The Minder Podcast

Thank you to everyone who wrote to me or commented on the Diana Malin episode. It seems the general consensus was you all feel Diana is just Debbie when she is older which just goes back to something I regularly marvel at – how good the casting was when it came to Minder which is also why we still love the characters. As promised, albeit a little later than intended, here is abonus interview with...

Yes we finally got there. After several texts and a few previous phone calls between us we finally managed to set up the interview proper. By the time we start we are quite familiar so if it sounds like we’re straight into it here that’s because we had hours and texts aplenty before recording this. Occasionally you will hear the perils of a slightly dodgy phone line as it was not done using the us...

This one comes fairly timely to me as I recently wrote anarticle on the subject and I thought it fitting that, as the person in question relates to a Minder episode, I should put together the connections for this first one of 2026. So episode 42 is The Lady and the Minder. This relates to the final episode of series 2, Caught in the Act, Fact. Series 2 as I have mentioned before is my favourite ov...

Episode 41 – A Minder Miscellany Featuring Mark Farmer, Mike Grady, Christopher Sprague, Kim Taylforth, Sarah London, Diana Malin This show is going to be a catch up with all of the people Ihave been speaking with or emailing as well as some updates and further information – it really is a Minder miscellany. Most of the following comes from email or phone conversations I’ve had with people who did...

On April 22nd, 2025 it was exactly one hundred years since the birth of George Edward Cole, a man who would go on to provide some of the most iconic and memorable television of all time. To mark the occasion I decided to put together a brief overview of George Cole’s career and achievements with the second part of this episode dedicated to his Minder appearances. As such we will feature an Arthur...

Following on from our top ten birds episode it struck me that – given I included Rula Lenska in the list (spoiler alert!) I should have mentioned another Minder related shorter episode she appeared in. It was called Number and I refer to it as the secret Minder episode as it might be one you did not know about or haven’t seen before. It is also not an official episode by any means. It was included...

In this episode we feature the Top Ten birds of Minder. Yes I received several emails which thanked me for avoiding being politically correct in the coverage of Whose Wife is it Anyway? so this one will also probably please most of you who are a little fed up of being told what you can and can’t say. According to the statistics I have a 3% female audience as well, which surprises me. So given ther...

Happy New Year to you all and thanks for your patience in awaiting some new material on the show. This one is a great joy to bring you, although the circumstances are a little unusual. We feature an interview with Mike Holoway, who played Zac Zolar in A Star is Gorn , episode 7 from series 4 of Minder. Mike has actually been in the news recently after he suffered an unprovoked attack in London whi...

In this episode, we look at the classic episode Whose Wife Is It Anyway? from Series 2. This is, as you will know if you listen to the Top Ten episodes show, my favourite all time episode of Minder. I know it is for some of you too or at the very least, an episode you like a lot. I’ve wanted to do this one for a while and have been building up titbits here and there ready to get down and look into...

In this episode we feature an interview with Location Manager of 13 Minder episodes, Dave Shanks. This is a great insight into behind the scenes of Minder and taught me a lot I had never heard before – I hope it will do the same for you. For the full episode description please visit Minderpodcast.co.uk.

In this episode we feature an interview with director of four episodes, Robert Young. Robert directed the first episode of Series 3, Dead Men Do Tell Tales , and three episodes in Series 4: Senior Citizen Caine , High Drains Pilferer and Windows . As I explain to him, I did try to find him early on when I started this podcast and finally managed to find the right agent and luckily Robert was recep...

In this episode we pay tribute to Andrew Payne and also give you a special exclusive mini interview with Colin Prockter who played Stevie in Series 2’s Caught in the Act, Fact (as well as Reggie in a later episode). I firstly wanted to tell you all about the new Minder annual which is currently out via Confessions Press . The annual is a real treat, very much in the style of the classic annuals fr...

In this episode we feature an exclusive interview with Stuart St Paul who appeared in the classic Whose Wife Is It Anyway ? from Series 2 of Minder. It was a small part but I could not resist speaking with Stuart as not only did he appear in one of – if not the – best of episodes, but he was also later the stuntman for Dennis Waterman in Stay Lucky .   In fact Stuart started out as a stuntman whic...

