Following on from our top ten birds episode it struck me that – given I included Rula Lenska in the list (spoiler alert!) I should have mentioned another Minder related shorter episode she appeared in.
It was called Number and I refer to it as the secret Minder episode as it might be one you did not know about or haven’t seen before. It is also not an official episode by any means. It was included, as far as I know, only on the 2006 Australian DVD box set as an extra bonus episode.
Rula looks fantastic in this and she seems to be playing science teacher to both Terry and Dave. So it’s worth watching just for that and also because it acts just like a typical Minder episode in all of the background build up and character formation. But then it turns into a weird science, maths meets gambling education lesson before finishing off in typical Minder style.
The episode is in turns, brilliant, terrible and fascinating. It is a lost classic, a real cult item of interest. So we will start with the audio version of the original episode. By all means try and find it online to watch but it is not often available.
On this version, the only one I have, I have also tidied the audio as much as possible. It’s not the best quality but will give you a real sense of the episode and is definitely a Minder curiosity. A great piece of history. Is it an official Minder episode? I suppose you would have to say technically yes but there are lots of ways it could be viewed otherwise as I will discuss. Trust me – My word is my Premium Bond.
Download the show here or via Spotify.
Great information as ever on the Minder Fans Site here.
For more on the real ERNIE visit here.
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