Out and About June 2022 -issue198

CELEBRITY PROFILE
Brick Road and Waterman
later appeared in the same
dramatist’s Joe’s Ark (Play for
Today, 1974). Also in 1974,
Waterman appeared in episode
4 of the second series of the
comedy programme Man About
the House entitled “Did You
Ever Meet Rommel”, in which
he played a friend of Robin, a
German student by the name of
Franz Wasserman
He became a household name
as DS George Carter in The
Sweeney during the 1970s. As
well as starring as Terry McCann
in Minder, Waterman sang the
theme song, “I Could Be So
Good for You”, which was a
top three UK hit in 1980 and a
top ten hit in Australia. It was
written by his then-wife Patricia
along with Gerard Kenny.
Waterman also recorded a song
with George Cole: “What Are
We Gonna Get For ‘Er Indoors?”
In 1976, Waterman released
his first album, Downwind of
Angels. A single, “I Will Glide”,
was released from the album.
Waterman starred in a
television film made by Tyne
Tees Television entitled The
World Cup: A Captain’s Tale
(1982). It was the true story
of West Auckland Town F.C.,
a part-time side who won the
Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy,
sometimes described as the
‘First World Cup’, in 1909 and
1911. Waterman played the part
of Bob Jones, the club captain.
It cost £1.5 million to make,
most of which was funded by
Waterman. Shooting took place
in the North East and in Turin
in Italy . Scenes were shot in
County Durham pit villages and
in Ashington, Northumberland,
where goalposts and a
grandstand were erected in
a public park with a colliery
headframe in the background.
In 1982, Waterman starred in
the musical Windy City. The
cast included Amanda Redman,
with whom Waterman
had an eighteen-month
affair during the run
of the musical and
with whom he later
went on to star in
the TV series New
Tricks. Windy
City closed after
250 performances.
Waterman took
the lead male
role in the BAFTA
Award-winning
BBC adaptation of Fay
Weldon’s The Life and
Loves of a She-Devil (1986).
He was a regular cast member
in every season of New Tricks,
from 2003 to 2014, and also sang
the theme song. Waterman
appeared on stage in Jeffrey
Bernard is Unwell and as Alfred
P. Doolittle in the 2001 London
revival of My Fair Lady.
The Minder Podcast revealed
that Waterman was semi-retired
and living in Spain. The podcast
referred to Waterman as “a truly
underrated actor” and following
Waterman’s death pledged to
go off air for seven weeks, one
for each series of Minder he had
appeared in, in commemoration.
Waterman filming New Tricks
in 2012
Waterman was married four
times:
Penny Dixon (1967–1976) .
Patricia Maynard (1977–1987),
an actress with whom he had
two daughters, one of whom,
Hannah Waterman, is also an
actress. Hannah is best known
for playing Laura Beale in the
BBC1 soap opera EastEnders,
and later appeared in New
Tricks alongside Waterman as
his character’s daughter. Rula
Lenska (1987–1998. Pam Flint
(November 2011 – 2022)[
Waterman’s marriage to
JUNE 2022 | 59
Lenska ended because of his
violent behaviour towards
her. In March 2012, he caused
controversy with some
comments on this issue: “It’s not
difficult for a woman to make a
man hit her. She certainly wasn’t
a beaten wife, she was hit and
that’s different.” The interview
was broadcast in full on Piers
Morgan’s Life Stories on ITV in
May 2012.
Waterman was a fan of
Chelsea F.C. His love of football
was reflected in his being
chosen to present Match of the
Seventies from 1995 to 1996, a
nostalgic BBC show celebrating
the best football matches from
the 1970s.
In 2015, his friend of many
years, George Cole, who had
played Arthur Daley in Minder,
died aged 90. Waterman
delivered the eulogy at Cole’s
funeral on 12 August.
Waterman sung the theme
tunes for at least four of the
programmes in which he
starred, namely for Minder, Stay
Lucky, On the Up and New
Tricks.