Minder

- Season 6

(1985)

When Arthur Daley meets a philanthropic vicar who runs a social club for ex-convicts he greedily recruits them as cheap labour to build a garden rockery for a trusting client. Alas, they are not only incompetent but they are also robbing local houses, hiding the loot at the church. Chisholm is suspicious. Arthur and Terry have to think fast.

Terry's new girlfriend Sarah turns out to be the daughter of a possessive burger millionaire who is paranoid that all her boyfriends are after her money. Arthur, in the red after a deal involving dodgy car-phones, agrees, for a fee, to split the couple up by telling Sarah that Terry has a terminal illness.

When Arthur's tailor Solly's staff strike for more pay Solly asks Arthur to stage a burglary to prove the wages were stolen. Inept safe-cracker Scotch Harry is keen to oblige but fails miserably, ending up in hospital, swathed in bandages. Arthur and Terry spring him before Chisholm can identify him but his aggrieved ex-wife is not the best choice of sanctuary.

Faced with a huge tax bill, Arthur fakes his own death by drowning and hides out in a hotel but Chisholm is suspicious as there is no body, Arthur's creditors steal what he owes them, his wife puts the car lot up for sale and the hotel owner, Daphne, recognizes him. Fortunately she is bribeable which works to his advantage.

Already put out at having to employ gormless nephew Nigel at the car lot, Arthur's day gets worse when he sells a load of goods to Russian sailor Sergei, who goes off on a pub crawl, leaving Arthur with a wad of roubles the bank cannot cash (as "forbidden currency") and the ship's glamorous bosun pursuing him for aiding a defector. When the over-zealous Chisholm arrests crew members along with Arthur, Terry and Nigel, an international incident is only narrowly avoided.

Private investigator Caroline Selby seeks Arthur's help in locating eccentric recluse and inventor Albert Goddard, who has come into an inheritance. Seeking a rake-off, Arthur acts as go-between, installing Albert in a 'safe house' - rather against his will - and trying to palm off one of the inventions as his own. The finder's fee is, however, paltry compared to the sum involved. Chisholm, meanwhile, finds he has literally been 'stitched up' on a visit to his tailor.

Saving deceased gangster Jack South's daughter Nikki from an attack by hired thugs earns "minder" Terry McCann a trip for two across Europe on the famous Orient Express. But a perfect romantic opportunity with his girlfriend Annie is ruined when his dodgy employer and "friend" Arthur Daley cons his way onto the trip to avoid a court appearance, and Terry again finds himself battling to protect Nikki from a whole train load of sinister characters all after Nikki's legacy. Add to this a Mafia hitman, a gun-toting Interpol officer and an unwelcome appearance by Terry and...

A public information film to spread the anti-drugs message to children.