Minder (TV series)

Minder
Original title sequence, featuring Dennis Waterman (1979–1989).
Genre	Comedy-drama
Created by	Leon Griffiths
Starring	George Cole (1979–1980, 1982–1985, 1988–1989, 1991, 1993–1994) Dennis Waterman (1979–1980, 1982–1985, 1988–1989) Gary Webster (1991, 1993–1994) Shane Richie (2009) Lex Shrapnel (2009)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	11
No. of episodes	114 (List of Episodes)
Production
Running time	60 minutes (including commercials)
Production company(s)	Euston Films (1979–1980, 1982–1985, 1988–1989, 1991, 1993–1994) Thames (1979–1980, 1982–1985, 1988–1989, 1991) Central (1993–1994) Talkback Thames (2009)
Distributor	Fremantle Media
Release
Original network	ITV (1979–1980, 1982–1985, 1988–1989, 1991, 1993–1994) Channel 5 (2009)
Picture format	4:3 (1979–1980, 1982–1985, 1988–1989, 1991, 1993–1994) 16:9 (2009)
Audio format	Mono (1979–1980, 1982–1985, 1988–1989, 1991) Stereo (1993–1994, 2009)
Original release	ITV series: 29 October 1979 (1979-10-29) – 10 March 1994 (1994-03-10) Channel 5 series: 4 February 2009 (2009-02-04) – 11 March 2009 (2009-03-11)

Minder is a British comedy-drama about the London criminal underworld. Initially produced by Verity Lambert, it was made by Euston Films, a subsidiary of Thames Television and shown on ITV (originally by Thames, then Central Independent Television in 1993 and 1994 after Thames lost its franchise). The original show ran for ten series between 29 October 1979 and 10 March 1994, and starred Dennis Waterman as Terry McCann, an honest and likable bodyguard (minder in London slang) and George Cole as Arthur Daley, a socially ambitious, but highly unscrupulous importer-exporter, wholesaler, used-car salesman and purveyor of anything else from which there was money to be made, whether within the law or not.

The series is principally set in inner West London (Shepherd's Bush/Ladbroke Grove/Fulham/Acton), and was largely responsible for putting the word , meaning personal bodyguard, into the UK popular lexicon. The characters often drank at the local members-only Winchester Club, where owner and barman Dave (Glynn Edwards) acted, often unwillingly, as a message machine for Arthur, and turned a blind eye to his shady deals. The series was notable for using a range of leading British actors, as well as many up-and-coming performers before they hit the big time; at its peak it was one of ITV's biggest ratings winners.

In 2008, it was announced that Minder would go into production for broadcast in 2009 (on Channel 5) for a new version, though none of the original cast would appear in the new episodes. The new show focused on Arthur's nephew Archie (created solely for this new version), played by Shane Richie. The series began broadcast on 4 February 2009. In 2010, it was announced that no further episodes would be made following lukewarm reception to the first series.

Minder was devised by writer Leon Griffiths as a vehicle for Dennis Waterman after his success in The Sweeney. George Cole's wheeler-dealer character is almost secondary, with Arthur assigning Terry a new "minding" job in each episode. A number of early episodes focus on Terry in such assignments, with Arthur remaining in the background. However, as the comedy potential of Cole's dodgy-dealing character emerged, as well as the successful on-screen pairing of Waterman and Cole (which proved to be one of the series' most popular elements), the emphasis increasingly focused more on Arthur's exploits, and by a few series into the show's life, typical plots revolved more around Arthur's latest shady scams instead of some of the more "gritty" plots of Terry's minding jobs.