Dreamhouse (10 Feb. 1982)

Terry is hired to house-sit for a former sixties pop sensation who is playing a season in Las Vegas. What he is about to find out is that the man is bankrupt and bailiffs turn up at the 'dream house' to re-possess his belongings.

Director:

Tom Clegg

Writers:

Andrew Payne, Leon Griffiths (deviser)

Stars:

George Cole, Dennis Waterman, Richard Griffiths

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
George Cole	...	Arthur Daley
Dennis Waterman	...	Terry McCann
Richard Griffiths	...	Derek Farrow
Wanda Ventham	...	Beryl Murdoch
Roger Sloman	...	Silver
Dave Atkins	...	Kenny
Sandy Ratcliff	...	Barbara
Emma Williams	...	Janet
Ken Kitson	...	Shades 1
Niall Padden	...	Shades 2
Frank Coda	...	Woods
Sylvia O'Donnell	...	Receptionist
Clive Mantle	...	Bernard
Adrian Mills	...	Stanley
Glynn Edwards	...	Dave Harris

Storyline

Terry is hired to house-sit for a former sixties pop sensation who is playing a season in Las Vegas. What he is about to find out is that the man is bankrupt and bailiffs turn up at the 'dream house' to re-possess his belongings.

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Crime | Drama

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 February 1982 (UK)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Euston Films

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

User Reviews

Not so much jumping the shark, more sinking the piano.

Now I have fond memories of 'Minder' as much as anybody, but after 20+ years it's amazing how much fudging the producers managed to get away with. The plot of this episode, such as it is, degenerates into complete nonsense, and as so often happened, some of the guest artists seemed to get scenery munchies.

Arthur's in danger of being seduced by the merry widow of an old mate - who's 'invested' 3 grand with him - and Terry's hired out to babysit the mansion of an unseen sixties pop sensation who still does Vegas, apparently. Throw in the neurotic brother (totally overplayed by an unstable-accented Richard Griffiths) of the said pop star whose presence is never really explained, and the popstar's agent played (ineptly) for laughs, and you have a sort of proto-Lovejoy-caper-sitcom episode, and a not very good one.

The strength of Minder was the characterisations by Cole and Waterman (and Malahide and Edwards), and this is one of the lighter episodes which allow them to clown around a bit. Good luck to them, Dennis Waterman even shares a bath with Emma Williams; but it's best not to expect any storyline - it coasts along till the end and then you realise that the production team had no more idea of what was going on than you will. Don't try to convince people that Minder was 'classic' by showing them this.