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Post by jno on Feb 17, 2015 16:36:52 GMT
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Post by daz on Jan 5, 2016 8:12:00 GMT
I watched this last night and had to admit to thoroughly enjoying it. Racing pigeons is not something you would have expected Arthur to be involved in, but he was and I found it to be a very good episode. The part when him and Ray were at Bradford station trying to capture a pigeon was brilliant. Some very good lines in the episode also.
The good thing about Minder is how it likes to stereotype Northerners, the Irish, Welsh, Scots, etc, etc. Don't think you would get away with half of it now without a complaint being made.
I think it benefitted from not having Morley in the episode.
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Post by jno on Jan 5, 2016 20:09:52 GMT
The club 'Mackintoshs' where Ray takes Donna in this - watch closely and you'll see it's the same place as The Penge Sporting Man's Club in 7.2 'Days Of Fines & Closures'. All filmed at the Middlesex & Herts Country Club.  |
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Post by daytona355 on Feb 24, 2016 0:37:51 GMT
Ah, nostalgic, what a throwback... nicks Ray's bird and gets away with it, lucky devil. Blondie was very fit too, poor old Ray got played, always the bridesmaid!
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Post by jno on Feb 24, 2016 4:51:38 GMT
Ah, nostalgic, what a throwback... Nicks Ray's bird and gets away with it, lucky devil. Blondie was very fit too, poor old ray got played, always the bridesmaid! Yes, a particularly attractive addition to this one. I like Nostalgic, top character and shame we didn't see more of him. He was scripted to appear in another episode too, mentioned elsewhere on the forum. Also don't forget an article and feature on Nick Day as DS Morley in this one, which you can read on this thread: minder.proboards.com/thread/566/ds-morley-unknown-truth |
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alf
One Of Your Own
The World is your Lobster!
Posts: 161 
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Post by alf on Jul 17, 2017 12:58:32 GMT
Eh up another cracking episode.Fancy a few of the Adlibs left in on this one.
Ray "Where a I going?"
Arthur "This is no time for philosophy,Ray.Off you go."
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Post by pr1 on Nov 4, 2018 20:42:52 GMT
I like the part when Arthur is using the wipe board and has a long list of things that need to be down under Ray's name and all he has listed for himself is getting a haircut.  Racing pigeons was certainly a different idea for a story. |
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Post by jno on Jul 27, 2019 5:53:46 GMT
Press photo:   |
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Post by winchesterclub on Mar 27, 2020 17:02:56 GMT
Re watched today, Strong episode for me with a good supporting cast, did Arthur And Ray ad-lib the set piece when they were trying to catch the Pigeon at the railway station and Arthur get"s his finger caught in the whicker basket door ??
As said before Nostalgic would of been a good return player , Billy from Bradford always worked well in the episodes best lines for me
"What music is that Ray
'Rap"
"Your right about that" says Arthur
And Dorren talking about Donna
" Up north full of diamond hunters in high heeled clogs"
Talking of Donna "Gabrielle Cowburn" another actress who hasn"t seem to have done anything since the early 2000"s… jno can you shed any light ?
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Post by jno on Mar 27, 2020 18:43:50 GMT
Gabrielle Cowburn - sadly not, all I have seen is her IMDb credits and she was in a lot up until 2002. She has either disappeared off the face of the earth or maybe just got married and has a different name. I'm sure news of her will pop up somewhere at some point. She is in this with Patrick Malahide, which is worth a watch: minder.proboards.com/thread/2053/patrick-malahide-blackheath-poisonings-1992 |
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Post by McCann on May 23, 2020 22:31:30 GMT
Going through the Ray years for about the third time.
This one is 4/5 for me. It was much better than I remember on previous viewings. Although Arthur is such an idiot the way he decides to deal with the birds himself without listening to a word of advice from Ray or Donna.
Will have to try and identify that old motor with the running boards that Nostalgic is driving. That club with the swing music is a novel idea. A break from the norm, it would be a cool night out once in a while. This one also gives us the sight of Arthur Daley running around an early 90s nightclub.
Possibly a bit of an underrated episode overall.
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blanco
Car Lot Browser
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Post by blanco on May 26, 2020 9:14:45 GMT
Going through the Ray years for about the third time. This one is 4/5 for me. It was much better than I remember on previous viewings. Although Arthur is such an idiot the way he decides to deal with the birds himself without listening to a word of advice from Ray or Donna. Will have to try and identify that old motor with the running boards that Nostalgic is driving. That club with the swing music is a novel idea. A break from the norm, it would be a cool night out once in a while. This one also gives us the sight of Arthur Daley running around an early 90s nightclub. Possibly a bit of an underrated episode overall. I agree I think the pigeons put a lot of people off as you don't associate Daley with them |
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Post by coyote on May 26, 2020 23:13:25 GMT
I'm not a big fan of the Ray era generally but I cautiously welcomed Minder's return at the time and some episodes are more watchable than others.
