The Minder Podcast

In this show we are back to the regular format and feature part one of an interview with Brian Croucher, who played Big John in Monday Night Fever from the very first Minder series.

Far from being a bit part actor, Brian has appeared in 124 film or television productions and played a huge variety of parts.

I found Brian to be a very funny, thoughtful and insightful interviewee and he gave me a lot of time.

I will point out also that I have learned that for the future it is usually going to be best to share former episodes with the actor in question, just in case they don’t remember everything about them. Considering his memory was hazy on filming Minder, Brian did an amazing job and told all sorts of great stories.

We speak of the heady days of Euston Films and also cover Brian’s role as Chris Cottle in Out, working on the 1972 film Burke and Hare and almost playing the role of the private detective, Hazell in 1978.

Brian also speaks of the Eastenders curse and tells of the time where he was mistaken for Billy Murray, another great veteran British actor.

The interview was filmed before the passing of Dennis Waterman which is why we speak of him in present tense. Brian tells some intimate stories and anecdotes – from the early 70s through to New Tricks.

So, Euston we have a problem. Over to Brian Croucher.

The Minder Podcast returns with the only way possible, a tribute to the one and only Dennis Waterman.

In this feature length episode we cover as much as possible about Dennis’ life and career.

From humble beginnings, raised on a council estate by two parents who only liked each other when they went to bed, Dennis Waterman became an incredible star actor with a still inimitable presence and legacy.

Almost all of his acting credits are discussed, with specific homage to Minder connections. Then there is a very eventful personal life to contend with.

Coupled with exclusive clips, this is a heartfelt revelation of the man behind Terry McCann and much more besides.

We look at Dennis’ musical career as well as theatre work and personal anecdotes and clips.

Aspects of his career which have been lost to time are also brought up in great detail – look out for Night Train For Inverness, The Root of all Evil, The World Cup: A Captain’s Tale, Stay Lucky, Circle of Deceit, plus The Sweeney and the inevitable Minder associations and details.

Actors mentioned in detail include George Cole, John Thaw, Jan Francis, Ann Lynn, Roy Kinnear, Karl Howman, Denholm Elliott, Tim Healy, Peter Childs, Patrick Malahide, Jenna Russell, Rula Lenska and Amanda Redman. Plus writers Jill Arlon, Leon Griffiths, Alan Plater and Tony Hoare.

In this show we are going to explore some Minder trivia. This is the first of several shows where we will do just that. 

Given there has been so much trivia to accrue over the years, you’ll have to forgive the somewhat random nature of the information. 

We’ll go from connections between actors appearing in the same film or TV series, straight to an unusual cause of death. 

Hopefully you will enjoy the fast pace fact delivery.

There is also a quiz question which might really test you…

Music played: Electric Banana – Take Me Home, Do My Stuff

Alan Tew – The Big One

Flintlock – Dawn

Whitesnake – Don’t Break My Heart Again

Dennis Waterman – Cockney Cowboy

Welcome to episode 12 of The Minder Podcast in association with Minder.org.

In this show we have part two of an interview with Andrew Payne, writer of 12 Minder episodes including some real classics, several of which we discuss here in detail, including Back in Good Old England, Goodbye Sailor, Dream House and Minder On the Orient Express.

Andrew talks about appearing on the set of Minder and what happened when his very first episode was being filmed. He also mentions the dissatisfaction he felt at the time and what happened there. He mentions George Cole’s filming habits as well as the feature length Minder film which was ultimately made for TV. What if Arthur and Terry had gone to Venice?

Andrew talks about his most memorable episode and the reasons why. The clue is Richard Griffiths who would also feature in Andrew’s acclaimed comedy drama Pie in the Sky.

The clips you’ll hear come from some of the shows Andrew mentions, but I also wanted to include a few from The Last Video Show, which we did not get time to talk about.

I feel this is quite an overlooked episode and it also turned out to be Andrew’s last credit for Minder.

