Isn't it great when fine actors turn up in old episodes of the Sweeney and Minder....just now - Minder..in comes a young Peter Capadi..yeah ?

And the time when Brian BLessED or another when John Hurt (and George Cole pre-Arfur Daley days) turn up in the Sweeney..what bliss it is to have seen such sights first time around..in a three channel, barely out of black&white world..

well I think it is anyway

good stuff - keep 'em coming

Andy Serkis (Gollum in LOTR)was in a Kavanagh Q.C. episode last week!

Any time Rebecca Front turns up in Lewis or some other cop show, I keep thinking back to her roles on Knowing Me Knowing You or The Thick Of It. And whenever Samantha Bond is in Kavanagh Q.C. (much repeated on ITV3) I can't believe this efficient courtroom assistant is the same woman who portrayed Auntie Angela in Outnumbered.

The Sweeney was a good breeding ground for British talent here is a list of some of the more notably

Tony Anholt
Coral Atkins
Lynda Bellingham
Hywel Bennett
Brian Blessed
James Booth
Simon Callow
Cheryl Campbell
Warren Clarke
George Cole 
Kenneth Colley
John Rhys-Davies
Vernon Dobtcheff
Diana Dors
Colin Douglas
Lesley-Anne Down
Michael Elphick
Ronald Fraser
Prunella Gee
Sheila Gish
Julian Glover
Brian Hall
Cheryl Hall
Edward Hardwicke
Tina Heath
Ian Hendry
John Hurt
Barrie Ingham
David Jackson
Geraldine James
Peter Jeffrey
Paul Jones
John Junkin
Roy Kinnear
Ronald Lacey
Alan Lake
Lynda La Plante
George Layton
Maureen Lipman
David Lodge
Kenny Lynch
T. P. McKenna
Philip Madoc
Alfred Marks
Bill Maynard
Warren Mitchell
Morecambe and Wise 
Patrick Mower
Billy Murray
Jim Norton
Daphne Oxenford
Nicola Pagett
Geoffrey Palmer
Michael Ripper
Maurice Roëves
Sheila Ruskin
Nadim Sawalha
George Sewell
Catherine Schell
Patrick Troughton
Peter Vaughan
Colin Welland
Diana Weston
Geoffrey Whitehead
Stuart Wilson

Then up and coming actors and actresses
June Brown
John Challis
Christopher Ellison
Janet Ellis
Richard Griffiths
Karl Howman
Patrick Malahide
Andrew Paul
Sandy Ratcliff
Ray Winstone

Interesting to see a young Ray Winstone in old minder episodes,not done to bad for himself.

Did you all see Alan Lake as Jack Daniels in 'Flame' during BBC-4's Slade Night? My mum used to think Ricki Lake, the TV agony aunt, was his daughter from Diana Dors!

No it isn't - just reminds me how old I am!!! Mark you, I can remember Brian Blessed in "Z Cars" so maybe I'm an extreme case. Incidentally George Cole had been around for ages before "Minder" - you can sometimes see him old b&w films from the 1940s. Interesting that both he and Dennis Waterman had been child actors.

I watched a film the other night from 1971 pre- Sweeney and Minder and it starred george cole and dennis waterman also had susan george in it it was called Fright.