3.7 The Birdman Of Wormwood Scrubs

[jno]

Link to episode on minder.org: www.minder.org/episodeguide/S03E07_TheBirdmanOfWormwoodScrubs.htm

[daz]

A nice little episode this, some very good acting in it, especially from Max Wall.

[jno]

A little article from Clive James in The Observer from 28th February 1982:

[gustav]

Clive James, like Nancy Banks Smith, a very astute critic. Good to see the commendation of Budgie too.

[jno]

On a totally different note(!), apart from the episode itself I also really like the groovy drum and bass library track going on at the start of this once - Clive Hicks 'Drums In Transit' is the name, great stuff.

[pr1]

Wonderful and highly entertaining. Max Wall as Ernie Dodds steals the episode. No small task with the brilliant George Cole around. Even by the high standards of Minder this is a top episode. I really enjoyed this episode and it's definetly one of my favorites.

[barrythebook]

I never tire of this one.
Watching Arthur begrudgingly part with his money bit by bit on Ernie's promise that he'll "get it back in three days!" is very amusing.

A good cast make up the other party in the game of cat and mouse to see who can get to the loot first.

Terrys view of them always gets a laugh as Kate tells him he's got competition -

"Two old aged pensioners,you,superscrew! Oh we're surrounded are we?"

Plenty more gems from this script too but my favourite must be,

"I don't care if you've got a bit of a 'you know' with Miss World, Raquel Welch or the entire Dagenham Girl Pipers! Tonight, Ernie is your houseguest!"

 

[smme100]

Clive Hicks Drums in Transit is listed on the music page but doesn't have a link.



It's also on an album "Inner city beat:Detective themes, Spy music and imagery thrillers 1967-77" - streaming on Spotify.

[barrythebook]

Very cool

[jno]

Apr 29, 2016 21:44:42 GMT barrythebook said:

Very cool

Agreed, I have this one in my car - one of the grooviest Minder tunes out there.

[barrythebook]

Apr 30, 2016 4:04:49 GMT jno said:

Apr 29, 2016 21:44:42 GMT barrythebook said:

Very cool

Agreed, I have this one in my car - one of the grooviest Minder tunes out there.

"Cool."
"Grooviest."

Very 70's.......

[glazbury]

I like the phrase Ernie uses when he tells Arthur he needs some "walking about money!" 

[newishminderfan]

Nice episode - although Ernie was a bit too moody

And the actor who played the retired detective working on his allotment also played the disgraced bank manager from Minder on the Orient Express.

[gra966]

Some brilliant dialogue in this one & good one liners

- The drive back from prison with Arthur giving Ernie the complete rundown

of all the things he has missed in the last 14 years , as though he had been on

another planet rather than in prison was brilliant - hard to believe now the moon landing

was only that short time away

- Tower Bridge appears to be undergoing some restoration as we can see scaffolding

& there are still old derelict warehouses visible on the other side of the river

- The London scene has certainly changed dramatically in the last 35 years !

The car that steals the show is of course Kate s lovely white Porsche 911

- which is still on the road ! - it has an RX - Reading registration mark so on loan

from Porsche GB - I wonder if the current owner knows of its history !!

- Spencer uses a red MK2 Escort Popular with a fake P registration plate

[Zimbo]

A very good episode. I didn't find Ernie the most sympathetic character though and I found it a little hard to root for him. Being a fan of Maurice Denhan, I would have liked to have seen more from his character. George Cole doing another great "drunk Arthur" turn in The Winchester, which seems very surreal without Dave in it's scenes here. Great dialogue with Terry and Arthur sat talking about the future of banking, while they're waiting for Ernie. It's that chemistry between George and Dennis that was so key in making sure Minder was the top show of this period.

[pr1]

A great episode from start to finish. I have seen it twice now and it remains one of my favorites. There is so much going on in this episode, and so much good stuff in it, it's hard to believe it's only fifty minutes long. It's jam packed with goodness.

