Senior Citizen Caine

Episode Overview

An old friend of Arthur’s, the eccentric Cecil Caine discovers his wife Violet has died in her sleep. Cecil sees the death of his wife as a way to start a new life away from his three children and at her funeral gathering turns to Arthur and Terry for help while he organises a long-term narrow boat trip around the industrial waterways of the past. At the gathering, Cecil rapidly escapes with a large sum of his hard earned cash that his children see as rightfully theirs. As a result Cecil places his trust in no one but Terry and his personal assistant, Angela Richards. In the meantime, Cecil’s son, Johnny, who has recently sold Arthur a 76 Rolls-Royce Corniche, along with Johnny’s brother Derek, his wife Sonia and Johnny’s ex-wife Christine, are all doing everything they possibly can to find out where Cecil is.

With Terry looking for Cecil, Arthur is trying to offload Japanese whiskey as malt scotch whisky and offers some to Jock McLeish, who has recently caused a bit of damage at the Winchester Club.

Cast

Lionel Jeffries as Cecil Caine, Keith Barron as Johnny Caine, Angela Richards as Sheila Jones, Glynn Edwards as Dave, Susan Fleetwood as Sonia Caine, Fiona Curzon as Christine, John Carlin as Derek, James Cosmo as Jock McLeish, Griffith Davies as Drunk, Norman Lumsden as Vicar, Kenneth Keeling as Doctor Roberts, Stan Pretty as Eddie, Chris Webb as Bob, Anthony Hall as The V.A.T Man, Iain Rattray as Scotsman, Jonathan Barlow as Policeman, Gillian & Kim Taylforth as Girls in Pub

Facts

Arthur purchases a 1976 Rolls-Royce Corniche in this episode and claims that ‘er indoors will be very happy because of the leg room. Sadly for Arthur by the end of the episode this car is back in the possession of Johnny Caine, the guy who sold it to him. When Arthur boasts to Dave that it is a “Corniche”, Dave tells Arthur he couldn’t care if it is a Cornish Pasty and reminds Arthur that if he can afford to buy such a car, he can afford to pay his bar tab. There are some wonderful funny scenes in this episode when Arthur goes around to ‘Jock’s Club’ trying to sell the Japanese Whiskey and then tries to drive home afterwards. Just for the record, in Ireland and the United States, the spelling of whiskey includes the letter ‘e’, where as in Scotland it is left out: whisky. This is the second episode in succession where Arthur has a new motor.

The tune played by Cecil at his wife’s funeral is George Gerswin’s ‘Rhapsody In Blue’.

Gillian Taylforth and her sister Kim Taylforth appear in a brief scene at the pub in this episode. Gillian Taylforth is probably more recognisable from her role as Kathy Beale in the BBC soap ‘EastEnders’, a part which she played between 1985 and 2000 and Sgt. Nikki Wright in ‘The Bill’ until 2008. Following her role in Minder, Kim Taylforth took a break from acting to work in the Metropolitan Police.

Filming Dates

Monday 1st August 1983 – Friday 12th July 1983 (confirmed).

Double Take

 Trevor Thomas who plays ‘Stretch’ also stars in #7.5 Fiddler On The Hoof. Pat Gorman who plays a policeman (uncredited) in this episode also pops up in #2.4 A Lot of Bull And A Pat on the Back and #3.12 Back in Good Old England. Lynda Baron would later appear as Sadie in #2.3 You Lose Some, You Win Some. Watch carefully in the Winchester Club as you see a picture of actress Sue Holderness on the wall – she would later appear in #5.3 A Number Of Old Wives Tales.

Bloopers: At 43m20s when Arthur finally catches up with Cecil and Terry he has a quiet word with Terry at the stern end of Cecil’s narrowboat. Watch closely at this point as you can see two children on the bridge above looking down, one of whom is even taking pictures of the event!

Title: A reference to the film ‘Citizen Kane’, a 1941 American drama, directed by and starring Orson Welles.