In this episode we speak to camera grip for 53 episodes of Minder, Nick Pearson. Nick was behind the camera and at the technical helm for many classic episodes – from the very first to the last in Series 5 – and as you would expect has some terrific insight into how it all came together. Some standout topics include working with the greats such as Roy Ward Baker, Robert Young and Christopher King...

Welcome to episode 30 of the minder podcast in association with minder.org . I remember when the UK Gold TV channel I first came out that I thought it was great that certain TV programmes were being recognised as classics. And UK Gold also featured some more obscure works that were good to see on TV for the first time. Why do I mention this? Well, because the first word I thought of when being luc...

Welcome to episode 29 of The Minder Podcast in association with minder.org . In this episode we bring you a tribute to a man without whom Minder would have looked very different indeed. What would Minder have been without Dave the barman? A very underrated part of the main trio which made Minder famous: Arthur, Terry and Dave, Glynn Edwards was by all accounts very similar to his character. He lik...

Happy new year to everyone. Hope you all had a great festive time. But now it’s back to work. In this episode we ease back in lightly with an interview with Dennis Waterman I came across recently which I had never seen before. It was given in 2000 in order to promote his book Reminder . You will most likely have heard our earlier episodes relating to Dennis; specifically episode 14 which was a lif...

This one is a little different as you will no doubt have seen. So what’s occurring, what’s this all about? Well, I have had a few requests for doing an episode deep dive and wasn’t sure if I wanted to start that process as it could become addictive. After all, there are 109 to play with. But sometimes you come across something that you didn’t expect from a surprising source and in this case it mad...

Welcome to episode 26 of The Minder Podcast in association with minder.org . What red blooded male would not love to have met Debbie Arnold in the 80s? Much less spoken to her for an hour. Well, it’s 2023 and Debbie is still as lovely as ever. There is a photo of Royce Mills – Arthur’s accountant – on the Minder Podcast website. Go and take a look but that’s the face. Best of all she is a great gu...

This time we feature an exclusive interview with Kevork Malikyan, the very recognisable face of a variety of starring side roles, from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to Midnight Express . Let’s not forget Mind Your Language and The Professionals . From his very first role on screen in 1968’s Portrait of a Lady , Kevork has starred alongside acting greats, in that series he appeared with Edward...

This time we feature an exclusive interview with a very well known actress, particularly in the 80’s, Maureen O’Farrell. It took me a while to track Maureen down but once I realised she had changed her name to Sara Farouk Ahmed it was a little easier. You would not think it was easier to reach an actress who became a belly dancer and moved to Egypt than say someone in the UK with agency representa...

Welcome to episode 23 of The Minder Podcast in association with minder.org . For our two-year anniversary of the show it’s time to honour one of the best characters in Minder history. This episode is something a little different, part tribute and part enquiry – we are going to look at the very special Diana Malin and her character of Debbie Mitchell, as well as attempt to piece together where she...

May 8th is of course the one year anniversary of Dennis Waterman’s passing. If you haven’t already done so you might want to listen to the ⁠tribute⁠ to Dennis released in June last year. In this episode we are going to look back at Dennis’ 2000 autobiography, Reminder, specifically the chapter on Minder. The book, written with Dennis’ manager Deke Arlon’s wife Jill was, as I mentioned in the tribu...

In this show we feature an interview with the wonderful Carole Ashby who played Imogen in Fiddler on the Hoof. This was episode 5 of the much underrated series 7 – the latest in the Dennis Waterman era that we’ve yet gone in featuring an actor or actress. So what was it like working with George and Dennis during this series? We get into some of the background to the episode including some very mem...

This is a special episode, paying tribute to Leon Griffiths, the creator of Minder, as well as revealing the origins of the programme. As such we will feature a reading from Jonathan of the Minder fans site and there are also contributions from Andrew Payne so if you want to know  about the beginnings of the show, or learn more about Leon Griffiths then keep listening. So who was Leon Griffit...