In response to an earlier comment that Dennis Waterman was unconvincing as a former professional boxer, Waterman was picked partly for his boxing ability. He was an active schoolboy boxer who was forced to quit when acting took over his life. The directors he was working for didn't like him turning up with black eyes. Also he came from a boxing family. His brother Peter was a professional and held the European Welterweight Championship, once beating Cuban legend Kid Gavilan. Unlike say, Sylvester Stallone who had never boxed before Rocky, Waterman actually knew how to fight and it helped the series immeasurably. He was also brilliant at underplaying his role to add weight to George Cole's character, much in the same way as Richard Beckinsale did with Ronnie Barker in Porridge. The strength of Waterman's performance is demonstrated by the way the programme fell off sharply when he left. That was not entirely because of the Ray Daley character who replaced Terry McCann, but mainly because the script writers changed the character of Arthur to make him more sympathetic and less selfish in relation to the new Minder who was his nephew.
Review of Minder
