Minder on the Orient Express
| Minder on the Orient Express | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Adventure Comedy Crime Drama |
| Written by | Andrew Payne |
| Directed by | Francis Megahy |
| Starring |
Dennis Waterman George Cole |
| Theme music composer | Denis King |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Lloyd Shirley |
| Producer(s) |
George Taylor Simon Channing Williams (associate producer) |
| Cinematography | Dusty Miller |
| Editor(s) | Roger Wilson |
| Running time | 106 mins |
| Production company(s) | Euston Films |
| Release | |
| Original release | 25 December 1985 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Minder |
Minder on the Orient Express is a comedy/thriller television film made in 1985 as a spin-off from the successful television series Minder. It was first broadcast on Christmas Day 1985, as the highlight of that year's ITV Christmas schedule.
When Nikki South (Amanda Pays) inherits the contents of a bank strongbox left by her father shortly before his death in 1975, former gangland boss Jack South, she realises that the contents form a clue to the number of a Swiss bank account used to stash her father's ill-gotten gains - an idea possibly derived from the money supposedly left in a secret account by Diana Dors.
Nikki is waylaid on her way to her birthday party. The masked attackers try to wrest the clues, kept in an envelope, from her, but she is rescued by Terry (Dennis Waterman), who is working as a temporary doorman at the club where the party is to be held. She later thanks him by presenting him with two return tickets for the Orient Express to Venice. Terry, not realising Nikki has an ulterior motive for inviting him, plans to take Annie, his current girlfriend who also works at the club, with him.
Nikki plans to travel to Switzerland with her boyfriend Mark (James Coombes) on the same train to claim the contents. But others have their eyes on the potential windfall, especially several former associates of her father. They include a bent bank manager (Maurice Denham), a hitman (Adam Faith) and the widow of a former associate (Honor Blackman).
Arthur (George Cole) is on the run. He's been a reluctant witness to a protection racket attack and Detective Sergeant Rycott (Peter Childs) is trying to serve a subpoena on him to testify in court against violent gangster, Brian "Brain Damage" Gammidge. Arthur persuades Terry's girlfriend that Terry's (non-existent) wife and children have arrived unexpectedly, and when she angrily dumps him, Arthur turns up at the railway station and brazenly persuades a furious Terry to take him along, thus evading the subpoena.
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Wikipedia