#5.8 The Balance Of Power

When Arthur is put under pressure from the local council regarding the plot of land on which the car lot is situated, Arthur takes matters into his own hands and decides to stand for election as the local government councillor. In order to do this, he has to move into the ward which means moving into Terry's flat for the duration of his campaign. Terry has recently become acquainted with Julie Waters, who wants to write a story about him and his boxing career. Meanwhile, Chisholm has received a tip off that Arthur is involved in a jewel fencing ring and carries out a raid on the lockup, keeping Arthur from attending a local rally to support his campaign. With the ward Arthur is standing in holding the balance of power, there seems to be several people ready to scupper Arthur's chance of election and Julie discovers that local reporter Lent is attempting to bring Arthur's campaign down around him.

As a result, Arthur sets about keeping Lent drunk until polling day arrives. Although Arthur wins the election, he is later disqualified for overspending on his campaign, handing out too many free boxes of chocolates while on the campaign trail.

Cast: Glynn Edwards as Dave, Caroline Langrishe as Julie Waters, Patrick Malahide as Chisholm, Michael Povey as D.C. Jones, Peter Woodthorpe as Lent, Clifford Rose as Cooke, Brian McDermott as Blakeney, Neville Jason as Rutherford, Nicholas Courtney as Raymond Wilkins, Michael Ripper as Commissionaire, Lennard Pearce as George, Alex McAvoy as Macintyre, Chris Sullivan as Poker Player

Facts: This episode features the late Lennard Pearce, who is probably best known for his role as Grandad in the BBC series 'Only Fools & Horses'. As with the previous episode, this one falls short in terms of what most fans consider a decent ending to the plot. George Cole would repeat the role of an independent candidate in the 90s TV series 'An Independent Man', in which ultimately results in him becoming the local independent candidate. This series was also written by David Yallop, who wrote this episode. This is the third time that Chisholm appears in the main run of the fifth series, with only one appearance by Peter Childs as Rycott until this point.

Author David Yallop is better known as a serious investigative author, see his Wikipedia entry here - this is the first of 10 Minder episodes written by him.

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