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Post by Nick on Nov 24, 2008 15:52:42 GMT
Well it wasn't as bad as we anticipated....shall tune in to the next episode
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Post by sootycat on Nov 25, 2008 16:02:03 GMT
I enjoyed it. I was surprised to see two of ( what I thought were ) the major characters killed off so quickly though.
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Post by pearly queen on Nov 26, 2008 20:42:04 GMT
This was quite good. I know I watched the original way back in the 70s, but I can't remember any of the details to make a comparison.
The only two things that bugged me regarded the casting - Greg just makes me think of the character of Johnson in Peep Show, and Abbey looks like Claire Sweeney's mum!
It seems a decent attempt at showing the breakdown of society after a medical disaster. A few years ago I rented the DVD of 28 Days Later - it was the most depressing film I'd ever seen in my whole life and I don't recommend it. Survivors, hopefully, will be a more positive offering.
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Post by sootycat on Nov 27, 2008 12:32:06 GMT
The trouble is, I can remember the original Greg being blonde ! He was my favourite in it.
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Nov 27, 2008 15:42:02 GMT
Tom Price was one of my faves, despite him turning killer. I didn't like this one.
I know what you mean about Greg. He died of smallpox in the original during series 3 if I remember rightly.
Patsy
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Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2008 5:37:59 GMT
We really enjoyed the second episode - much closer in feel to the original, and the main characters are starting to be 'filled out'. The fact that it has many similarities to the original doesn't matter to us, nor the fact that characters are played by very different actors (mainly in appearance) - we are trying to enjoy it as if it was an original, even tho' we watched a complete re-run of the first series as recently as two years ago. Just to remind you that there is a superlative website out there dedicated to the original, with full episode guides and loads of trivia - well worth visiting. www.survivorstvseries.com/As a postscript, have just found this, for those of you wondering about Jenny's rather short appearance in episode one!! "Adrian Hodges describes the demise of Jenny in episode one Posted by Rich Cross on November 24, 2008
On the Digital Spy web site, show creator Adrian Hodges today explains his decision to ‘kill off’ the character of Jenny (played by Freema Ageyman) in the first episode.
“There’s nothing wrong with the character,” he says, “and there’s certainly nothing wrong with the actress who played her, but I didn’t think she had a dynamic in the group that was particularly interesting. I felt we could give fans of the original a surprise by killing off a major character from the original that they expected to go on in the series, and at the same time create a new character in Anya (Zoe Tapper) that seemed a bit more lively and connected.”Spookily enough, my beloved and I discussed the very same thing - Jenny never was a terribly interesting character in the original, and as this is a much shorter show, it makes sense to cut out the unnecessary. And Anya is already our favourite character in this new version.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2008 5:15:19 GMT
I think this has been improving every week - we really enjoyed Tuesday's.
Overall I think it's been worthwhile - enough nods to the original to make it seem familiar, but with more than enough different slants applied to make it highly watchable in it's own right.
My major gripe has been the use of certain actors (Julie Graham and, to a lesser extent, Max Beesley).
I don't have any complaints about their performances; it's just that they seem to have come from the same stable as people like Michelle Collins, Sarah Lancashire, Ross Kemp, Sarah Parrish etc.
i.e. ''must be used at any cost - it's been at least two months since they last appeared''.
Either they all have supremely good agents, excellent network contracts, or, as I suspect, producers who have no imagination, and just have to play it safe.
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Post by Nick on Dec 13, 2008 11:07:13 GMT
We have given up on it and didn't watch it this week....we just thought it was a bit cliched and predictable
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Post by sootycat on Dec 13, 2008 12:49:08 GMT
I'm still enjoying it and shall stick with it to the end.
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Dec 13, 2008 13:43:41 GMT
I agree about casting, blackcatz. It's ridiculous the SAME people are in everything. Oh for the days when actors were hired for talent rather than because they're a familiar face or name.
