Episode 15 – Brian Croucher Interview Pt.1

The Minder Podcast

In this show we are back to the regular format and feature part one of an interview with Brian Croucher, who played Big John in Monday Night Fever from the very first Minder series.

Far from being a bit part actor, Brian has appeared in 124 film or television productions and played a huge variety of parts.

I found Brian to be a very funny, thoughtful and insightful interviewee and he gave me a lot of time.

I will point out also that I have learned that for the future it is usually going to be best to share former episodes with the actor in question, just in case they don’t remember everything about them. Considering his memory was hazy on filming Minder, Brian did an amazing job and told all sorts of great stories.

We speak of the heady days of Euston Films and also cover Brian’s role as Chris Cottle in Out, working on the 1972 film Burke and Hare and almost playing the role of the private detective, Hazell in 1978.

Brian also speaks of the Eastenders curse and tells of the time where he was mistaken for Billy Murray, another great veteran British actor.

The interview was filmed before the passing of Dennis Waterman which is why we speak of him in present tense. Brian tells some intimate stories and anecdotes – from the early 70s through to New Tricks.

So, Euston we have a problem. Over to Brian Croucher.