Arthur's accent

Yes..... there does seem to be a pattern with Arthur where by series 7/8 he has become almost clown-ish/cartoon like and is the complete opposite of the character from the first series.

He did. I think the character wasn't fully developed in the early episodes and perhaps George Cole had difficulty using a cockney accent again. Alastair Sim told him to speak 'posh' if he wanted to further his acting career.



The world is your lobster.

Yeah the Series was Mean't to be a Vehicle for Terry but became more even handed as the Series developed

Think I'm on the right thread Mate

[deleted]

Arthur's accent does indeed sound quite posh in the first few episodes recorded. Especially The Bounty Hunter (although this was the 5th episode in the 1st series it was actually the 2nd episode of Minder to be filmed). Personalły, I think it's due to his character still being developed at this early stage.

Also, it's normal for people like Arthur to slightly change his accent to suit the occasion. We know he's originally working-class, but sends his kids to private school, and although we never meet 'er indoors, her family are featured in an episode in series 3 and they're all well-spoken & middle-class etc. Maybe he disguises his working-class origins when dealing with middle-class types, but he'd be different when dealing with the sort of bloke that drinks in The Winchester. Over the years Arthur became more of a comedy character and his accent & turn of phrase reflected that.

George grew up with a cockney accent. The great Alistair Sim took him under his wing at an early age and thought that his accent would hinder his attempt to get work so he taught him to speak "posh". So when Arthur is a bit posh, that's George's real accent coming through.