Patsy
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Post by pearly queen on Dec 14, 2008 11:19:34 GMT
It's quite good, but I wouldn't be upset if I missed one, it's not the best thing on tv by any means.
I really did want that Peter boy to be Abi's son, and not a different Peter. I felt so sorry for them both when he wasn't her kid.
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Dec 14, 2008 11:35:28 GMT
Wasn't Abi written out in the original because she found Peter or something?
Patsy
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2008 4:22:07 GMT
Great end to the series. Loads of action and drama, and a good few cliff-hangers too!
News is that a second series has been commissioned.
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Post by sootycat on Dec 24, 2008 12:25:03 GMT
With all those loose ends it was good to hear there is a new series planned.
I have really enjoyed this series. I think if you never saw the original, you would enjoy it more. And good to see Peter is still alive. !
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Jan 13, 2009 23:25:00 GMT
From Yahoo News and they keep pushing it on Absolute radio. The theme tune is dreadful:
21st century Minder series launched
7 hours 9 mins ago Press Assoc.
A new, fast-paced 21st century version of the TV classic Minder has been launched, starring Shane Richie as wheeler-dealer Arthur Daley's nephew.
Richie plays Archie Daley, with Royal Shakespeare Company actor Lex Shrapnel taking on the role of his minder, Jamie Cartwright.
The show will be screened on Five, and those behind it emphasised it was not a re-make.
The original ITV show, with a catchy theme tune, starred George Cole as Arthur Daley and Dennis Waterman as Terry McCann back in the 1980s.
The catchy theme tune, sung by the original minder Waterman, has been re-recorded by Glaswegian band Attic Lights. And songs by indie bands Kasabian and Hard-Fi appear against a glossy London backdrop in the first episode of the new series, which was screened at the show's launch in a pub in London's Borough High Street.
Five is comparing the "geezer-chic" look of the series with slick films such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Sexy Beast.
Richie joked: "They mentioned Minder to me a year ago and I thought brilliant, it will be me and George Cole. They said, 'No, you will play the George Cole role,' and suddenly I realised how old I was! I still see myself as a 20-year-old. I was scared of it because they are big shoes to fill."
Richie said he would love the idea of the actors in the original series making cameo appearances, and he recently filmed an episode of BBC One's New Tricks with Waterman.
Richie said the new series had to stand up in its own right first. He said he and Waterman had discussed the new Minder and, "he was more interested in whether they were going to use his song... He genuinely is looking forward to seeing it (the show)... He thought it sounded great."
Guests in the new six-part series, which is due to begin airing next month, include Rik Mayall and Meera Syal.
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Jan 14, 2009 13:32:52 GMT
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Post by pearly queen on Jan 14, 2009 16:05:07 GMT
Bloody Nora. Geezer chic? - those two look more like Boycie and Marlene.
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Jan 14, 2009 17:17:14 GMT
I'm not going to watch. Just the theme makes my hair stand on end.
Patsy
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Jan 14, 2009 19:33:57 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 15, 2009 9:00:55 GMT
Well if that's the case, why all the association with the original? If it's going to be any good at all, they should call it something totally different, and let it stand on it's own.
Already sounds like a dud, if we have to have all this publicity linking it to a real classic.
Bone-idle, unimaginative scheduling ... again.
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Jan 15, 2009 13:34:22 GMT
I was asked last night why they're remaking Reggie Perrin and I said because they've got no ideas. UK TV is sadly going down the American route yet again. Ideas dry up, remake a classic from the past which will undoubtedly be an unmemorable flop and waste of money.
Patsy
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Jan 21, 2009 18:28:29 GMT
Now they're calling it a sequel. Why have the same name then?
Patsy
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Jan 23, 2009 9:15:23 GMT
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Jan 30, 2009 10:00:33 GMT
From the Daily Mail:
Minders at war! As the 80s classic gets a modern remake, Dennis Waterman and new star Shane Richie square up
By Tim Oglethorpe Last updated at 11:38 PM on 29th January 2009
For a TV show in which one of the leading characters is an ex-boxer, it seems only appropriate that there have been a few punches thrown in the build-up to the new version of Minder.
