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Post by jno on Feb 16, 2015 9:45:54 GMT
Link to episode on minder.org: www.minder.org/episodeguide/S01E01_GunfightAtTheOKLaundrette.htm
I was in Tisbury Court in Soho last summer, where the New Rockingham Club features at the start of this episode, both in this episode and 3.3 "Rembrandt Doesn't Live Here Anymore" - it is much narrower than it seems in this episode. The club is still there but all boarded up when I walked past.
Despite it being a dodgy location where I was offered to go in next door while there, there is something very cool about this location as it is essentially the very first one in Minder ever.
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Post by Mr. Chisholm on Feb 22, 2015 11:58:20 GMT
Oh right what was you doing in Tisbury Court in Soho, wink wink. Lol
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Post by jno on Feb 22, 2015 12:12:04 GMT
If I said I was just taking pictures that makes it sound even worse
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Post by jno on Feb 27, 2015 10:33:52 GMT
Another little minor blooper in this one - around 4 minutes in look closely at the windows behind Arthur and Alfie as they walk to the car following the church - you can clearly see a large groups of onlookers watching filming taking place in the relection of the windows.
As well as Dave's calendar evidence of filming date from the newspaper, dated May 30th in this one. The second picture shows the crowd opposite.
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brianh
Car Lot Browser
Posts: 29
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Post by brianh on May 5, 2015 3:48:16 GMT
When ‘Gunfight at the OK Laundrette’ went out as a repeat the week after series 10 ended, it was reported that needed it three major edits to comply with current censorship requirements. One was a close up shot of a stripper’s breast, one was Arthur’s reference to ‘dopey spades’, and one was a blasphemous expression. The first two are easy to spot by their absence☹. But does anyone know what the blasphemy was?
brianh
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Post by jno on May 5, 2015 8:54:12 GMT
When ‘Gunfight at the OK Laundrette’ went out as a repeat the week after series 10 ended, it was reported that needed it three major edits to comply with current censorship requirements. One was a close up shot of a stripper’s breast, one was Arthur’s reference to ‘dopey spades’, and one was a blasphemous expression. The first two are easy to spot by their absence☹. But does anyone know what the blasphemy was? brianh That is a tough question ... can only suggest something at the church to begin with, perhaps Stretch mentioning "Our spiritual leader, the late Haile Selassie" causing some offence or possibly Terry saying "It's like an Egyptian Brothel down here", not sure where these lie in the blasphemy scale though.
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Post by jno on Jun 12, 2015 9:30:39 GMT
Here is a little article from the Sunday Express 14th October 1979 with a mention of the ITV strike.
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Post by jno on Jun 22, 2015 18:52:27 GMT
Another little article from The Daily Express, this time on the day the episode was first broadcast 29th October 1979. Not quite sure where the photo was taken but Arthur is in his wedding gear.
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Post by Arch Stanton on Jun 29, 2015 11:55:24 GMT
Carrying on from my episode reviews in production order, next up is....
Gunfight at the OK Laundrette
Businessman Arthur, loans out his personal minder, Terry, to an old friend. The friend in question needing someone to watch his back ~ his other security seemingly all at a family wedding ~ while he collects the takings from his series of laundrettes. Everything is going well until some desperate young men burst onto the scene with a shotgun, their aim to grab the bag of takings. Unfortunately though Terry's quick thinking in doing what he's paid to do - in attempting to stop the would be robbers, using his hand to hand expertise - results in disaster when the barrel of a shotgun goes off and people end up being taken hostage.
Soon the police have cordoned off the area and are beginning negotiations... or not, with an ever growing public and press presence wanting to know what's going on. Terry it would seem the man stuck in the middle of a police force and a trio of armed thieves that are just as unreasonable as one another. Meanwhile Arthur is left on the outside, starting his own negotiations with the Sunday Mirror, urgently trying to find a way of making money from the increasingly fraught situation before it's resolved..
This is a decent enough episode, which is once again helmed by Peter 'Hands of the Ripper' Sasdy. The action although slightly better directed this time around, is maybe lacking in a little tension, which is possibly caused by some of the 'Grange Hill standard' turns coming from Cosmo and Winston. Stretch (Trevor Thomas) on the other hand, doing a pretty reasonable job of conveying a desperate man. Although the tale is one of moral home truths, mostly delivered by Terry to the members of the 'Independent Rastafarian Army' (I.R.A. ~ brought a chuckle!), helped along by some poignant incidental music (along with the sight of Terry's girlfriend propped up, asleep on the bin) and in your face claustrophobic moments; it is without doubt, made by George Cole, who runs away with every scene he's in, with his comedy lines, delivery and timing.
