National Pelmet
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Written by Willis Hall #2.1 Directed by Martin Campbell |
Episode Overview
Terry joins Arthur on a little seaside trip to Brighton where Arthur has a meet with Jeremy Burnham-Jones. When they get there the last thing Terry expects to be minding is a horse and only agrees to it when he meets the lovely Jocelyn Maxwell-Saunders. Arthur thinks he is on to a right winner with Jeremy selling miniature statues. They both soon realise that there is more to Jeremy and Miss Saunders than they first thought.
Cast
Cast: Liza Goddard as Jocelyn Maxwell-Saunders, Jane Garr as Rita, Ken Hutchison as Brickett, Jim Norton as O’Brady, Robert Swann as Jeremy Burnham-Jones, Jeremy Young as Everett, Billy Kerry as Georgie Gumm, Raymond Young as Clerk of the Scales, John Fahey as Point to Point Bookie
Facts
Facts: This is one of the few times where the episode is set outside London. The late Robert Swann was a familiar face on TV at the time and was recognisable to a TV generation as the man who tried to sell you Churchill Car Insurance. Ken Hutchison who also appeared in this episode had previously appeared alongside Dennis Waterman in ‘The Sweeney’ TV series and ‘Sweeney 2’ film. Throughout this episode we are led to believe he is in fact the person looking to destroy the horse, but we soon learn he has other reasons for doing what he does.
In this episode Terry’s flat is now located in Glazbury Road, W14 and we see some internal shots of this location for the very first time. For more information see Terry’s Flats. Writer Willis Hall originally intended this story to be about greyhound racing but the story was changed due the suitability of filming locations.
Filming Dates
Early April 1980.
Double Take
Not strictly a double take but the character Jeremy Burnham-Jones is very similar to that of Jeremy Burnham, the author of #2.3 You Lose Some, You Win Some and #2.11 The Old School Tie.
Bloopers: Watch carefully at just after 21 minutes when the Mini Moke arrives at the stable after Terry wakes up. In the next scene Dennis Waterman accidentally kicks the horse in the nose but doesn’t realise it. Another blooper exists, more details on the Minder forum.
Title: ‘National Velvet’, a 1944 film starring Mickey Rooney and Elizabeth Taylor, where a young girl Velvet Brown (Taylor) is encouraged to train a horse for the Grand National.
German Title: Vergallopiert.
Episode 12 of 16 shown in Germany on ARD.