Hazell

You will notice Season 1 has ten episodes while Season 2 has twelve.

This is because at the time that Season 1 was being broadcast the actor John Bindon, who was playing a gangster in the episode "Hazell and the Public Enemy", was up at the Old Bailey on trial for the murder of Johnny Darke in a pub in Putney (improbably named Ranelagh Yacht Club).

At the request of Bindons defence team, who felt that a jury might confuse the character with Bindon in real life, Thames Television 'pulled' the episode from the schedule.

During the trial fellow actor Bob Hoskins was one of those who appeared as a character witness for Bindon.

By the time Season 2 of Hazell was broadcast, Bindon had been acquitted of the murder, so Thames just tagged the episode "Hazell and the Public Enemy" on to the end of Season 2.

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.

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'.

In an era of reality TV and Netflix it's probably strange that I can be bothered to write a review? The show was created a long time ago but it's utterly brilliant. Kids would scoff at the fashions and everything else but this show portrays London and all its filthy dead end locations and weaves it into a fascinating PI detective show. Nicholas Ball was wonderful and it's a shame he didn't get a massive break from this. Raw, gritty and a little bit strange at times it represents London in the 70s In all of its glory with fascinating characters and story lines. Watch for nostalgia but definitely watch.

Hazell was one of a clutch of London-based drama series of high quality which ITV produced in the 1970s, with others from this era including Minder, Budgie and Out. Minder aside, I was too young to watch these series when they were originally broadcast, however I've really enjoyed catching them on DVD. Hazell was an interesting take on the private eye genre, with the 'tec as a Cockney ex-cop with a classic car and a nice line in dialogue.

Nicholas Ball is convincing in the title role, and I'm a little surprised he didn't become a bigger name on TV post-Hazell. I didn't know the writers thought he was too young for the part, and I'm astounded they considered John Bindon for the role. Bindon could play a tough nut, which of course is what he was in real life, but as Dennis Waterman said in his autobiography, Bindon wasn't what you would call an actor.

As well as sharp dialogue, Hazell benefited from a very capable supporting cast, which included Roddy McMillan as the teetotal Scots CID officer Choc Minty, Desmond McNamara as cousin Tel, and James Faulkner as Gordon Gregory, the posh lawyer with some very dubious clients. With regard to a remake of Hazell, I did hear a rumour a while back about Ray Winstone taking the lead role (I feel Jimmy Hazell would be a better part for him than Vincent), and I'm disappointed it hasn't happened.

However, it doesn't surprise me in the slightest that the useless lot in charge of drama at ITV think Hazell is 'dated and sexist'. James Hazell was hardly someone who treated women badly, and Barbara Young played a strong (but not butch) lesbian character in the series, so go figure, as the Americans say. Nowadays, Network Centre (dubbed by one national TV critic Notwork Centre) is content to churn out endless series by Lynda La Plante and unimaginative guff by Kay Mellor, therefore how they can dismiss worthwhile ideas so freely is beyond me.

A measure of ITV's current hold on reality - phone quiz cons aside - is that they think Caroline Quentin is star material. Dearie me. Back to Hazell, and it's a great shame there's been no similar series on our screens for many years. Television drama series aimed primarily at men have been extremely thin on the ground for a very long time, and with TV advertisers said to be desperate to reach younger men, you'd think the answer was obvious. Even to the right-on dullards running drama at ITV.