It was a credible concept and also featured the two storylines  running throughout the episode, which Andrew does talk about as a favourite method of creating Minder scripts.

This was also an episode with a tremendous cast and we’ll talk more about it in a future show.

For now it is back to Andrew Payne for Part 2 of Minder on the Hornsey Express – or a Nice Little Urner – on this, episode 12 of The Minder Podcast in association with Minder.org.

Welcome to episode 11 of The Minder Podcast in association with Minder.org.

In this show we have part one of an interview with Andrew Payne, writer of 12 Minder episodes including some real classics: Senior Citizen Caine, Back in Good Old England, Goodbye Sailor, You Need Hands, Get Daley and Minder On the Orient Express.

Andrew is also known for Pie In The Sky, Lovejoy and Midsomer Murders as well as several theatre plays.

Andrew talks about his background before writing for Minder, when he  was an art student in the 1960s and his experience meeting criminals who  would form a useful learning curve for Minder scripts.

He talks about the very first guidelines for Leon Griffiths’ timeless  idea and how this was expanded upon to form the first series of the  show as well as all the others.

We hear about meetings with script executive Linda Agran and how scripts, particularly Andrew’s first, came together.

There is also a mention of the wonderful Lee Montague, who appeared  in two episodes of Minder as well as The Sweeney. The role I remembered  him in was Mr Sayin in the fourth episode, A Tethered Goat, but as Andrew says, Lee was almost Arthur Daley.

Andrew talks about the Minder writing process from front to back. This is a real episode for Minder purists. Welcome to Minder on the Hornsey Express!

In this show we have part two of an interview with a complete superstar, the one and only Suzi Quatro.

Full disclosure – it’s the first episode of the Minder Podcast where, er, Minder is not mentioned; although we do have the usual clips for you to enjoy.

But if you really want to know more about Suzi Quatro, this is the interview for you. You’ll hear very much about what makes her tick and what she has had to overcome to maintain her success.

We hear about her ego room and about her performing a full concert by herself in her frontroom.

There is also more about her acting, current music, her health tips  and how to keep going into your 70s as well as an exclusive poetry reading.

For more on the Dead Men Do Tell Tales episode visit the Minder fan site and IMDB.

For more on Suzi and to see what she is up to these days visit her homepage.

Intro theme: Zac Zolar & Electric Banana – Take Me Home

Outro theme: Suzi Quatro – Lonely is the Hardest

In this show we have part one of an interview with a complete superstar, the one and only Suzi Quatro.

There is an unusual beginning as Suzi began mistakenly talking to me about Dempsey and Makepeace for a good 5 minutes before the audio you are about to hear. I wasn’t  sure if I misremembered the Minder episode for a moment as she was  talking about doing her own stunts and having a dead look in her eyes as  she was so interested in serial killers.

What you are about to hear is the point at which Suzi realised her  mistake. But just listen to the true pro she is and how quickly she  moves straight into talking about Minder.

And so we do indeed talk about the episode Suzi appeared in, the first  from Series 3: Dead Men Do Tell Tales where she played Nancy.

We also cover everything from the meaning of being a Gemini to Leather Tuscadero, her famous Happy Days character.

And, is Dennis Waterman a good kisser? It wasn’t one of my questions but we find out anyway. Over to Suzi Quatro.

In this show we have part two of an interview with the alluring Sarah Berger, a very intriguing actress and person.

She has featured in a large variety of roles including appearances in  Doctors, Casualty, Lovejoy, Holby City, An Inspector Calls, The Green  Man and the very first episode of New Tricks.

As we discuss, she has often appeared with many actors who turned up  in Minder at some point, from Nigel Davenport to Nicky Henson.

Yet as the title of this episode recalls, her own appearance in  Minder was as the difficult to read Penny during perhaps one of the  greatest episodes. Certainly a personal favourite of mine. It’s a very  unusual episode in many respects and features some of the best lines in  Minder history.

