Opinion so far .. up to the first commercial break.

Awfully weak version of the theme tune, but it has a lot to live up to.

Fight scene unconvincing.

Characters quite likeable, and the opening scenes fairly entertaining.

After the break ... Archie Daley hasn't half the character of his Uncle Arthur but so far he seems to be a likeable rogue. Jamie, the minder, probably wouldn't survive one round with Terr, but he has similar morals and temperament.

A few too many subliminal icon plugs during the ad break. Not sure why channel 5 think we need them when we are already tuned in. ... btw .. I love the Beanz Meanz Heinz advert.

Back to Minder ... Jamie the knight in shining armour, bridging the moral gap between Archie and the 'bad guys'. Not unlike Terry. Story holding up so far. Good to see that Archie isn't trying to be a direct copy of Arthur. Not sure about the new detective yet. She's no Chisolm.

Final ad break ... nice to see the glowing ready brek kids back on TV .. and Paddington Bear.

Back to Minder ... not a very surprising ending, but quite well handled. The writing isn't as clever as the original Minder series, but it's been very watchable and I'll be tuning in again next week.

Noted the little pose by the car which mirrored a previous one with Cole and Waterman. No mention of Arthur, but I think it was better that way.

I tend to hate TV theme tunes, though I admit I did like the original Minder song. The most annoying theme tune ever for me was the closing credits tune to Only Fools and Horses...I once couldn't get it out of my head and it went round and round like that every day for months...I almost had a breakdown!!

We've got some half price cracked ice and miles and miles of carpet tiles,
T.V.s, deep freeze and David Bowie L.P.s,
Ball games, gold chains, whassa-names, and at a push,
Some Trevor Francis track suits from a mush in Shepherds Bush,
Bush, bush, bush, bush, bush, bush, bush ...

No income tax, no VAT,
No money back, no guarantees ....

Yeah I loved that song. I often find theme tunes are the best thing about some programs.

The original Minder theme is one of my favourites of all, especially the trombone on the opening instrumental. For some reason it always carries me back to the TV room at Blackdown barracks.

I feel a theme tune thread coming on.

For years I used to think it was Nicolas Lyndhurst singing the theme tune at the end

Was the OFaH theme sung by John Sullivan, the writer?

Al wrote:
Was the OFaH theme sung by John Sullivan, the writer?

Yes.

Minder attracted around 2.5 million viewers on Wednesday night, approx. the same amount as Terry Pratchett Living with Alzheimers on BBC2. This is double the usual amount for that time slot on Channel Five. It now remains to be seen whether viewers will stick with it, or if more viewers will join. I will be one of those watching the next episode.