Dennis Waterman says his late ‘Minder’ co-star George Cole was "the most loved man in the profession".
George, 90, passed away last week after a short illness and Dennis – who played Terry McCann, the long-suffering bodyguard of Cole’s Arthur Daley in the ITV series – said fame never changed him.
Speaking on ‘Good Morning Britain’, Dennis said: "He was a wonderful man, I mean it’s easy to talk [about] him but it’s what everybody would say, he was the most loved man in the profession I would imagine, you won’t ever hear anybody say a bad word about George. He was a wonderful actor, he had a fantastic career and he stayed the nicest person you could meet."
Dennis admitted it didn’t take very long for the pair to become fast friends and said they were inseparable during their time on the long-running show.
He said: "We met, we sparred a bit together, you know because we didn’t know each other and we hadn’t worked together and then within two or three days we realised how similarly we worked and we just took off. We shared dressing rooms, caravans, whatever, and we wouldn’t go on the set individually we’d always go on together… We just made each other laugh a lot."
Dennis, 67, will give the eulogy at his friend’s funeral on Thursday (13.08.15) and admitted to some nerves.
He explained: "I’m not sure how good I’ll be. I can eulogise about him for weeks but I don’t think they want that. It’ll be horrible but a wonderful celebration I think."
George Cole ‘the most loved man in the profession’
