Minder, The Long Ride Back to Scratchwood, 1984
As England prepare to play Scotland in tonight’s Euros we rewind the clock back almost 37 years to an episode of Minder that dealt with a matter of tickets for an England v Scotland football match.
Originally screened as part of series five and featured an early appearance of the Justin James character, a young would be entrepreneur who would feature heavily in series seven.
Summary
Young wanna be entrepreneur Justin James concocts a scheme with a former footballer to obtain tickets for an England v Scotland football match. He plans to get Arthur to back him financially on the back of a potential massive mark up, by selling them on to Scotland fans. The only problem, he hopes to cut out Phil the ‘Ticket King’.
Seizing the opportunity for a quick profit Arthur puts up the money and they set off for Scotland with the tickets. However Phil and his minder follow behind and a confrontation ensues at a motorway service station.
When Arthur is forced to sell the tickets to Phil, he soon finds that every cloud has a silver lining, when just before the deal goes down, it emerges that the tickets are actually forged— so there’s no deal, and no return for anyone.
Clips
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Cast
George Cole – Arthur
Dennis Waterman – Terry
Mark Farmer – Justin
James Marcus – Phil
Details
Channel: ITV
Series Created By: Leon Griffiths
Original Transmission Date: 17th October 1984