Review of Minder: Series 4 Part 1 Of 4

Introduction

Minder, a true classic British TV series. Starting in 1979 and running for 15 years, the series made Arthur Daley, Terry McCann and Sergeant Chisholm household names, and even gave Dennis Waterman a top ten hit with "I Could Be So Good For You".

This disc contains the first three of the twelve episodes from Series 4:

Rocky Eight and a Half in which Arthur cons Terry into appearing in an unlicensed boxing match.

Senior Citizen Caine in which Arthur arranges for Terry to protect a recently widowed garage owner from his money hungry relatives.

High Drains Pilferer in which a crime boss blames Terry, who had been hired as his driver, for the disappearance of his jewels.

Video

The video comes in 4:3 full-frame and is of average quality, although quite good given the age and TV origins of the series. The image is a little dull, and slightly grainy, but is relatively free from dirt. The picture isn`t especially detailed, and some longer shots look slightly out of focus.

Visually, Minder features numerous locations around London as Arthur and Terry et al go about their business and avoid the long arm of the law - and the use of locations helps to keep the series looking authentic years after it was originally broadcast.

Audio

The soundtrack is presented in Dolby Digital Mono, and adequately reproduces the soundtrack, which as you might expect for an old television series is rather unexciting.

Aside from the classic "I Could Be So Good For You" theme song, the soundtrack is primarily focussed on the dialogue, which is clear and understandable.

Features

The extras consist of trailers for the next volume and cast & crew commentaries. The latter is surely a case for trading standards, as to me it clearly suggests that the disc contains commentaries which it does not - this extra is in fact several screens of text and more of a printed interview.

The menus are well presented and easy to navigate.

The disc is packaged in a clear Amaray case, which contains details of other classic series available.

Conclusion

Minder is regarded as a classic series and rightly so - George Cole and Dennis Waterman are quite superb as Arthur and Terry - two brilliant actors in their defining roles - who`s on screen relationship makes the series a winner.

As entertaining as the three episodes on this disc are, I must say that split over four discs with an suggested retail price of £15.99 , a total of just under £64 for the series isn`t particularly good value for money - I`d like to see six episodes per volume instead.

The video and sound are both average for a TV series, but neither detract from the enjoyment of the programs.