samkydd

Peter Childs was one of my favourite actors and I didn’t even realise he was no longer with us until a Minder topic came up on the forum. He died way back in 1989 aged only 51, and if anyone was born to play a policeman it was Peter Childs, he just had that aura about him and seemed to slot into such roles effortlessly.

In his busy career he played a few; a constable in Paper Roses in 1971, Ron Gash the modern day private eye rival of the unkempt Frank Marker in Public Eye in the 70s, DS Grant in Softly Softly also in the 70s, Inspector Harrison in the Sweeney feature film, and his most famous police role as Detective Sergeant Ronald 'Kenny' Rycott in Minder, the last episode I think he was in was Minder on the Orient Express.

So it's a bit late in the day but thanks, you were another unsung hero of TV drama and one of the best! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/clapping.gif[/img]

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

Harbottle

Agreed an excellent actor who brought so much to Minder in particular and was one of those ever reliable actors who were "believable". Having devoured the two series released on DVD I look forward to seeing him in future episode of Public Eye if they ever get released [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/no.gif[/img] Watching terrific old series like Public Eye makes you really notice how badly TV has gone down the tubes [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbdown.gif[/img]

samkydd

I was the only one at my school who watched Public Eye. It was very true to life because I believed then that to be a good private eye you'd have to keep a low profile, blend in with the crowd, and have plenty of guile and intelligence! Marker was almost Columboesque in his appearance, and had a grubby little office and looked like a council rent collector! When "flash, brash, Ron Gash" came on the scene in the mid 70s, he had the beige three piece suit, brown trendy shirt and Sweeney kipper tie and some private eye type gadgets. It was a great contrast, but Marker was never one to be impressed by such things.

Hazell was the next private eye series I think, and he was a bit of a ladies man. He drove a high profile Triumph Stag, dressed like a Radio 1 DJ and even had his hair styled and blow dried! Despite all the glitz he wasn't a patch on Marker's low budget but very realistic character! Even the actor's real name Alfred Burke sounded like a down at heel shipping clerk!

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

jacobean

He played fat Alan's dad in 'Tucker's Luck' in the 80's as well.
I seem to remember his character died off in this series - several years before Childs died - perhaps due to his forthcoming work on Minder???

Harbottle

Alfred Burke is such a good actor and plays Marker brilliantly, the writing is also excellent with only one or two below par episodes of those I have seen. I like the fact that the story does not always have a neat ending which makes it more realistic. I’m watching the first series of Hazell at the moment and agree that it’s not a patch on Public Eye, but far better than I remember it when watching first time round.