The Car Lot Baggars

[kmpowell]

[Des The Mechanic]

main thing recall from this episode is jimmy nail playing a gypsy played it well though

[thomascrown68]

Tried to place his accent sounded Belfast/Geordie/

[Harvest Gold MG]

Isn't it "The Car Lot Baggers"?
I like this one a lot.
Two good guest appearances from June Whitfield,who offers herself to Arthur and Jimmy Nail who the following year would become a household name for his brilliant portrayal of "Oz" in the fantastic "Auf Weidersein Pet".
A good story and typical Minder,Arthur working a couple of scams and Terry looking after the rough end of things.
Once again,Colin Jeavons,plays a slippery,devious character with no back bone,who gets others to do his dirty work.
See,The Sweeney,"The Bigger They Are".

[Des The Mechanic]

[yes its baggers quote="Harvest Gold MG"]Isn't it "The Car Lot Baggers"?[/quote]

[Charlie Quigley]

Isn't it "The Car Lot Baggers"?
I like this one a lot.
Two good guest appearances from June Whitfield,who offers herself to Arthur and Jimmy Nail who the following year would become a household name for his brilliant portrayal of "Oz" in the fantastic "Auf Weidersein Pet".
A good story and typical Minder,Arthur working a couple of scams and Terry looking after the rough end of things.
Once again,Colin Jeavons,plays a slippery,devious character with no back bone,who gets others to do his dirty work.
See,The Sweeney,"The Bigger They Are".

I really like this one too. It's a terrific episode, saw it again last night.

It's a much grittier affair than many of the other episodes that make up series 4. In this sense, it seems more of a throwback to the harder tone of the first two series. This is the only episode that Trevor Preston wrote, and it is a shame he didn't write any more.

Also, it's great to see Terry being a tough minder again, something that gradually seemed to get lost during the later years. In many later episodes, Terry would merely end up being an unwilling accomplice in Arthur's latest schemes, but in this story his role is very clearly defined.

In fact, I'd say this is possibly the last of the truly great Minder stories of the Terry McCann era - there would still be a few very good episodes after this, but rarely would there be anything to match the very high quality of episodes like this.

Appropriately for quite an angry story, the locations seen here are quite desolate and dismal, especially the area surrounding Wally's car lot, all wasteground and high rises.

In this story, Terry picks up a new mate along the way, Nathan the gypsy, nicely played by Jimmy Nail. They seem to be almost kindred spirits of sorts, tough men who mind their own business, but who need to see that justice is always done. Terry is quick to sense that the gypsies are innocent of the attacks on Wally's lot, while Arthur's attitude is more reflective of the prejudices of the man in the street.

Colin Jeavons plays another his snivelling villains, and he's typically very good. In fact, the whole cast is great in this one.

There's a great line near the beginning when Terry is forced to pay what seems to be an extortionate amount for the taxi ride to Arthur's. 'You lot must be falling off your wallets!' he moans to the cabbie. I must remember that one!


5/5.


Cheers,


CQ.

[Harvest Gold MG]

I agree CQ,this is about the last of Terry's episodes where he is convincing as "muscle for hire".
Minder was written initially for Dennis Waterman,purely to keep him from going to the BBC after The Sweeney but George Coles fantastic portrayal of Arthur stole the limelight.
Once this was realised by the programmes producers,possibly mid series 3,combined with the enforced "toning down" of violence and language content of television programmes,Terry's original role was redundant and he had now become,as you say,"merely an unwilling accomplice".
Also,Wally's premises looks more like a scrapyard than a car lot,in fact all the locations used are quite uninspiring and unimaginative.
Chisolm's latin quote,aimed at Terry, is impressive.
A privileged upbringing perhaps?
The Cabbie at the beginning of the episode is played,i think,by none other than "nasty Nick Cotton",though i may be mistaken.

[steve99]

Good 'turns' in this one from posh bloke specialist James Faulkner, Jimmy Nail (who looks big and tough enough to take on about 6 guys), and June Whitfield, who Terry thinks is after Arthur's "little cherry".

His one-off attempt at seduction in Monday Night Fever aside, Arthur's never comfortable when women make a play for him - he's as anxious to give June the brush-off in 'Baggers' as he was with Wanda Ventham in Dream House, when he bolted out the back door after spotting that the bedroom had been prepared for a night of passion. If only 'er indoors knew how well-behaved he was...

According to usimdb.com, the guy who played Wally, Harry Scott, passed away in 1983, but this would appear to be an error. On the Web page http://www.performingartistes.co.uk/art ... -scott.htm , this certainly looks like Harry. He's still active, on the after-dinner speaker circuit.

Harry had some good lines in 'Baggers' - "if he was an undertaker, people would stop dying", "sharp as a sh!thouse rat", "the only time the magistrate smiled was when I asked for time to pay".

[Macfarland]

Nice find Steve, looks like Harry Scott did a bit as a second hand car dealer in real life as well.

I always found him a decent character and a likeable cockney.

[steve99]

CQ mentioned Terry's remark to the taxi driver and Tel does this in at least one other episode, If Money Be the Food of Love. It sounds like some of the writers on the show felt short-changed by London cabbies...

Wally comes out with a charming expression when he says the deal with the undertaker would be like lifting pennies off a dead man's eyes. I like Arthur's comment when he pulls up at Mr De'ath's premises and says the name is as "bad as a fishmonger being called 'addock".

Arthur again shows his squeamishness when anything crops up which questions his mortality when he only agrees to test drive the hearse under duress. Incidentally, has anyone else on the forum been sacked by an undertaker? Albeit when they were laughing whilst driving the hearse? Couldn't resist putting that one in.

Anyone would think June Whitfield's character was a man-eater the way she tells blokes they closely resemble her late husband despite her targets looking nothing like each other.

That posh bloke had a nerve bringing his car back just 'cos there was grass growing out of the bodywork. Is the old cream and green coloured car you see in the background in this scene the one Arthur sold to Dee in If Money Be the Food of Love?

I bought this episode as part of a video box set a few years back, and on the tape The Car Lot Baggers follows Sorry Pal, Wrong Number. These episodes must have been filmed some time apart as it looks like summer on Sorry Pal and more like late autumn/winter in the The Car Lot Baggers.

[do wot]

watching this today and when Tel goes to the yard to speak to the owner of the "white camaro with primer on the door" he shouts over to one of the workers "oi teaboy!!!" and who walks over to him...............Reg Hollis from the Bill

[Harvest Gold MG]

A piece of useless info,Reg Hollis was a long term partner of Joan Collins' daughter.
Can't really imagine 'Reg' mixing in at Hollywood bashes etc.