Petra Bennett is a pub land lady. In the first episode of the revival, Archie calls on Jamie to try and get her to sell up for a development organised by an acquaintance of Archie's. However, they soon come over to her side after her pub is torched. The bar is refitted at Archie's expense and renamed the Winchester. Petra is perhaps the equivalent of Dave from the previous series, but is on better terms with Jamie than Archie.It Is implied that she is the daughter of Dave Harris. Production Development Minder was devised by writer Leon Griffiths as a vehicle for Dennis Waterman after his success in The Sweeney. George Cole's wheeler-dealer character is almost secondary, with Arthur assigning Terry a new "minding" job in each episode. A number of early episodes focus on Terry in such assignments, with Arthur remaining in the background. However, as the comedy potential of Cole's dodgy-dealing character emerged, as well as the successful on-screen pairing of Waterman and Cole (which proved to be one of the series' most popular elements), the emphasis increasingly focused more on Arthur's exploits, and by a few series into the show's life, typical plots revolved more around Arthur's latest shady scams instead of some of the more "gritty" plots of Terry's minding jobs. Despite its eventual success, Minder was a slow burner, not helped by being delayed by a technicians' strike which forced most of the ITV network off the air for eleven weeks in mid-1979. In the light of initially poor viewing figures, management at Thames were intent on scrapping the show but managing director Bryan Cowgill persuaded them to commission one further series and repeat the first. Both attracted much larger audiences and by series 3, the show had become a major hit, and at its peak was often cited as the "jewel in ITV's Drama crown". Storylines The tone of the programme in series one and two, and much of series three, mixed poignant drama and action sequences with offbeat comic moments, and many of these tales had a grittier feel to them than the more light-hearted storylines that would go on to be more familiar. As the series progressed over 15 years, more emphasis was placed on the comedic aspects of the minder-principal relationship, and the show became more a comedy driven by a dramatic plot. Social satire played a strong part throughout the