is Waterman still going to "write the theme tune, sing the theme tune!"

Really really really....DON'T

What's wrong with reruns of the original?

People watch Minder and other such reruns for the nostalgia factor. They don't work when modernised.

Like they can replace george cole, or dennis waterman. Inspector chisholm and taff. The show enjoyed a cult following, and no remake could ever be as successfull, particularly in todays pc climate.

A sad day...

I've been watching re-runs of this recently on ITV-whatever on Freeview, and frankly it hasn't aged all that well. Better viewed through rose-tinted memories.

Why do it though? For the same reason Mars make ice cream versions of chocolate bars, Addidas make toiletries, studios re-make old movies in preference to new ones, musicians cover/sample old songs, and popular programs begat spin-offs (Torchwood anyone?): consumers gravitate to a familiar (and fondly regarded?) brand much more willingly that to an unknown new one. So the battle for ratings already gets a head start, for at least the first few episodes.

..it would be Five the boy band (Fi5e or whatever their nonsensical leetspeak version was)

I used to love the original as a kid.. *sigh*. Not sure if Richie has the age to pull it off. Too much "Panto" also.

This has bad idea written all over it. Actually, it has "don't be blooming stupid, this is such a bad idea that you should all be ashamed for even considering it" written all over it.

Minder was and still is one of my favourite programmes - why ruin the memory of it?

And Shane Ritchie as Arthur Daley? He's entertaining but he's no George Cole!

As for Paris - I'll leave you to fill in the jokes about things sucking.

Never mind who's going to be the new Terry & Arfur. Who's going to play 'er indoors? They'll never find an actress up to the task!

Too much panto? Oh no it isn't.

El Reg, you've done it now. By your actions, thousands of people are now committing copyright infringement, with the theme music rolling through their heads and giving NO money back to the copyright holder to compensate them for their hard work in the music...

Expect a visit from IFPI any moment now...

Oh yes it is!

How on earth will it translate? The UK used car market is so utterly restricted by trading standards legislation, and so low value as to be utterly uninteresting to most traders (apart from the genuinely dodgy, rather than the comically inept geezers).

"Terry, we're going to go underwrite Arnold Clarke's latest tradeins"

"Terry! We've got a letter from the CAB! Have you got copies of the disclosure forms for that Focus you sold Mrs. Morris?"

Riveting stuff. And I don't mean 1970s-style door-bottom repair techniques, either.

Ohhhhhhhh, yes it is!

Hey, you started it!

Seriously? I lost interest in Minder towards the end of the Waterman years when Terry was behaving too much like Arfur's willing lackey and not telling Arfur to stick his dodgy schemes. Didn't bovver wiv the new Minder after Waterman left, doubt I'll be bovvered wiv this new one eivver...

The whole charm of the programme was the interactions between Arfur and Terry in the earlier seasons.

...never appeared in the original.

Minder got poor in a hurry after Terry was replaced by a clothes horse; any further development will not be an improvement. Whoever came up with this idea should be deported to Uranus in at least three separate crates. 'urt, 'im, Terence.

Paris, coz even she's not dopey enough to come up with something this wrong.

... was my favourite Enid Blyton book. The undertones of dark necromancy and sinister magic added an atypical gothic edge to the hijinks.

...are more entertaining than the article... or even minder!

That Enid Blighter one had me in a state!