Verbal ones, you understand, but punches all the same.
Dennis Waterman - who played fighter-turned-minder Terry McCann from 1979 to 1989, when the comedy drama was such a huge hit for ITV - emerges from his corner to comment: 'It's a shame that they can't come up with new ideas.
'This new version of Minder may turn out to be wonderful and a big hit with the public, just like it was before. But they've already revived The Sweeney - only they called it Life On Mars - and now they're doing it with Minder.
'Where has the originality gone? I think it's sad when TV has to rely so heavily on remakes. And hasn't the world changed a bit since Arthur and Terry [the lead characters in the original show] were working together?
'I'm told by a director friend of mine that the scripts he's seen for this new version are OK, but how realistic will it be?
'On the streets, these days, there are an awful lot of drugs and guns, and that's how a lot of petty criminals - and that's what Arthur and Terry were - would be making their money, by dealing in those two dangerous commodities. Yet if this new Minder goes down that route, it will inevitably lose some of its charm.'
Seconds out for round two and this time it is Shane Richie, one of the stars of the new, six-part Minder and best known until now as Alfie Moon in EastEnders, on the offensive - with a left hook or two aimed in the direction of Dennis Waterman.
'I guest-starred in a yet-to-be-seen episode of New Tricks, the BBC1 detective drama in which Dennis stars, after we had filmed Minder,' says Shane, 44.
'I reckon I'd only been invited on to the programme so that Dennis could have a go at me for daring to remake Minder. I'd made my mind up not to talk about the show when I was on the set of New Tricks, but - almost inevitably, considering some of the crew had been working on our Minder before they moved on to New Tricks - the subject came up. Minder
Arthur's drinking hole: The characters enjoy a tipple in the Winchester Club. At the start of the new series, the pub is called The Victoria
'Or rather the signature tune came up. Dennis and I were sitting there having a cup of tea and - one by one - the crew around us started singing the Minder signature tune, I Could Be So Good For You. When I joined in, Dennis snapped: "Right, outside, now." We get outside and he says: "So how did it go?" When I said: "How did what go?" he said: "Stop ****ing around, how did Minder go?"
'So I told him all about it. And he told me what he thought about me doing a new version - in no uncertain terms.
'But what Dennis seemed most worried about was whether we were going to be using the signature tune - which he sang in the original. When I told him we were, he just smiled and said "Ker-ching!" - so I imagine he's going to make a bob or two out of our series.
'Good luck to him, and to be fair to Dennis - who I know pretty well through working with his daughter Hannah on EastEnders - I think he'd fallen into the trap that a lot of people have of thinking that we are just recreating Minder, with me playing the Arthur Daley character and somebody else playing Terry McCann
'But this new version is a reinvention of the original, not a recreation.'
'And,' says Shane, winding himself up for a knockout punch, 'it's a lot pacier than the original show. Don't get me wrong, the relationship between Terry and Arthur was wonderful in the original programme, the chemistry between them was perfect and the show was very successful with the public.
'But TV has changed - it's more demanding now. Back then, there were only three channels, so there was less pressure to grab the audience.
'Our version shows TV has moved on and I think the chemistry between my character - Archie Daley - and his minder, Jamie, is just as strong as it was between Arthur and Terry, at least once the characters are established on screen.'
Shane's suggestion that this new Minder is a reinvention rather than a recreation is not wholly borne out by the facts. The similarities between the shows far outweigh the differences.
The drama is still set on the seamier streets of London and the lead character - dodgy dealer Archie Daley, nephew of Arthur - still ducks and dives from the clutches of the law, not to mention his various enemies.
