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"Leave it out'": The Two 'Arthurs' were the keys to series longevity

posted 10 years ago by Yuhangyuan
5 replies | jump to latest

Minder is one of those TV series where a main supporting player (George Cole) starts out subordinate to the main star (Dennis Waterman), & then through dint of personality, becomes effectively the real star of the show ... compare this with Happy Days: Ron Howard (Ritchie) was always intended to headline the series but, soon enough, through popular acclaim Henry Winkler (The Fonz) established himself as the real (cult) figure in the program. "Arthur's personality in Minder is the spark that ignites the series & his schemes (which inevitably segue into predicaments) are the framework round which each episode's storyline unfurls. Arthur is the personification of the dodgy business geezer, unencumbered by ethics, gullible, obsessed with "get rich quick" ventures which really are too good to be believed! For all his faults Arthur is still an endearing character with a rough-hewn charm that we tend to warm to. His silly & misplaced pretensions & transparently hollow boasts, his worldly ignorance, his tendency for uttering malapropisms, all gell together to make a great figure of fun, a kind of modern Falstaff even. Notwithstanding Arthur being the show's centrepiece, it has to be added that "Arfur & Tel" work great together as a team, the chemistry between them fantastic. Though I could never quite understand why Terry, finding himself let down (or outright cheated) by the unscrupulous Arthur every time, doesn't cut his ties with Daley for good (I know he threatened to & even did it once or twice, but he always comes back to him). Given Arthur had total form & the fact that he was constitutionally incapable of ever mending his ways, the gormless Terry ultimately comes across as being a bit dim for not seeing the futile reality of his relationship with Arthur. Great supporting characters, principally Dave (Glyn Edwards) the amiable barman & de facto message bank for Arthur's various businesses, & the long-suffering & thoroughly exasperated DS Chisholm (Patrick Malahide), compliment the central duo.

[–] louiseculmer 10 years ago

i personally prefer the episodes with terry, he was a bit too easily conned by Arthur perhaps, but arthur didn't always get his way, sometimes terry came out on top. and Arthur himself quite frequently blundered or got conned, as he did in one of my favourite episodes, Dream house for instance. neither of them were exactly brilliant.

[–] clark_gillies 10 years ago

True. By series 3/4 the tides do seem to be changing that it has gone from Dennis Waterman as the star of the show to being centered more around Arthur, until the point when you get to the Ray Daley years that Arthur has just become this total clown of a character, as far removed from the very first episode you can get.

Was almost like when OFAH started winning the ratings wars that the people behind Minder thought "we need to make Arthur more Del Boy like" and they just did not seem to stop.

If I am being honest, I preferred it more when story lines centered around Terry, rather than later on when it became about Arthurs next silly get rich scheme.

[–] louiseculmer 10 years ago

I think there is something in that. I always thought Only Fools and Horses was a bit of a ripoff of Minder.

[–] clark_gillies 10 years ago

OFAH was a bit of a Minder ripoff (I do not think the creators have ever denied that), but was not very popular at first, as BBC were almost going to bin it after 1 series, and even the 2nd series did not meet expectations, but for some reason series 3 took off.

I think from this point it was neck and neck between Minder and OFAH up to the Minder of the Orient Express v To Hull and Back Christmas specials (not 100% sure, but think Minder won the ratings war that night).

After this Minder seems to dip, and Arthur starts to become more clown-ish like, while OFAH seems to become a bit more serious, but still very funny.

[–] PurpleProseOfCairo 9 years ago

My eyes hurt.