"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Minder: Series 6, Episode 2 – “Life in the Fast Food Lane” (1985)

 
Before Capaldi Winter, I’d seen some British television from the 80s and 90s (classic Who stuff, various series with Fry & Laurie, the odd miniseries here and there,) but nothing like the large cross-section I’ve had lately.  Accustomed as I am to BBC heavyweights like Sherlock, State of Play, and the expanded Whoniverse, it’s interesting to take a peek at all these old series.
 
Minder, evidently, was quite the property in its day, running for 10 seasons between ’79 and ’94.  It starred Dennis Waterman (who showed up previously on the blog as the lead in Stay Lucky) as Terry, an affable hired hand doing jobs for the small-time crook-of-all-trades Arthur.  “Life in the Fast Food Lane” finds Arthur beginning a new venture:  selling car phones that may or may not be of questionable origin and quality. 
 
Arthur’s acquisition of the phones includes Ozzie, an ex-British-Telecom technician played by PC.  Ozzie is immediately deemed a useless waste of space by his new employer – in fact, when Arthur is making his initial deal for the phones, he asks to be assisted by anyone else.  Ozzie, however, knows his way around telephones and grifting, and he proves to be a valuable asset.
 
This is a pretty lightweight role, but it’s a lot of fun.  Par for the course for a lot of the early PC roles I’ve seen so far, Ozzie is energetic, upbeat, and a bit of an oddball.  Our first shot of him in the episode is his leg sticking out the window of a parked car, a bright pink sock visible between his shoes and his trouser cuff.  He takes a laidback approach to his criminal activities, unconcerned when the police start sniffing around.  Perhaps most unforgivable for Arthur, he doesn’t shy away from technical lingo and makes it clear that he considers himself smarter than Arthur.
 
This episode also features a short appearance by Benjamin Whitrow, who we just saw in Tom Jones and is still best known for his great Mr. Bennet in the Jennifer Ehle/Colin Firth version of Pride and Prejudice.
 
Accent Watch
 
Incredibly Scottish, with a little Scottish slang to boot.
 
Recommend?
 
In General – Not necessarily.  Enjoyable, but nothing all that special.
 
PC-wise – Possibly.  Ozzie is a fun character, and it always amuses me to see PC as a scrawny 20-something.
 
Warnings
 
A little swearing, some drinking and smoking, a handful of sexual references, and miscellaneous criminal behavior.

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