[thewoodster]

Just watching this on ITV4 and its acting at its finest from the whole cast, Rula driving a top motor whilst acting opposite her man(at the time)and Max Wall at his acting best.

This morning couldn't get any better...lol
some good classic cars in this episode..oh..apart from the green Citroen 2cv(Citroen dolly)..lol

[barrythebook]

Some fine acting as you say tw and some of the best banter between Arthur and Terry.

The scenes in the hotel room are especially good.
Arthur goes, uneasily, along with Ernies plan but eventually stands his ground and takes control.
The speech he gives Terry about Ernie having to stay at his place makes me laugh every time.

...and when Terry sits on Arthurs hat

[thewoodster]

You're right barrythebook, Minder at its best.

[McCann]

Apr 29, 2016 19:30:18 GMT smme100 said:

Clive Hicks Drums in Transit is listed on the music page but doesn't have a link.



It's also on an album "Inner city beat:Detective themes, Spy music and imagery thrillers 1967-77" - streaming on Spotify.

Amazing to hear this up on Spotify. Never would have thought they'd have some of this stuff up there. I did search for the shut it! CD from the early 2000s but they don't't have that. They do have some Harry South up on Spotify. Will give it a listen, see if her indoors likes it.then tell her it's from the guy who did the Sweeney theme. Very cool.

[thewoodster]

Tunes that stand the test of time.

[westldner]

A nice episode, Arthur Daley helping someone out also released from the Scrubs. Nice.

[ace5150]

One of the best. Even if Terry looks knackered running up the stairs after the bent screw.
Max Wall stole this episode, George Cole acting drunk and bemoaning he'd lost money wasn't his finest moment.
Ernie releasing the Bird was very poignant as well. Lovely scene from a stand out episode.

[thewoodster]

Sept 13, 2018 18:57:44 GMT ace5150 said:

One of the best. Even if Terry looks knackered running up the stairs after the bent screw.
Max Wall stole this episode, George Cole acting drunk and bemoaning he'd lost money wasn't his finest moment.
Ernie releasing the Bird was very poignant as well. Lovely scene from a stand out episode.

Totally agree ace5150

[kusumkangguru]

Feb 5, 2018 13:10:14 GMT barrythebook said:

Some fine acting as you say tw and some of the best banter between Arthur and Terry.

The scenes in the hotel room are especially good.
Arthur goes, uneasily, along with Ernies plan but eventually stands his ground and takes control.
The speech he gives Terry about Ernie having to stay at his place makes me laugh every time.

...and when Terry sits on Arthurs hat

I watched this again yesterday, and agree with everyone else's comments - a good episode, and a fine way to spend a spare hour.

The thing that strikes me about the hotel scenes, though, is the dampness and dark patches visible on the wallpaper below the window as Ernie is looking out. This is supposed to be a luxury hotel next to Tower Bridge! Just another of those little signs that I like spotting in 'Minder' that remind me of life in the early eighties.

Obviously filmed at a cold time of year - grey skies, damp everywhere, and you can clouds of cold breath coming out of Terry's mouth at one point.

[tinman]

Someone would have got a nice birdcage i presume left on the bench.

[artyboy1973]

I really enjoyed this episode and found Max Wall quite amusing in this. It’s obvious ornithology isn’t Terry’s strong point as he wrongly describes Ernie’s pet bird as a budgie when it looks nothing like a budgie as budgies have flat beaks. However, this was a enjoyable episode and the scene where Ernie releases the bird was quite emotional.

[denzel]

Another fine episode of Terry Years Minder. For sure by this point in the series' run, it becomes redudant to say most things we've done time and again, such as praising George Cole, and his rapport with Dennis Waterman, etc. It's even more pointless to name this is one of your favorites, since by this point, at least for me, almost every episode was fantastic. No clear fault in this episode..perhaps maybe a lack of satisfactory resolution. But even the ending was fun.

