Hazell

I loved this show. I was 18 and thought Nick Ball was the dream man. That Pam left him for the Big Yin!! (Who I thought was really funny but not a bit, well, sexy! Really unnerved me.)

I don't think the show needs a remake(other great and more modern ideas need a public airing) However, I have to say - if it were to be re-made please spare TV fans from the prospect of ex-east-ender's actors hamming it up as Hazell!

I have never really understood the need to re-film really great pieces of TV history. Very few even touch the originality or charm of the first take.

Look, I'm no critic with the same level of expertise as those above. All I can say is that Hazell was fantastic! The 'edginess' of Hazell always gripped me; the short sharp characters, the fast efficient script. And all beautifully introduced with fabulous Maggie Bell thumping out her very best blues (too bad I can't find a quality copy). Perhaps best was the rock solid foundation provided by all the supporting cast. OK, 'Hazell' seemed a little young to have so much 'experience' but Nicholas Balls' interpretation was perfectly believable if you simply accepted that the character started out young and grew fast, and what's so unusual about that in a large brutal city? Oddly, the series reminded me of the quality of Callan, which I love. Golly me, both so much better than usual politically correct diatribe presented as drama these days.

Writing this in late 2020...and now in my late 50s...I had very little recall of this show. The particular episode on now features some very poor American accents, some wooden acting, and low budget sets and filming. And for all that, it's still better than the virtue signalling woke clap trap produced today. Would have been better for the Euston films treatment...The Sweeney has aged much better IMHO. I can't believe Nick Ball was considered too young, that's a passage of time thing, he'd have been about 30 at time of filming, which these days would seem about right. Terry 'El Tel' Venables co-wrote this. The corny bits I assume, after all El Tel, when in his 20s, a pro footballer at the time, at the height of Beatlemania made a version of Waddaya Wanna Make Those Eyes at me For'.

Hazell, a gem of a show on ITV, flew under the radar but boasted stellar performances, particularly from Nicholas Ball as the confident yet vulnerable private detective James Hazell.

Roddy McMillan added complexity as Choc Minty (eh fly boy), a Scottish detective who made Hazell's life difficult. Featuring familiar faces like Derrick O'Connor and Michael Elphick, and written by Trevor Preston, Leon Griffiths, and Tony Hoare, Hazell embraced a slower pace, allowing its stories to unfold without patronising its audience.

The show is also a chance to see the London of the 70s, part glamour, part seedy, part post apocalypse.

While the series is of its time (especially in regard to race) it does its best to portray things with nuance. Remember folks, the past is a foreign place, they do things differently there.

I would recommend anyone, young or old to give this show a go.

i have recently acquired all episodes of this series on DVD and am thoroughly enjoying them all over again. if it is true that Nicholas ball wanted it to be shot on film otherwise he would quit then it is a real shame, but i can see his point. the series suffers only through being on tape, everything else is spot on. some of the stories are, indeed, a bit clichéd but the performances and scripts are excellent right the way through two series. i was thinking about if a revival was to occur who could do it .... four names came into my head:

Craig Fairbrass (tough) Leslie Grantham (edgy) Nigel Harmon (sexy) and Nicholas Ball (venables/williams thought him too young at the time .. well, he's a lot older now and still looking good)

.... i think a 21st century update would be great. To not consider it because it is sexist is ridiculous, a good screenwriter could turn the novels into superb TV, much better than the likes of 'vincent' or 'murder city'.

gives this series a look, it is great!!!!