After all the talk and promotion of the new series of Minder in February 2009, Shane Richie kindly agreed to talk to minder.org about the new show.

Q. How did you become involved in the new Minder series and why do you think you in particular were approached for the role?

I got approached for Minder in December 2007 and all I was told was there was talk of a remake. In my naivety I thought it was going to be the great George Cole and myself, but I was soon put right and told that I would be playing his nephew "Archie" and we were bringing it bang up-to-date. As for the reason why they asked me, maybe something they saw in "Alfie Moon".

Q. It is obvious that you are a fan of the original series, how much of that series did you take on board when you approached the role of Archie?

I wanted to find a history for Archie, so what better way then to watch my "Uncle Arfur". I think it was important for the die hard fans of the original that they at least saw at least one or two of "Arthur’s” traits. In Archie, trust me I'm not trying to do an impression, but from a viewer's point of view, I’d want to see a chip off the old block.

Q. There are obviously a lot of fans of the original show out there, many of whom see a new Minder without George Cole, Dennis Waterman, Glynn Edwards or Gary Webster as a complete move away from the show they came to know and love, what would you say to those diehard fans?

I totally understand the die hard fans...but I hope in time they'll embrace and who knows maybe come to love "Archie and Jamie" as much as we adored "Arthur and Terry" - and trust me, I would love "me uncle Arfur" to turn up in a future episode and who knows maybe "Terry" that would the "dog's nuts". Please don’t believe recent tabloid fodder that I stopped George and Dennis from appearing in the "new" Minder, because it would be an absolute honour to be in their company let alone be on TV with them!

Q. Can you tell us a little about when the new series was filmed i.e. dates and how long each episode took to shoot?

We filmed all six episodes over twelve weeks starting mid-July 2008. The same week my daughter Lolita was born. Each episode took about 2 weeks to film but we would occasionally cross over, which means one day you could be doing three scenes from episode one and later on that day another couple of scenes from episode four. We had a nightmare with the weather though - I’ll save those stories for another time!

Q. The locations for the new series seem to be set in a different part of London to the original Minder, do you know if that was a conscience decision or did it just turn out that way?

Myself and Lex always knew from the off that London was going to be an essential character in the show, hence there's plenty of chases from the mall to the London eye and everything in between!

Q. Are there plans for a second series and do you know if there are any plans at all to include original cast members as a link up, such as Dennis, George, Glyn or Gary?

Truly, I have no idea about a second series, I’d be lying if I said me and Lex didn’t talk about it. I believe and hope that the fans of the original Minder by episode six will have taken Archie and Jamie to their hearts...and by then what a better way than to kick start series two, where we see "Arfur and Archie" finally come together...and trust me when I say Tim Loane (the writer) has got a genius idea of how and why we bring back "my uncle Arfur".

Q. As I know you are a fan of the original show, I would like to ask you what your favourite moment/memory is from the original series?

I think it's virtually impossible to find one favourite moment from the original as the are so many. But what I do think is genius are the opening titles, because they the tell the story in less than a minute how Terry and Arthur meet. We would loved to have done that on our show but we live in different times now and most people pay no attention to that sort of detail anymore.

Q. And finally ... what's next for Shane Richie?

As for me now, I’m happy doing nothing for a while and just enjoying being a dad to my kids - oh yeah, and a wonderful loving husband!!! On closing I just want to say to all you wonderful, passionate die hard Minder fans, I know some of you think we should never have tried to recreate Minder and I promise you we're not, we're hopefully re-inventing it. For what it's worth, my 20 year-old and 16 year-old boys (who had never seen the original) have seen all the new Minder and they loved it so much I brought them the original Minder on DVD so they could see where Archie came from.

Hope you enjoy the ride with me....it's going to be fine TRUST ME!!

Shane/Archie x

9th February 2009

Last updated by : 9th February 2009 by jno

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