Broken Arrow
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Written by George Day #3.10 Directed by Roy Ward Baker |
Episode Overview
When Terry is delivering one of Arthur’s dodgy video games to a pub, he meets Dafydd Evans, a talented young Welsh darts player who has just returned from working in the Middle East. Dafydd explains to Terry how he learnt to play darts while working there in order to kill time. Meanwhile, Arthur has purchased a customised Corvette Stingray from Wally Brabham in order to sell it on to car enthusiast Mr Rice. Arthur uses the Stingray to pop around and see Sherry, who clearly cannot remember that she had a meet with him. While having a cup of coffee with Sherry, some local children strip the wheels and several others parts from the Stingray, leaving Arthur with an awkward dilemma with Mr Rice. When Arthur summons Terry to get Des to fix the problem, Terry discovers that Des has gone on holiday to Benidorm for two weeks and that his garage is temporarily being looked after by teddy-boy ‘Ted’ – a lover of 50s rock’n’roll music and classic cars. Ted informs Arthur that the total cost of the repairs to the Stingray will come to well over a thousand pounds.
Now down on his luck, when Arthur discovers Dafydd’s talents as a darts player, he is quick to offer himself as a manager and decides to enter Dafydd into a darts tournament in south London. When those with a vested interest in fixing the result of the darts tournament think that Dafydd and a fellow competitor are in cahoots to beat their favourite contender, Dafydd is injured intentionally. With his star injured, Arthur is about to lose all hope when Dafydd informs Arthur that he is actually ambidextrous. As a result, he is still able to enter “The Arthur Daley Pro-Am Darts Tournament”, especially set up by Arthur for Dafydd’s benefit as a quick way for Arthur to make some cash. When the car deal falls through and Arthur is unable to provide the thousand pound prize money, Arthur does all he can to raise the money at the last minute, even resorting to asking Dave to lend him 500 quid.
Cast
Glynn Edwards as Dave, Sean Mathias as Dafydd, Edward Peel as Ted, Maggie Steed as Sherry, Michael Graham Cox as Wally, John Joyce as Eddie Pitt, Chris Johnston as Eric, Paddy Joyce as Pat, Jonathan Kydd as Len, Gary Olsen as Derek, Jestyn Philips as Mr Rice, Virginia Denham as Sister, Mike Kemp as Caller (Irish Pub), Alfred Mason as Little Freddie, Roy Pattison as Man at Silver Rose, Honora Burke as Woman at Silver Rose
Uncredited: Joe Bartlett as ‘Big Bry’, Eric Kent as Darts Player (red shirt)
Facts
Derek, one of the men drinking at the bar in the opening pub scenes feature is played by the late Gary Olsen, a fine British actor who is better known for his roles in the British series ‘2point4 Children’, ‘Prospects’ and ‘The Bill’. In this episode, Arthur claims he knows Kent Walton, a popular British sports commentator between the 1950s and 1970s. Kent was well known for commentating on wrestling (not darts) which he did for over 30 years. At the start of this episode, Arthur’s car, a smashed up Ford Granada is being repaired at Brabham’s garage and Arthur makes no mention of his usual Jaguar or series 3 Mercedes. Sean Mathias, who plays Dafydd in this episode is also a talented writer and director. In 2006, he was named one of the 101 most influential gay and lesbian people in Britain by the Independent on Sunday.
Double Take
Jonathan Kydd, who plays Len in the pub at the start of this episode would later appear in two further Minder episodes, #5.3 A Number Of Old Wives Tales and #6.7 Minder On The Orient Express. Maggie Steed, who plays ‘Sherry’ would go on to star alongside Dennis Waterman 24 years later in the series 3 episode of ‘New Tricks’ entitled ‘Dockers’.
Bloopers: A few dartboard bloopers in this episode. Watch closely in the scenes where the dartboard sequences have been edited to show a better score – it’s extremely fast so you will have to be quick to spot it. Also, when Dafydd is teaching Terry, watch carefully at 07m37s when Terry turns around – the logo “TRI-LON” is above the number 12 on the
Title: ‘Broken Arrow’, an award winning western from 1950. It was the first major Western since the Second World War to portray Indians sympathetically.