Episode 30 – Colin Farrell Interview

Welcome to episode 30 of the minder podcast in association with minder.org.

I remember when the UK Gold TV channel first came out that I thought it was great that certain TV programmes were being recognised as classics. And UK Gold also featured some more obscure works that were good to see on TV for the first time. Why do I mention this? Well, because the first word I thought of when being lucky enough to speak with Colin Farrell, aka Tasty Tim, was this is Minder Gold. And it is no wonder several of you have written in to ask me to track down Tasty because he was in a very good episode, Around The Corner.

We should also mention he was in a later episode from Series 9, with Gary Webster as well, How To Succeed in Business Without Really Retiring.

But it is as Tasty Tim that many of you will have fond recollections so it is indeed a great honour to speak with Mr Farrell. As I mention to him during our interview, it was not for the lack of trying that we have not spoken before. In fact I was trying to track him down before I had ever received an email from a listener – he was on my top shortlist when I first booked interviews for the show.

But he was elusive and here we have the crux of the issue, which we discuss in some humorous depth. For you may know there is another Colin Farrell, an Irish imposter, laying claim to the same name as the Colin Farrell who in recent years has gone by the name of Col to save confusion. But I will let Colin tell you all about it.

What we certainly talk about in some depth is Colin’s role as Tasty in Around The Corner from Series 5. Filmed and released in early 1984 (broadcast as the Christmas Special on Boxing Day that year) it is a classic episode with a clever plot and some memorable clashes with the law not to mention a potentially unspeakable procedure applied to a greyhound.

We talk about the filming and what it was like on set, why Tasty was so well dressed, as well as some highly welcome inside memories of George Cole. We examine his ability to play characters much younger than himself, his enduring marriage to Ann Penfold and his shenanigans as a youngster, as well as a memorable filming experience when he appeared in the epic Gandhi.

So, ladies and gentlemen I am sure you will agree this really is Minder Gold. We’ve found the elusive, slippery Tasty Tim and found he is actually very well spoken and far more pleasant than his role in Minder may suggest, although he is such a good actor I probably still wouldn’t buy a video recorder from him.

After the interview there are a few listener emails as well as news on the next few episodes.

Download the show here or via Spotify.

My huge thanks to Tom Dale for arranging the interview, and of course, Colin Farrell for his time and co-operation.