This, however, comes into the category of "others". I remember thinking at the time how bad it was and how it represents the north and its population extremely poorly and stereotypically, and having seen it on ITV4 the other day I have not changed my view. I grew up in a traditional, narrow-minded, insular northern town in the 1980s, and tbh if I never go back there ever again it will be too soon. However, portraying the natives as whippet-owning, flat-cap pigeon fanciers so they could be laughed at seemed like scraping the barrel a bit to me. Mean, chauvinistic, violent, arrogant, proud of their county for no good reason yes, stuck in the 1940s and 'ey oop' stereotypes no.
Probably goes without saying I am one of the two current votes for 'poor'
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Post by heredia1 on Sept 2, 2020 12:42:33 GMT
This is my first post since the Terry years. So far to be honest none of the 7 episodes to date have done it for me. While I was laughing hysterically in many episodes series 1-7 I only find Minder mildly amusing so far thru 8. I don't rate Gary Webster at all as an actor, he has no comic timing and little charisma. DW was the complete opposite. So far series 8 also doesn't seem to have any of the hilarious characters that appear regularly in episodes 1-7. I remember losing interest in Minder at the time after watching a couple of episodes of series 8. I will soldier on thru the rest to the end of course, mainly cos I love GC so much and also I hear it does get better.
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Post by swainy on Sept 2, 2020 16:39:13 GMT
At least make it up until The Coach That Came In From The Cold, that’s easily my favourite episode from series 8.
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Post by ramone on Sept 11, 2020 8:03:10 GMT
Just watched this after recording it yesterday and really enjoyed the comedy in it. Some lines already quoted by others and Arthur being thrown out of the jazz club looking affronted when the manager says “you coming here in your 1940’s clothes”.
And agree, the blonde was a very tidy addition!
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Post by bigaitch on May 7, 2021 11:26:37 GMT
Another very good episode. The scenes with Arthur and Ray trying to catch a pigeon on the railway station was classic as was the concept of having to get one from Bradford as opposed to Trafalgar Square.
The comment about Arthur’s clothes, and his reaction to being thrown out were very funny. I totally agree regarding Donna, a decent addition to the episode . Gabrielle Cowburn appears to have slipped from the radar in recent years.
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Post by ltd on May 21, 2021 11:08:42 GMT
That club with the swing music is a novel idea. A break from the norm, it would be a cool night out once in a while. I always thought the club was a bit like something from Terry Gilliam's "Brazil". I wonder if there was/is a sub-culture of people into that sort of thing. There's re-enactors/living history buffs for sure but do you actually get people doing it as a regular night out? |
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615
One Of Your Own
Posts: 121
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Post by 615 on Jul 15, 2021 22:01:36 GMT
Hooray for some of the last few posts. The stereotypical comic Northerners, the let's laugh at pigeon racing mindset and Ray going totally out of character so that Arthur could run about like a headless chicken (or pigeon). I'm sorry but it doesn't work for me. Duggie Brown was just lost and looked almost embarrassed to be there. Why oh why did George Costigan play it so far over the top that he could have been up there with the pigeons. After all he is northern( although he was brought up on the correct side of the Pennines, so he may have seen himself doing Missionary work in Yorkshire) but he came over as someone doing a bad impression. On the plus side, nice to see Willie Ross not playing a role where he's p##sed out of his mind, and Arthur's business with the jobs on the board was good. And it's not quite as annoying as Waiting For Goddard. I'm sorry but a turkey like this makes the good episodes great
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615
One Of Your Own
Posts: 121
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Post by 615 on Aug 16, 2022 19:17:02 GMT
Sorry to reply to my own post, but while I still think the episode is weak, I hope that in no way could this be seen as a criticism of Duggie Brown, who I cheered all the way through his career. RIP Duggie, you were a wonderful comedian and actor from the days when that meant something.
