This is the first appearance of Melish, played by Michael Troughton. He appeared in 7 episodes. The last one being The Wrong Goodbye (1989)
Billy Hamon (Lindsay Browne) previously appeared with Dennis Waterman in Big Spender (1975) as Barry Smith.
The episode title is a pun on "A Star Is Born", a story that has been filmed many times with perhaps the most notable being A Star Is Born (1937) with Janet Gaynor and Fredric March in the lead roles, and A Star Is Born (1954) with Judy Garland and James Mason in the lead roles. Three years after Minder used this title, it was also used for an episode of "Me and My Girl", A Star Is Gorn (1987).