During our interview it became more unusual as Sarah experienced  certain issues during filming which made things quite uncomfortable for  her given she was a very young actress at the time. She reveals a lot of  the problems but also some very happy memories – not least involving  Ray Winstone who of course played Arnie in the episode as well as three others.

Other great memories include time spent amongst the gentlemen of  Minder, particularly George Cole and the fantastic Moray Watson who  plays Commander Hawksly in Goodbye Sailor. He was an accomplished actor  who appeared in the Two Ronnies, Rumpole of the Bailey, The Darling Buds  of May and many more. His breakthrough role came when he appeared  alongside Cary Grant in 1960’s The Grass is Greener. But for Goodbye  Sailor, Moray Watson played a smuggler.

We have a great chat coming up full of all kinds of revelations and  inside knowledge of the show so it’s Goodbye Sailor, hello Sarah Berger.

Welcome to episode 7 of The Minder Podcast in association with Minder.org.

In this show we have part one of an interview with the alluring Sarah Berger, a very intriguing actress and person.

She has featured in a large variety of roles including appearances in  Doctors, Casualty, Lovejoy, Holby City, An Inspector Calls, The Green  Man and the very first episode of New Tricks.

As we discuss, she has often appeared with many actors who turned up  in Minder at some point, from Nigel Davenport to Nicky Henson.

Yet as the title of this episode recalls, her own appearance in  Minder was as the difficult to read Penny during perhaps one of the  greatest episodes. Certainly a personal favourite of mine. It’s a very  unusual episode in many respects and features some of the best lines in  Minder history.

During our interview it became more unusual as Sarah experienced  certain issues during filming which made things quite uncomfortable for  her given she was a very young actress at the time. She reveals a lot of  the problems but also some very happy memories – not least involving  Ray Winstone who of course played Arnie in the episode as well as three others.

Other great memories include time spent amongst the gentlemen of  Minder, particularly George Cole and the fantastic Moray Watson who  plays Commander Hawksly in Goodbye Sailor. He was an accomplished actor  who appeared in the Two Ronnies, Rumpole of the Bailey, The Darling Buds  of May and many more. His breakthrough role came when he appeared  alongside Cary Grant in 1960’s The Grass is Greener. But for Goodbye  Sailor, Moray Watson played a smuggler.

We have a great chat coming up full of all kinds of revelations and  inside knowledge of the show so it’s Goodbye Sailor, hello Sarah Berger.  

For more visit The Minder Podcast website.

Welcome to episode six of The Minder Podcast for a very special tribute  episode featuring a Michael Povey interview and commentary with Jonathan Gibbs of Minder.org.

From 1982 until 1989 Michael (or Meic) appeared in 21 classic  episodes of the show as D.C. Jones. He was one of the core characters  from the earlier episodes and formed a wonderful double act with  Sergeant Chisholm (Patrick Malahide).

Several years ago, Jonathan from Minder.org was fortunate enough to  spend some time with Meic and discuss the programme. The episode  commentary belonged to the first episode from Series 6. Unlike some  episode commentaries however, the detail behind the conversation was so  revealing and intimate that I felt it worked well as a straight  interview.

Here and there where necessary I have interspersed the clips as they  do discuss particular show points, which makes this a real bumper  episode.

This is a great historical interview in the annals of Minder especially as Meic passed away in 2017.

Part interview, part commentary and complete tribute, this is in  honour of the great ‘Taff’ Jones without whom Minder would simply not  have been so funny.

In this interview Meic reveals his opinions on the show during his  time there and is very honest as well as humorous. It makes for a  fabulous show so don your sheepskin and pay homage to the greatest Welsh  actor (I’m sure) of all time on this, episode 6 of The Minder Podcast,  in association with Minder.org.

Intro theme: Zac Zolar & Electric Banana – Take Me Home

Outro: Meic Povey – Mordecai

To view the episode ‘Give Us This Day Arthur Daley’s Bread’ with commentary

For more on the episode ‘Give Us This Day Arthur Daley’s Bread’

For another side of Meic Povey and a visual treat dare you view Mordecai