Classic TV: Minder – S05 E04 – “The Second Time Around”

About this episode

‘Retired romance novelist Ruby Hubbard (aka Lorraine Masters) returns from Capri to write another novel, as she needs the money. But she finds that she has writer’s block. On top of that, her swish Hampstead house has been sold from under her in a crooked Spanish property deal perpetrated by her estranged, philandering husband Barney. Arthur, who had an innocent hand in the sale, has enquiries made to expose the fraud. Terry takes on the job of minding Ruby, but finds himself assisting in devising the plot and even writing the story. Barney and his crooked lawyer return from Spain and Arthur forces them to pay Ruby her share of the sale. The novel is completed and delivered to the publishers, who are well aware that it’s essentially a rewrite of her first novel. Ruby and Barney return to Capri. .

Guest stars:Beryl Reid as Ruby, Bill Maynard as Barney Todd, John F. Landry as Ronnie Todd, Ivor Roberts as Jack Hodgson, Nigel Le Vaillant as Andy, Peter Birrel as John Scott, David Webb as John Draham

 

About the series

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. 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

The show starred Dennis Waterman as Terry McCann, an honest and likeable 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 minder, 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 service for Arthur, and turned a blind eye to his shady deals.