They do? Dang, that's really foreign!
"Wouldn't be dead for quids" means that something is so amusing, interesting, etc. that you wouldn't have wanted to miss it, I guess because if you were dead you would miss it (of course, then why would you need the money if you were dead?)
I guess it doesn't really make sense, but it tickled my funnybone. Same as, "No worries, missus, we'll just scrub 'round it and it'll be jake in no time . . . " (famous last words department, Australian subdivision).