In the first episode, Archie is pursued through London's East End by henchmen of a pair of property developers, and it is only thanks to taxi driver Jamie Cartwright - played by actor Lex Shrapnel, 29, who gradually becomes Archie's minder - that he escapes a beating.
In the original Minder, storylines also revolved around the pursuit of Arthur Daley - by VAT inspectors, police officers and rival businessmen. And he too constantly called on his minder, Terry, for protection.
The similarities don't end there. The infamous Daley lock-up - an Aladdin's cave of everything from dodgy furniture to even dodgier magazines - is still intact and, after a fashion, so too is The Winchester Club, Arthur's drinking hole.
At the start of the new series, the local is a pub called The Victoria. But after an arson attack by property developers eager to buy up the land on which it stands, it takes on a name more familiar to Minder viewers.
Even the proprietor of The Victoria/Winchester has a ring of familiarity - she's Petra Bennett, daughter of Dave Harris, the barman at the original Winchester Club.
Then there's Archie's private life. 'Er Indoors' - Arthur's wife, who we never saw in the original Minder - has been replaced by another fearsome, unseen female, a wife from whom Archie is about to be divorced.
And there's Arthur's - sorry, Archie's - comical grasp of the English language. 'The world's your lobster' rather than 'the world's your oyster' became Arthur Daley's popular catchphrase.
It remains to be seen if Archie's malapropisms, such as 'the possibilities are infamous' and 'this is no time for levitation', will strike a similar chord with the public.
Of course, times have changed. TV audiences can now choose what to watch from dozens of different channels, and viewing figures for even the top-rated shows are far smaller than they were for popular programmes in the Seventies and Eighties.
So this new version of Minder is unlikely to match the original programme's huge popularity. Even repeats of the old version regularly pulled in audiences in excess of 11 million and for one episode in 1984, Second Hand Pose, the ratings rose to 17.4 million.
There is, however, at least one person who promises to tune in to this new version - George Cole, the actor who played Arthur Daley from the inception of Minder in 1979 through to its final episode in 1994.
Speaking at his home in south Oxfordshire, George, 83, says: 'I'm looking forward to watching it - which I will do. But I know very little about this new version.
'I was aware that it was being filmed, but I don't know who is in it or how different it is from our version if, indeed, it is different.'
Considering this is meant to be a completely fresh take on Minder, it is intriguing that George reveals that he declined an offer from the show's new home, Channel Five, to help publicise the project.
'I wouldn't have felt comfortable doing so,' he says. 'I didn't feel I knew enough about the new programme to give it my blessing. But I wish those involved the very best of luck.'
When ITV filmed a new interpretation of The Prisoner in Namibia last year, attempts were made to fly Patrick McGoohan from America and cast him in a small part, in recognition of his starring role in the original 1967 version of the TV drama.
Failing health prevented McGoohan - who died in Los Angeles earlier this month - from doing so, but was such a nod to the past ever considered by the makers of the new Minder?
'I don't think it would have been a very good idea,' says Shane Richie. 'I think it's best if the programme stands on its own feet before we start confusing people by introducing characters from the original series.
'But who knows what the future might hold? God willing, if it goes to a second series, I hope Dennis and George would be interested.'
And how would the original stars feel about that prospect? Excited, reluctant - or simply too worried about confusing the viewers?
'I wouldn't rule it out - but let me see what the new Minder is like first,' says George.
'Never say never,' grins Dennis. 'However, there's always the chance Five may not be able to afford my fee.'
• Minder starts on Five next Wednesday, February 4, at 9pm.
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Post by pearly queen on Jan 31, 2009 12:51:05 GMT
What's the difference between 'reinvention' and 'recreation'?
It seem that George Cole is being a bit more gracious about the whole thing than Dennis Waterman, who might have had his nose put out of joint a bit. Understandably - since he and George created two classic characters, and this new version (especially with a tit like Richie involved) might reflect badly on the original.
I will probably watch it, if I remember, out of curiosity, but I think I've made my mind up about it already.
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