Initially produced by Verity Lambert, it was made by Euston Films, a subsidiary of Thames Television, and shown on ITV for ten series between 29 October 1979 and 10 March 1994.

The first seven series starred Dennis Waterman as Terry McCann, an honest and likeable former boxer turned bodyguard (minder in Cockney parlance), and George Cole as Arthur Daley, an ageing chancer and petty schemer, importer/exporter, wholesaler, used-car salesman and purveyor of anything else from which there was money to be made, legally or not.

The series is principally set in working class west London (specifically Shepherd's Bush, Ladbroke Grove, Fulham and Acton), and was largely responsible for introducing the word minder, meaning personal bodyguard, into the UK popular lexicon.

[citation needed] The characters often drank at the local members-only Winchester Club, where owner and barman Dave Harris (Glynn Edwards) acted, often unwittingly, as a messenger for Arthur, and turned a blind eye to his shady deals.

The opening sequence of Series 7 was changed slightly to include shots of Terry, Arthur and Dave at the Winchester, and Edwards was given his own billing rather than remaining among the guest cast.

In the opening episode of series 8, "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Entrepreneur", Arthur finds Terry has married and emigrated to Australia to finally escape his influence.

Ray is well spoken, well educated (O Level French and woodwork) and less likely to be called upon as a pugilist, as fights were far less frequent and graphic than in the show's early episodes.

He dresses snappily in designer suits, prefers mineral water or a soft drink to a pint of ale, but lacks his own car, usually relying upon the beaten up old blue Ford Transit van from Arthur's lockup.

Other promotions included advertisements on taxi receipts, a social networking campaign and branded beer mats, all designed to attract the young male audience Channel 5 was targeting.

Arthur Edward Daley (George Cole) is a mid-level professional criminal of mature years, a minor con man eternally involved in dodgy dealings and usually seen puffing Castella Panatella cigars.

He is always trying to make extra money, which he often describes as a "nice little earner", and his schemes usually backfire and leave him either in debt to local underworld figures, or with his activities coming under the scrutiny of the police, or occasionally a combination of the two, with Terry ultimately being left to sort out the mess and get him out of trouble.

[5][6] With Arthur's dodgy schemes, the duo encounter undesirable underworld figures, many of whom turn nasty, leaving Terry to fight and outwit their way out of trouble.

To this end, he finds himself carrying out a wide range of jobs, from car mechanic ('The Immaculate Contraption') to barge navigation ('The Cruel Canal') and satellite dish installation ('The Roof of all Evil').

Ray is a snappy dresser, typically seen in designer suits, and not a heavy drinker, usually seen sipping mineral water or a "Saint Clements" (orange and lemon).

As a counsel and resource of last resort, he on occasion helps Arthur and Terry get out of tight spots through offering advice, money, space at the Winchester to store items or people and reluctantly, personal information through a brother-in-law working in the police.

With a trading licence to maintain, he is a wise character keeping the delicate balance of a legitimate private members' drinking establishment and a safe space for the local villains to congregate.

A lone figure, not afraid of violent situations and more than willing to do a bit of "freelance" work, he was frequently on the edge of a nervous attack as Arthur slipped through his fingers.

Many episodes in the first seven series featured either Chisholm and Jones or Rycott and Mellish, and the two pairs sometimes appeared together, emphasising the professional rivalry between them, much to the annoyance of their superior officer, Detective (Chief) Inspector Norton (Tony Caunter).

This rivalry reached fever pitch in the episode "Around the Corner" (which closed Series 5) when all four officers, in two cars, crashed head-on while attempting to arrest Arthur and Terry.

Arthur's world was mainly populated by petty crooks, fellow minders, dropouts, "tea leaves" (Cockney rhyming slang for "thieves"), "fences" and those happy to quickly turn over dodgy goods, usually (but not always) without violence.

As the series progressed, the guest stars became more prestigious, including Derek Jacobi as criminal Freddy Fenton, Brian Glover as Arthur's old army buddy Yorkie, Suzi Quatro as Terry's singer girlfriend Nancy, and Michael Kitchen as "Maltese Tony".

Later series starring Cole and Waterman featured Billy Connolly playing Tick-Tack, a bookie and grifter, Brian Blessed as corrupt police officer DI Dyer, Ian McShane as gangster Jack Last, Roy Kinnear as "Fat Charlie" and Andrew Sachs as Sidney.

Indeed, the show gave roles to young actors who have since achieved considerable fame including Brian Cox, Steve McFadden, Peter Capaldi and Bill Nighy.

However, as the comedy potential of Cole's dodgy-dealing character emerged, as well as the successful on-screen pairing of Waterman and Cole (which proved to be one of the series' most popular elements), the emphasis increasingly focused more on Arthur's exploits, and by a few series into the show's life, typical plots revolved more around Arthur's latest shady scams instead of some of the more "gritty" plots of Terry's minding jobs.

"[9] Despite its eventual success, Minder was a slow burner, not helped by being delayed by a technicians' strike which forced the ITV network off the air for 75 days from 10 August to 24 October 1979.

Indeed, Only Fools and Horses creator / writer John Sullivan claimed that one of the ways he persuaded the BBC to commission the series was by pointing to the success of ITV's Minder, which had begun the previous year.

At Christmas 1985, specials of Only Fools and Horses and Minder were scheduled against each other, angering many viewers in the days before video recorders were commonplace in UK homes.

As well as heavy use of leading British actors, other features were Arthur's constant rhyming slang and other misquoted sayings (one being "the world is your lobster" and "I had a dream"), the derelict sites used as locations, and the episode titles, which contained references to films (e.g. "Gunfight at the O.K.

Launderette", "Monday Night Fever", "National Pelmet", "The Beer Hunter", "Days of Fines and Closures", "The Wrong Goodbye" and "Guess Who's Coming to Pinner?").

During the Dennis Waterman era, the closing credits consisted of a number of black and white (with blue tint) still photographs of Arthur and Terry together outside famous London landmarks, and a few hinting of (unseen) previous escapades typical of a standard episode plot.