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Post by jno on Aug 17, 2022 5:06:35 GMT
Sorry to reply to my own post, but while I still think the episode is weak, I hope that in no way could this be seen as a criticism of Duggie Brown, who I cheered all the way through his career. RIP Duggie, you were a wonderful comedian and actor from the days when that meant something. Agreed, I was surprised when I saw him in this one the first time around. I never saw this episode as a dig at northerners, as the second part is all back in London anyway. If there's any mocking here, it's very discreet I'd say and certainly no worse than what Taff gets off Terry and Chisholm now and again or what the Scots get. I really don't mind this one but it's early days with Ray and as I've mentioned on here a few times on here, bar a few episodes I think series 8 is the weakest of the Ray series as the scripts need tweaking for the family element. |
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Post by steve99 on Aug 28, 2022 15:55:29 GMT
That club with the swing music is a novel idea. A break from the norm, it would be a cool night out once in a while. I always thought the club was a bit like something from Terry Gilliam's "Brazil". I wonder if there was/is a sub-culture of people into that sort of thing. There's re-enactors/living history buffs for sure but do you actually get people doing it as a regular night out? I recall seeing a young couple on a BBC magazine show (in the late 90s I think) who live full-time sporting 1940s clothes and hairstyles and I think their house was of that period as well. What made me laugh is that there were some oldsters in the audience grouching about how the couple certainly wouldn't want to have lived in the 40s for real with rationing, etc. I'm sure it wasn't that pleasant for working class people then but what harm were the couple doing FFS. The hostility was completely over the top for something so trivial. Did a quick search and I assume it was this couple: www.BBC.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-south-yorkshire-50693868 Watched this one again and the oop north stuff wasn't as bad as I'd remembered although George Costigan should've toned it down (or the director should've advised him to rein in the flat 'at malarkey). It's not often you see Arthur fork out for a decent meal but it was all in a good cause in trying to flog the braces.  As with National Pelmet, scenes on a real train were featured and you're reminded of the cringey sequences in other shows where unconvincing 'scenery' distracts you from what the actors are saying. Tough luck for Ray in not getting together with Donna but I don't think either would have settled in the other's manor. |
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manta
On Wages
What’s French for en-suite?
Posts: 73
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Post by manta on May 5, 2023 9:26:06 GMT
I go with the flow here and give this a Good. Arthur is in fine form, selling braces as the alternative to the Old School Tie - what a scream. And those dusty records he finds as the intro to Nostalgic - where did he get those from! Including Churchill's funeral March! The catching pigeons scene is great - Royal Mail indeed. And the lady of the night approaching Arthur at Kings Cross - no words needed - just the expressions on Arthur's face. But did they miss a trick - couldn't we have had a scene of Arthur trying to negotiate the train ticket prices - child's price for Ray or something - "very tall for his age"?
Underpinning the episode is Arthur's relationship with Ray - whether it be the list of who does what - so haircut for Arthur, everything else for Ray - but more significantly of course, Arthur nixing Ray's chances with Donna. Very different from how it would have gone with Terry - Arthur might have been peeved, but no way would he have been able to simply engineer someone else to step in to pull the lady in question - Terry was too well connected on the manor so would have twigged and having twigged would have belted Arthur. And we see the adulation for Arthur from Billy as opposed to the realism from Dave - the double-edged "Arthur's reliability is legendary" and when Arthur is trying to make out he was doing what was best for Ray and "besides, it's family", Dave's face is truly sour - very well played. A bit of a different episode with no plod so good to see a different strand.
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Post by hollandpark on Jul 5, 2023 19:14:00 GMT
I liked this one, I am watching season 8 for the first time and was nice to see a bit of North/South comparison, not seen to many episodes with that apart from the few times Scottish Characters have appeared like Jock who bought Arthur's Japanese House of Commons Whiskey or the Episode with the England V Scotland football tickets ( Filmed at Brentford FC I think)
For a while I thought season 8 might become like confessions of a window cleaner with Ray getting his leg over in each episode , I get the feeling Terry wasnt short of success with the ladies but was always willing to help an old female friend in distress in a chivalrous way. But Ray seems to be a lot more red blooded , But so was I in 1991 !!
I rated it a 4
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Post by ontheslate on Jul 6, 2023 6:16:58 GMT
I don’t know how I feel about this episode, the over the top northern stuff went a bit far, but it was good to see some of the actors that were well known faces if not names. The pigeon racing I don’t know if it works or not couldn’t see Arthur having anything to do with such a working class pursuit, Arthur sabotaging Ray’s relationship with Donna just seems out of place and a bit nasty for Arthur to do, saying all that the episode is still watchable and would rate it probably a little below average.
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Post by AlanH on Mar 22, 2024 22:56:25 GMT
A good episode which goes further afield than the manor and features birds of a different feather to your standard Minder episode. Enjoyable though I did think that Arthur's scheme to pick up a replacement pigeon in Bradford was hairbrained even for him. And surely he'd have realised that if the missing pigeon was free it would fly home anyway... Also, the way in which Arthur engineers the failure of Ray's burgeoning relationship with Donna is very underhand and manipulative, something that clearly upsets Dave who sees right through Arthur's scheming.
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