#10.1 A Fridge Too Far

Arthur is having trouble shifting cars on the lot and offers an unscrupulous business contact known as 'the pizza man' some motor scooters. Arthur knows he can obtain the scooters from fellow wheeler dealer Mervyn Kravitz. Meanwhile, another business associate Brian, offers Arthur a deal on fridge freezers that Brian assures Arthur are returned stock that never got rebooked on to the office computer. When Brian explains the fridges are in the back of his lorry and he can't go back to work until he's shifted them, Arthur agrees to take them with 20% knocked off the price. With Arthur's capital tied up in the fridges, Dave warns Arthur not to mess about with the pizza man, who is renowned for not being messed about in business deals. When a fridge freezer that Arthur has given to Mervyn as part of the deal goes up in smoke, Mervyn takes a different view on his deal with Arthur. When a further fridge catches fire at the lockup, Arthur & Ray realise the whole batch is faulty and thus can't be sold to anyone.

At risk of going bankrupt and having pawned 'er indoors jewellery to raise the cash for the scooters in the first place, Arthur comes up with a plan to defraud an insurance policy that he has just taken out on the lockup. Arthur asks Ray to get his mates Marty & Gino to burgle the lockup while the young insurance salesman Wayne is present. Ray has his doubts, but feels obliged to go along with it because of 'er indoors possibly losing her heirlooms. When the fake burglary seems to go off without a glitch, Arthur & Ray celebrate only to realise it was in fact a real one when Ray's mates turn up too late.

When Arthur's insurance company refuses to pay out and the pizza man turns up at the Winchester looking for Arthur, Ray realises there is more to his friend Gino's mum Lucy than he first thought. After a little investigation of his own, Ray discovers Lucy is having an affair with Mervyn. Ray tells Arthur and in order to keep Arthur quiet about the affair, Mervyn agrees to return the stolen scooters. Arthur then decides to allow the fridge freezers at the lockup to catch fire in order to claim the insurance on them, ringing the fire brigade early enough to avoid excessive damage. With some money in his pocket at last, Arthur is able to retrieve 'er indoors jewellery from the pawnbrokers.

Cast: Glynn Edwards as Dave, Linal Haft as Mervyn Kravitz, Lesley Duff as Lucy Conti, Paul Reynolds as Gino, Che Walker as Marty, Tony Steedman as Tewkesbury, Shaun Dingwall as Wayne, Jim McManus as Brian, Christopher Owen as Mr. Gordon, Dilys Watling as Mrs. Kravitz, Chris Driscoll as Fire Chief, Iona Kennedy as Bingo Ticket Girl, Nick Gillard as Queen, Colin Wyatt as Madonna

Facts: This is the first episode of series 10 that would no longer feature any regular police officers. For the first time in this episode we see Arthur driving his silver Jaguar Sovereign, registration H552GGL.

Double Take: Tony Steedman who plays insurance broker Tewkesbury also appeared in #1.5 The Bounty Hunter. This is the third of four appearances in Minder by Linal Haft who played Mervyn Kravitz. He had already appeared in #3.13 In, #6.7 Minder On The Orient Express and would later appear in #11.6 Till Debt Do Us Part - the final episode of brand new Minder from series 11. Jim McManus had previously appeared as George in #3.4 Looking For Micky. Chris Driscoll had previously appeared as car salesman Freddy The Fly in #4.6 If Money Be The Food Of Love, Play On. Nick Gillard, who is hiding behind the mask of the Queen while robbing Arthur's lockup, also worked as a stunt coordinator in two episodes of series 11, brand new Minder.

Title: 'A Bridge Too Far' was a 1974 book by Cornelius Ryan and a 1977 film adaptation starring Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Anthony Hopkins and Robert Redford.

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