Dennis Waterman's acting career spanned six decades, beginning with child roles and extending through film, television and West End theatre. He found household fame in the 1970s as Detective Sergeant George Carter in The Sweeney, and from 1979 starred as small-time crook Terry McCann in the comedy-drama Minder, for which he also performed the theme song. His final major television role came in New Tricks (2003–2014), another series for which he sang the opening theme — a fitting note for a career that mixed drama, comedy and music in equal measure.