Episode 27 – Looking For Micky (A Krays Bedtime Story)

Welcome to Episode 27 of the Minder Podcast in association with the Fans of Minder site.

This one is a little different as you will no doubt have seen. So what’s occurring, what’s this all about?

Well, I have had a few requests for doing an episode deep dive and wasn’t sure if I wanted to start that process as it could become addictive. After all, there are 109 to play with.

But sometimes you come across something that you didn’t expect from a surprising source and in this case it made me think this was one episode I could do that with. My wife, legend that she is, recently came back from the second hand book shop with a book called The Enforcer, written by Albert Donoghue (with Martin Short).

Martin Short looks like an interesting bloke by the way and I intend to look more into his work. Short piece of related trivia before I carry on. Short died in 2020 and is buried in Highgate Cemetery. As you will know if you heard the Leon Griffiths tribute, the founder of Minder is buried there too.

What jumped out at me when reading the book was chapter nine, Big Frank Meets The Big Sleep. Not only is it an incredible account of what actually happened to Big or ‘Mad’ Frank Mitchell but it is also an astonishing retelling of most of the Looking For Micky plot!

Or should I say, pre-telling, because this occurred in 1966. So if you are a fan of the episode from series 3, you’ll love this.

In this episode I read the chapter from The Enforcer and then connect the dots between the episode and the real life story of ‘Mad’ Frank Mitchell. There are so many similarities between ‘Mad Micky’ Dixon (played by John Labanowski) and Frank but the connections don’t end there.

We have Krays getaway driver John Dickson (Dixon) and former getaway driver and Minder writer, Tony Hoare. Of course he wrote the Looking For Micky episode. And why? Well, as you will see, he either lived it or knew about it on a very intimate basis.

Tony was also seeing Diana Malin at the time. That is Deborah Mitchell in Minder, aka Debbie.

Mitchell. Do you see what he did there? Surely not.

There are many, many connections drawn here which will only deepen the Minder legend, at least for this episode.

Some of this really comes down to the press, for which there is a huge connection. Even after completing the recording for the episode I found something else which I found amusing. Bill Nighy’s newspaper character is named John Oates.

There is a person with the very same name who has released a book all about the locations of villainy around the East End, much of which focuses on the Krays. You really can’t make this up, and I didn’t!

Lastly. Once you’ve listened to the episode, and preferably watched the Looking For Micky episode again (it’s still great), then think about my final thought which is not on the show.

In the final scene (a clip I do include), Terry has a showdown with Freddie Baker. Here he tells the former boxing manager that he is a “scumbag”. There follows a very tense, and very clever scene, which never erupts into violence but has a lingering threat. This is only reduced by the arrival of Chisholm and Jones.

My feeling is that Tony Hoare – indelibly aware of the underworld – put a subtle criticism of that way of life into the character of Baker (Freddie may even have been a reference to Freddie Foreman who killed Mitchell) and this scene in particular. He used Terry McCann as the saviour in this instance, standing up for decency (as he often did).

Hoare, I believe, is showing that the underground, behind the scenes control of pure people (and sports) is despicable. And, unlike in real life, Hoare writes a prison return for Micky as opposed to the real life conclusion. All of which points to Hoare’s distaste for that way of life. Do a bit here and there, yes. Sell a few dodgy jackets. But killing and manipulation on a grand scale? Well, that’s not on.

But Hoare leaves us with the ultimate takeaway, and take it as you will. And it comes from the law.

As Chisholm tells Arthur: “Every dogtooth has its day.”

Download the show here or via Spotify.

And if you want more episodes along this line, let me know.