Minder is a British comedy-drama series about the London criminal underworld. Initially produced by Verity Lambert, it was made by Euston Films, a subsidiary of Thames Television, and shown on ITV for ten series between 29 October 1979 and 10 March 1994.

The series was revived by Channel 5 in 2009 but was discontinued after only six episodes. It was nominated three times for Best Drama Series or Serial at the British Academy Television Awards.

The first seven series starred Dennis Waterman as Terry McCann, an honest and likeable former boxer turned bodyguard (minder in Cockney parlance), and George Cole as Arthur Daley, a middle-aged chancer and petty schemer, importer/exporter, wholesaler, used-car salesman and purveyor of anything else from which there was money to be made, legally or otherwise.

The series is principally set in working-class west London (specifically Shepherd's Bush, Ladbroke Grove, Fulham and Acton), and was largely responsible for introducing the word minder, meaning personal bodyguard, into the UK popular lexicon.^{[citation needed]} The characters often drank at the local members-only Winchester Club, where owner and barman Dave Harris (Glynn Edwards) acted, often unwittingly, as a messenger for Arthur, and turned a blind eye to his shady deals.

Although initially developed to focus on Terry's character, equal prominence was allotted to Arthur and his dodgy dealings as the series progressed. Barman Dave Harris at first made only occasional appearances, but the character also became popular and by the second series Dave was featured more prominently as well. The opening sequence of Series 7 was changed slightly to include shots of Terry, Arthur and Dave at the Winchester, and Edwards was given his own billing rather than remaining among the guest cast.

In 1989, after filming the seventh series, Waterman left the cast, feeling that the character had run its course and that it was becoming harder for the writers to come up with plots as sharp as the earlier series. Minder returned in 1991 with another character replacing Terry. Waterman's final episode, Series 7's coincidentally titled "The Wrong Goodbye", was filmed before Waterman announced his departure from the series, so there was no mention in the episode of Terry's forthcoming departure either. In the opening episode of series 8, "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Entrepreneur", Arthur finds Terry has married and emigrated to Australia to finally escape his influence. At the same time, he is stuck with looking after his nephew Ray Daley (Gary Webster), at the request of Arthur's brother, to give him employment and keep him out of trouble.

With Terry gone, local undesirables start to muscle in on Arthur, but it soon emerges that Ray is able to handle himself in a tight situation, so Arthur appoints him his new "minder". Ray is well spoken, well educated (O-level French and woodwork) and less likely to be called upon as a pugilist, as fights were far less frequent and graphic than in the show's early episodes. He dresses snappily in designer suits, prefers mineral water or a soft drink to a pint of ale, but lacks his own car, usually relying upon the beaten-up old blue Ford Transit van from Arthur's lockup.

The original theme tune was replaced by a rock-style instrumental version, credited to "Kenny" (Gerard Kenny). By this stage, the grittier elements of the early series had been toned down in favour of the comedic aspects of Arthur's dodgy dealings. Waterman praised Gary Webster for fitting into the series, but remained vocal in his comments that the series was no longer about a "minder", and that the revamped version should go under a different title, reflecting its reorientation to Arthur.^{[citation needed]}