Review of Minder: Series 5 Part 2 Of 3

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 nine episodes from Series 5:

"The Second Time Around" in which Terry has to look after a romantic writer who has a liking for booze.

"Second Hand Pose" in Terry looks for employment elsewhere when Arthur leaves him in the cold.

"The Long Ride Back to Scratchwood" in which Arthur gets his hands on some dodgy tickets for the big match.

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.

Fans of classic British cars will be pleased to see Capris, Cortinas, Jaguars etc being used throughout the episodes.

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, despite being set at quite a low level.

Features

The extras consist of a textual series five guide, which isn`t very exciting.

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 three discs with an suggested retail price of £15.99 , a total of just under £48 for the series isn`t particularly good value for money - I`d like to more episodes per volume.

The video and sound are both average for a TV series, but the extras are minimal to say the least - but these problems don`t detract from the enjoyment of the programs.