With only a few episodes left in Dennis Waterman's run as Terry McCann, the producers really went for it.
Ian McShane guest stars as the well-heeled bad guy. He possesses an incriminating ''get out of jail free" videotape of his nemesis, an inspector at Scotland Yard played by Brian Blessed. The two facing off in the interrogation room is a thing of beauty.
Problem is, the videotape gets put back into the wrong box. And then it gets mistakenly returned by McShane's wife - played by Dennis Waterman's real-life wife, Rula Lenska - to the video rental shop owned by none other than Arthur Daley.
Now the bad guy and the police are after the tape. And the only guy standing between Daley and disaster is his faithful, if grumpy, Minder Terence McCann.
The B-plot, which ties in nicely by the final act, involves stolen home furnishings procured by semi-recurring Ray Winstone. The buyer of the bent gear, Patrick Ryecart, upon being arrested, confidently exclaims, "You can't arrest me. I'm an architect. There's my Porsche."
If that was the writers getting one last great dig into the UK's class system, well done.
Peter Childs as DS Rycott and Michael Troughton as Melish do their best to keep a lid on crime on the manor, only to be foiled by corruption from above.
Arthur Daley gets plenty of funny lines to deliver and we get a short but satisfying punch-up by McCann.
What more could a Minder fan ask for, really.
Ian McShane guest stars as the well-heeled bad guy. He possesses an incriminating ''get out of jail free" videotape of his nemesis, an inspector at Scotland Yard played by Brian Blessed. The two facing off in the interrogation room is a thing of beauty.
Problem is, the videotape gets put back into the wrong box. And then it gets mistakenly returned by McShane's wife - played by Dennis Waterman's real-life wife, Rula Lenska - to the video rental shop owned by none other than Arthur Daley.
Now the bad guy and the police are after the tape. And the only guy standing between Daley and disaster is his faithful, if grumpy, Minder Terence McCann.
The B-plot, which ties in nicely by the final act, involves stolen home furnishings procured by semi-recurring Ray Winstone. The buyer of the bent gear, Patrick Ryecart, upon being arrested, confidently exclaims, "You can't arrest me. I'm an architect. There's my Porsche."
If that was the writers getting one last great dig into the UK's class system, well done.
Peter Childs as DS Rycott and Michael Troughton as Melish do their best to keep a lid on crime on the manor, only to be foiled by corruption from above.
Arthur Daley gets plenty of funny lines to deliver and we get a short but satisfying punch-up by McCann.
What more could a Minder fan ask for, really.