Interesting to note, that where in the previous episode (The Bounty Hunter) we had Tony Steedman, in this we get Donald Burton, both of whom starred in the Granada production of Big Breadwinner Hog (amongst countless others no doubt). Also worthy of mention, being that this is the first episode (2nd filmed) to feature both Dave (the bar man) and Chisholm.
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Post by jno on Jul 22, 2015 20:47:21 GMT
Anorak factoid I found out recently - the June 1985 edition of 'Film Review' has a Minder video review in it which is a release of this episode. This must have been one of the first Minder home video releases which I assume was this one:
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Post by KarinB on Jul 25, 2015 12:59:43 GMT
I watched 'Gunfight at the O.K Laundrette' for the first time. It was interesting to view this first episode knowing what I knew of later episodes. I was interested to see what sort of first impression Terry and Arthur made. Arthur is seen at a church wedding whereas Terry stands as minder at a strip club. It seems like a scene often repeated later as Arthur likes to be amongst the right society and Terry does the dirty work. LOL I like the first scene we see between Terry and Arthur when Arthur looks shocked at the idea of playing pool for money and offers to get Terry a drink instead. Of course when he reaches the bar the promise of Terry's drink is well forgotten. An often repeated scene in other episodes. It is a well known plot with hostages held at gunpoint, admittedly it is usually in a bank rather than a laundrette, but that seemed to indicate the sort of situations familiar yet unique to Terry and Arthur in future episodes. Arthur's ingenuity to earn money by inventing the girl's relationship with Terry shows his business wiles and craftiness. Terry reveals his own shady past when talking to the disorganised hostage takers showing he has a better understanding of the police from his criminal background. I thought it was a good establishing episode because the characters seemed already very evolved in their portrayal. I don't think it would make my top ten list of favourite episodes but I can see that it would have been strong enough for people to watch the next week. (Well obviously they did...or we wouldn't be on a forum dedicated to the shows !)
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Post by garytomo on Sept 5, 2015 23:17:59 GMT
Got my Minder DVDs out the loft tonight and decided to watch this episode, purely because George Cole had passed away recently. I wanted to see how it started and how Terry and Arthur evolved. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and yes it was gritty, but the foundations were set. Terry came across as the loveable rogue, encapsulated when even though ending the siege the police still treated him like a convict, prompting the old lady hostage to shout 'he stopped this!' Chisholm had it in for Terry from the off. And Mr. Daley, though no cowardly acts were shown you grabbed what he was about. Out to make a fast buck no matter what the circumstances, with the comedy element thrown in. Brilliant absolutely brilliant.
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Post by yoyopickles on Sept 6, 2015 11:27:18 GMT
When I saw this on the big screen at the BFT back in 2010, it was the edited version that they screened.
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Post by mybodyguard on Sept 14, 2015 2:38:10 GMT
When ‘Gunfight at the OK Laundrette’ went out as a repeat the week after series 10 ended, it was reported that needed it three major edits to comply with current censorship requirements. One was a close up shot of a stripper’s breast, one was Arthur’s reference to ‘dopey spades’, and one was a blasphemous expression. The first two are easy to spot by their absence☹. But does anyone know what the blasphemy was? brianh Does the uncensored version appear on any of the DVD releases?
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Post by jno on Sept 14, 2015 3:21:40 GMT
I believe all DVD releases of the episode are unedited and original. Only the Australian Umbrella releases have the ad-caps/bumpers though i.e. 'End Of Part One' etc.
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Post by garytomo on Sept 16, 2015 9:43:40 GMT
I believe all DVD releases of the episode are unedited and original. Only the Australian Umbrella releases have the ad-caps/bumpers though i.e. 'End Of Part One' etc. DVD must be unedited because there was few politically incorrect lines still in there.
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Post by pr1 on Feb 16, 2016 12:59:37 GMT
When I first learned about Minder the title of this episode convinced me it was worth seeking the series out. It took a number of years but finally last week I was properly introduced to the likes of Arthur and Terry. It was definetly worth the wait. I enjoyed it a great deal. I had the theme tune stuck in my head for quite awhile after words but it was ok because I like it.
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Post by barrythebook on Feb 16, 2016 21:31:42 GMT
Glad you're enjoying the series pr1, sounds like you're hooked.
There's plenty of golden moments to come and lots of excellent acting to enjoy.
