There is a lot of enjoyable detail in this episode. It's a cameo of a time and place: London in the 1980's. The society and economy of Britain under the government of Prime Minister Thatcher. When prosperity was no longer to be gained through honest toil in traditional industries but rather in the media, celebrity culture and being an entrepreneur.
It's in this context that our lovable rogue Arthur Daley operates. Here he interacts with the British press, when it was still based in Fleet Street. In particular, he tries to take advantage of a new, brash, popular, national newspaper, the Daily Star. It did, and does still, exist. The front page story about an escaped prisoner was just the sort of thing that the paper favoured.
There is also gentle mockery of Britain's serious, high-minded, liberal newspaper, The Guardian. A rare sighting of another famous London newspaper, the Evening Standard, during that brief period when it was titled the New Standard. And finally, one fictional paper called the "Echo".
Reference is made to Ronald Biggs, a notorious, British train robber from the 1960's who became a criminal celebrity, being fêted by, among others, the Sex Pistols.
Dabbling in this dubious but popular world, Arthur comes into contact with some seriously nasty criminals. He's way out his depth and at first doesn't realise the danger he's in.
One of the other dubious characters is a rather sleazy newspaper man named Oates. He is played by Bill Nighy, here in his thirties, but who later went onto be one of Britain's best-loved actors, famed for his portrayal of characters on the big and small screens and indeed on the radio as well. Most of them, in fact, seemed like a development of the character he played here. He really just went from being a young roué to an old roué. He's only just retired, after his most acclaimed final major rôle (contrasting with his usual ones), in "Living" (2022).
There's a sweet cameo by Vanda Godsell, playing gangster's mum, Queenie, looking no older than when she played the saucy, middle-aged barmaid with a heart of gold in the much overlooked 1960 film "Hell Is A City" which showed the dangerous criminal underworld of Manchester.
Dennis Waterman's character, Terry, has never been more sympathetic than in this episode, when he squares up recklessly to the ruthless villains.
There's still plenty of humour, even if it's rather dark, and a running gag about some jackets that Arthur is trying to flog. I don't think I've ever found an episode of Minder more satisfying.
It's in this context that our lovable rogue Arthur Daley operates. Here he interacts with the British press, when it was still based in Fleet Street. In particular, he tries to take advantage of a new, brash, popular, national newspaper, the Daily Star. It did, and does still, exist. The front page story about an escaped prisoner was just the sort of thing that the paper favoured.
There is also gentle mockery of Britain's serious, high-minded, liberal newspaper, The Guardian. A rare sighting of another famous London newspaper, the Evening Standard, during that brief period when it was titled the New Standard. And finally, one fictional paper called the "Echo".
Reference is made to Ronald Biggs, a notorious, British train robber from the 1960's who became a criminal celebrity, being fêted by, among others, the Sex Pistols.
Dabbling in this dubious but popular world, Arthur comes into contact with some seriously nasty criminals. He's way out his depth and at first doesn't realise the danger he's in.
One of the other dubious characters is a rather sleazy newspaper man named Oates. He is played by Bill Nighy, here in his thirties, but who later went onto be one of Britain's best-loved actors, famed for his portrayal of characters on the big and small screens and indeed on the radio as well. Most of them, in fact, seemed like a development of the character he played here. He really just went from being a young roué to an old roué. He's only just retired, after his most acclaimed final major rôle (contrasting with his usual ones), in "Living" (2022).
There's a sweet cameo by Vanda Godsell, playing gangster's mum, Queenie, looking no older than when she played the saucy, middle-aged barmaid with a heart of gold in the much overlooked 1960 film "Hell Is A City" which showed the dangerous criminal underworld of Manchester.
Dennis Waterman's character, Terry, has never been more sympathetic than in this episode, when he squares up recklessly to the ruthless villains.
There's still plenty of humour, even if it's rather dark, and a running gag about some jackets that Arthur is trying to flog. I don't think I've ever found an episode of Minder more satisfying.