Minder Remake

[The Legendary Shark]

Channel Five have remade Minder.

I doubt that there's ever been a more inauspicious sentence than that in the history of television. Channel Five, that shadowy purveyor of CSI Omnipresent, gangsters relieving each other of their kneecaps, fuzzy reception and documentaries about people with horrendous things wrong with them has had a stab at reinventing one of the best loved comedy-drama programmes ever to be seen in the UK. I just knew it was going to be beyond rubbish. It was going to be toxic, unrecyclable rubbish that would poison the airwaves for centuries and quite possibly cause aliens watching on Zeta Reticuli to finally unleash their death rays and mutant zombie cyborg stormtroopers on us once and for all in the interests of galactic sanity. Removing any heavy objects from within easy reach in case I got so miffed as to throw things at my beloved telly, I tuned in and watched it expecting to be in a state of apoplexy from roll to cut.

Imagine my surprise when I actually enjoyed it. Imagine my confusion when I found myself laughing out loud at the[spoiler]"...might as well be haunted"[/spoiler] line, Archie pretending to be [spoiler]a ghost[/spoiler] and the microwaving of [spoiler]two unfortunate cockroaches.[/spoiler]

It was never going to be as good as the original, but it's not a hundred miles away and I for one am looking forward to the next episode. I can't be alone in this... can I? I can't remember being so pleasantly surprised by anything for a long time and it's taught me to be less judgemental and condescending about certain sentences that would otherwise chill me to the bone. In honour of this lesson, I have decided to make the following my sentence of the month:

Channel Five have remade Minder.

[Roger Godpleton]

I wish Five* would show semi-censored soft porn again.



*They're just called Five now.

[House of Usher]

Remaking Minder. Ugh! As if it were not bad enough they had to make Minder the first time around.

[satchmo]

They should have a Shane Ritchie night and show his neglected masterpiece Shoreditch...

[Tiplodocus]

"I wish Five* would show semi-censored soft porn again."

Aaah, Shannon Tweed... such sweet memories...

[Buttonman]

I watched about half of the first episode but couldn't get beyond my general dislike of Shane Ritchie and the terrible acting.

I did watch an old Minder on G.O.L.D. the other day and it is still great stuff, awash with cracking characters and funny dialogue. You've got Chisholm, Dave at the Winchester, Debbie (Terry's stripper squeeze) Taff, Rycott and a villain of the week. Some of the terminology was a bit suspect however; and they'd never get away with calling a gentleman of colour a 'lucozade' these days. Not that they were nasty with it, Guv.

[Mardroid]

I've yet to see it.

I think it's a good thing that it's more a continuation with different characters than a remake though. Lets the original stand (not that it wouldn't anyway, but I'm sure you know what I mean.)

[Daveycandlish]

I must admit admit I tuned in expecting to cover the TV in spittle from my apoplexy, but found myself rather enjoying it. It's a different beast to the original which is just as well, as no-one could really replace George Cole. Certainly worth a look though (probably helps me that I haven't seen Shane Richie in anything else - last episode of Eastenders I watched, Reg Cox died).

Oh, and Shannon Tweed? Hubba hubba!!

[Noisybast]

Some of the terminology was a bit suspect however; and they'd never get away with calling a gentleman of colour a 'lucozade' these days.

Er, I don't get it. Lucozade?

[Buttonman]

Not that I condone such a term...

Lucozade at the Urban Dictionary