't throw one punch.
To carry on with Ray was a mistake and the less said about the Shane Ritchie
revive the better.
However in its day Minder was absolute TV gold. Comedy drama
is not that easy to pull off and I reckon only Auf Weirdersain Pet bettered
Terry and Arthur in this genre on British TV. Created by the prolific Leon
Griffiths it was made by Euston Films to fill the gap left by the end of their
other big success The Sweeney and gave Dennis Waterman a vehicle to continue
his popularity in said police drama.
Minder was filmed on location like the Sweeney which always
gave it an air of authenticity and again like it's big brother attracted a wide
variety of scriptwriters, producers and actors. I reckon the first series was a
tad tame but it soon got going and was, I would say, the best programme of its
time apart from AWP. From memory Minder started in 1979 with The Gunfight at
The OK Laundrette and AWP in 1983.