Guess Who's Coming to Pinner

"I have a confession to make...I'm already married."

"We'll have 'er murdered then."

And that's not even the punchline.

This episode is a bit of a throwback to Series 1 Minder. There's a crime backone, a scheming Arthur Daley, a no-nonsense minder, and a generous dose of comedy.

Arthur Daley goes to the wake of some old school gangster because he thinks it'll be good for business. While at the wake, he meets up with an old buddy, who makes him a business proposition. Unfortunately, Arthur was so drunk he can't remember what the deal was. Meantime, young Ray Daley meets up with a tasty bird.

Naturally, the Ol' Bill were keeping tabs on everyone at the funeral. Before you know it, there's a huge task force with their eyes set on Daley's operation.

Credit to the writers of this series. They went for something different with the Ray Daley character. He's more of an adoring, loyal nephew/puppy and Arthur, in turn, seems to genuinely care about Ray's welfare. That contrasts to the Dennies Waterman era, where Daley thought nothing of skimming Terry's wages, and McCann was in a perpetual state of wanting to quit. Yet they haven't forgotten the basic formula that made Minder great: petty crime and comedy.

Stellar guest appearance by Susan Tracy as the widow on the prowl.