DENNIS Waterman, who died this week from cancer at the age of 74, enjoyed small screen success to a degree that most actors today can only dream off.
Across 40 years the south Londoner entertained millions in shows like The Sweeney (where he bounced off his superior officer in the Flying Squad Jack Regan, played by John Thaw, as the likeable George Carter between 1974 and 1978), Minder (where he played the much put upon fixer Terry McCann to George Cole's wheeler dealer Arthur Daley between 1979 and 1989) and New Tricks (where, between 2003 and 2015, he revelled alongside the likes Amanda Redman and Alun Armstrong as Gerry Standing, a retired cop re-opening cold case crimes).
He brought a natural warmth and Jack-the-lad charm to all those roles and the viewing public clasped him closely to their collective hearts accordingly.
It's hard to imagine in this age of fragmented viewing methods, but a show like The Sweeney was pulling in around 19 million viewers at its peak, which meant that just about everybody with access to a TV set was, at the very least, aware of the actor and his work.
A proper working class performer, he elevated those often beautifully crafted and sharply written tales of the criminal underworld to another level and created some astonishing on-screen chemistry along the way.
It's difficult to think of a more natural on screen pairing than Waterman and Cole in Minder for instance.
The easygoing banter and verbal sparring of the two, very different but very connected, old friends trying to make their way in the shady world of knock-off goods and dodgy lock-ups feels as natural and unforced as anything in TV history yet Waterman displayed a similar ability to spark off his co-stars throughout his career.
Much of the pleasure to be derived from watching a series like The Sweeney today is gleaned not from the fairly standard police corruption and gritty bank heist plotlines but rather from the gnarly, world weary interplay between George and Jack.
When it came to portraying the complex world of male friendship and relationships on screen few could hold a candle to the Clapham born actor.
For the purposes of this column it's worth noting that the man also appeared in several significant, and decidedly cult friendly, big screen productions in his time.
He was, however briefly, a leading man for Hammer films, gracing director Roy Ward Baker's 1970 contribution to the studio's vampire cycle Scars Of Dracula as the dashing young lead who must see off Christopher Lee's crazed Count.
His finest silver screen credit, to my eyes at least, came with his performance as the working class mod who falls for Suzy Kendall's debutante-turned-blatant class tourist in Peter Collinson's 1968 adaptation of Nell Dunn's social realism classic Up The Junction.
Clad in an impressive submariner roll neck and sat astride a mirror festooned scooter, Waterman's turn as Pete, the ordinary geezer who can't fathom the thinking of the "slumming it" upper class girl he falls for, is believable, easy going and seriously cool. Just like Dennis really.