• Leon Griffiths wrote this. A pointless bit of trivia, I know, but someone who knows a bit about Minder, and UK telly in general, would notice this. Leon Griffiths was apparently named after Leon Trotsky by his mother. "Trotsky" was also the nickname the Stephen Greif character, Fenning, would call Wolfie in Citizen Smith.
• As jno and others have said, the groovy tune at the start of the episode is a good beat to open on.
• Motors are not really my strong point..just never been my scene. The Porsche does look ok to me..but to be honest, I noticed Rula's ginger hair more than the car, in this.
• I also noticed the bloke walking out of the nick holding a game of Monopoly under his arm..funny.
• From the moment he showed up, birdcage in hand, Max Wall makes this episode his own, for all memory and posterity's worth. Having said that, George Cole was also there, with his moments, including his recapping of the past 14 years to Ernie..great stuff all round.
• Liked the bit when Ernie suddenly chucked the parcel out the car window...nice touch, to be sure.
• Another Leon Griffiths episode, another reference to Arthur's sprogs.
• Liked Arthur's sheepish line he says to Ernie, about not having told Er Indoors about him staying.
• The scene with the bird being released was indeed poignant, especially liked the shot of Terry then.
• Ernie definitely cannot see Grundy properly out of that window, enough to see that he's gotten older, etc.
• I could give that a bit of credit, and all
• Arthur's line to Tel in the hotel room, about his bit of "you know", is perhaps the most memorable from this.
• As a lifelong gamer, enjoyed seeing the Space Invaders Cocktail Table Rula was messing about with. Those are worth a fair bit, today, to be sure.
• Liked it how Billings gave Arthur the sp on the widow, in the Winch. Nice delivery and all, from Maurice Denham.
• Among Max Wall's moments, I did laugh at Ernie, when he first meets Grundy: "Grass...supergrass!" Great stuff.
• Found how Ernie and Grundy mellowed out, going down villainy lane to be somewhat humorous.
• When they all show up at the pet shop, Ernie accuses the husband of stealing his money, and the widow says she's sure he didn't...then a line is heard, something like, "He did, Mrs.", only nobody's lips seem to be moving, meaning this must have been dubbed in later for some reason..weird, is all.
• Ending is fun, in a silly, weird way....and is it me, or does the parrot sound like Dennis Waterman, doing some one of his voices, perhaps
• And lastly, is it not peculiar that primary guest star Max Wall is credited only right at the end, as if to say, "oh yeah, we almost forgot..also, Max Wall as Ernie". Anyone can hazard a guess as to the reason for this?

Nov 30, 2015 22:41:08 GMT gustav said:

Good to see the commendation of Budgie too.

Or should that be common bullfinch, or European Pyrrhula pyrrhula

Apr 10, 2016 19:14:16 GMT pr1 said:

Wonderful and highly entertaining. Max Wall as Ernie Dodds steals the episode. No small task with the brilliant George Cole around. Even by the high standards of Minder this is a top episode. I really enjoyed this episode and it's definetly one of my favorites.

Agreed, pr1

Sept 13, 2018 18:57:44 GMT ace5150 said:

Max Wall stole this episode, George Cole acting drunk and bemoaning he'd lost money wasn't his finest moment.
Ernie releasing the Bird was very poignant as well. Lovely scene from a stand out episode.

True, true and very true.

[daz]

I watched this again last night and a very enjoyable episode and as I said in a far earlier post Max Wall was a standout in this episode, even putting GC to shame. The bird scene was a nice touch and I loved the was Dodds still acted like he was some big time hard man, which I suppose he still thought himself as. Would have been nice if we saw him get his money.

On seeing the Porsche, I don't think you saw too many of them in the early 80s, certainly not in the early 80s.

Said it before, but I don't find Rula Lenska an attractive woman in the slightest, although I am sure she would most certainly say the same of me.

The Hotel they were staying at that is next to where the office of the London Mayor is now?? Nice to see that bit of the Thames before it was gentrified.

[swainy]

No the hotel is on the other side of the water and is still standing today.