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Post by pr1 on Feb 17, 2016 2:09:30 GMT
I'm definetly hooked! Earlier today I ordered the DVDs of Seasons 3-5.
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Post by jno on Feb 17, 2016 4:36:11 GMT
I'm definetly hooked! Earlier today I ordered the DVDs of Seasons 3-5. Love it! Winner of the least amount of work ever in order to get a credit in a Minder episode goes to this actor: David Killick for the part of DC Harney in this episode. No lines and all of 1 second of screen time gets him his name in the credits at the end. Incredible. David Killick: www.imdb.com/name/nm0453193/?ref_=tt_cl_t13
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Post by pr1 on Feb 17, 2016 5:12:36 GMT
Cheers mate!
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Post by jno on Jul 1, 2016 13:09:34 GMT
When ‘Gunfight at the OK Laundrette’ went out as a repeat the week after series 10 ended, it was reported that needed it three major edits to comply with current censorship requirements. One was a close up shot of a stripper’s breast, one was Arthur’s reference to ‘dopey spades’, and one was a blasphemous expression. The first two are easy to spot by their absence☹. But does anyone know what the blasphemy was? brianh I think this might answer this question, as seen in The Daily Express on March 18th 1994:
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Post by Zimbo on Jul 1, 2016 13:40:07 GMT
UK Gold started showing Minder in August 1994. They showed Gunfight... and BMHAWG on the same night. I'm not sure if their version was edited. It's a great episode, though we get little of Terry and Arthur together. Trevor Thomas is unrecognisable from his role in The Professionals Klansman.
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brianh
Car Lot Browser
Posts: 29
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Post by brianh on Jul 7, 2016 4:20:37 GMT
Thanks for this, jno. It's been troubling me for years. I've got the Clearvision DVD of this episode, which is not edited. Had another look last night. As Trevor Thomas's character enters the launderette he pulls out his gun and yells, "Don't nobody move." The elderly customer screams and above the general confusion the gunman says to the young boy in the gang, "Jesus, man, don't just stand there!" Clever of the censor to pick this up. I've watched the episode many times and it never occurred to me that that was the so-called 'blasphemous expression'.
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Post by plasticpenguin on Aug 30, 2016 4:03:21 GMT
Watched this episode on ITV4 for the first time in years. I'd forgotten how relatively dark it was compared to later episodes. I like it: It was more of Terry as opposed to later offerings when Arthur took the limelight.
I appreciate it may not be the greatest episode of all time but IMHO it's the essence of a programme title: 'Minder'.
7.5/10
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Post by yoyopickles on Jan 13, 2017 18:18:44 GMT
I noticed that Terry refers to the winchester as "Dave's"
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Post by barrythebook on Jan 16, 2017 21:28:28 GMT
I noticed that Terry refers to the winchester as "Dave's" In some of the earlier episodes, i get the feeling that The Winchester is one of many drinkers that Arthur and Terry frequent rather than their daily user and that Dave is an acquaintance rather than a friend. For example,in 'The Smaller They Are',the interaction between Dave and Arthur whilst changing the money appears to be businesslike and regimental rather than a favour between mates.
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Post by yoyopickles on Jan 17, 2017 6:45:59 GMT
I noticed that Terry refers to the winchester as "Dave's" In some of the earlier episodes, i get the feeling that The Winchester is one of many drinkers that Arthur and Terry frequent rather than their daily user and that Dave is an acquaintance rather than a friend. For example,in 'The Smaller They Are',the interaction between Dave and Arthur whilst changing the money appears to be businesslike and regimental rather than a favour between mates. I totally agree Barry, you do see Arthur and Terry in quite a few boozers on the manor, until they started closing down, I used to frequent quite a few where I live, I had one I referred to as "my local* but at the same time I was on first name terms with the staff on others. As recently as three years ago, we had four pubs in five minutes walking distance, we are down to two now
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Post by pr1 on Jan 17, 2017 7:12:01 GMT
I noticed that Terry refers to the winchester as "Dave's" Those kind of details are interesting when you watch a long running show again and compare the begining to the end. Lots of shows, regardless of genre, have examples like this. I noticed that in the early episodes it's slightly implied that Arthur cheats on 'Er indoors' but later episodes contradict that.
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Post by barrythebook on Jan 18, 2017 21:08:35 GMT
You're right pr but would this be the programme settling down/finding it's way etc or maybe different writers having different ideas about Arthurs outlook on life?
As the series' progressed, possibly the writers were given guidelines as to what Arthur and Terry could and couldnt get up to.
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