Regan

On promotional material for 70s US cop series Starsky and Hutch when it was remade, Paul Michael Glaser commented that that series worked because it was first about men, second about cops. The same applies for The Sweeney. Regan and Carter are not perfect, they are not saints, they are not superheroes. They do not solve every crime perfectly. That is why we can relate to them. We watch them and see men like ourselves.

The setting is firmly in the Seventies, with all its period detail. But as with Starsky and Hutch, we see the relationship between men engaged in battle. The dated backdrops fall away and we see the same spirit behind it - an appeal to heroism in an age when this is lacking.

The series is over 30 years old but talks to men today. Therein lies its continued appeal - and success.

I was amazed recently when watching a television programme on a debate about good TV and The Sweeney was completely slated!! The content in those episodes is as fresh today as it were then and the violent feel throughout most instalments has some how become more menacing as time as moved on. You see this series is about real Brut swilling Coppers who new exactly how to wear their bell bottoms. This series was about as good as it gets and I would go as far to say that after this and The Proffesionals latter police style programmes look plain. Dated maybe but like a fine rolls Royce...never out of fashion for those who are lucky enough to see one.

When it first hit the screens in the mid 70s, "The Sweeney" was the first in a line of gritty, violent British cop shows which also included such series as "The Professionals" and "Dempsey and Makepeace". "The Sweeney" was a radical departure from the comparative coziness and tranquility of long-established shows like "Z Cars" and "Dixon of Dock Green" and portrayed a London full of violent villains brandishing sawn-off shotguns, pick axe handles, sideburns and flared trousers being pursued and often violently brought to justice by John Thaw's no-nonsense Detective Inspector Jack Regan and his sidekick Detective Sergeant George Carter, played by Dennis Waterman. Punch-ups, gunfights and car wrecks abounded, Thaw and Waterman frequently getting blood and grime on their enormous, tasteless ties and winged shirt collars as they strove to uphold law and order on the funky streets of Seventies London. Sometimes they'd introduce themselves to their quarry with lines like "we're The Sweeney, son - and we haven't had our dinner yet" before piling in, fists flying, to make the arrest. Violent, politically incorrect and still great entertainment, even after all these years.

Ian and Troy Kennedy-Martin were the brothers who revolutionised crime drama on British TV in the 1970s. While Troy was a far more political animal, Ian concentrated on commercial TV.

However, that doesn't make The Sweeney any less authentic. In fact, many ex-Flying Squad officers have commented on its authenticity, helped by the fact that the producers used to pay real policeman in used fivers as 'technical advisors'.

The Sweeney represents Scotland Yard's first proper attempt to stem the rise of violent robberies following the oil crisis and economic slump of the 1970s. It represents the time before the Police And Criminal Evidence Acts changed the face of policing for ever in Britain - a far more free-wheeling, corruption laden time.

Policing is shown as hard, tedious work where moral dilemmas must be confronted all the time and there are no sudden leaps in detection, just stress and danger.

Particularly impressive in the Sweeney are the number of times that firearms are used - this was really true in the Flying Squad - even back in the good old days...

After a hard day at work, I like nothing better than to pour myself a large Scotch, settle down on the sofa, switch on the DVD player and tell the bird to shut it as I watch those diamond geezers from the flying squad getting all tooled up for another blag. This series is without a doubt an absolute classic and if you remember the seventies - this was essential viewing. John Thaw's Regan and Dennis Waterman's Carter were no nonsense coppers who went up against a London full of well dodgy villains. Sawn-off shotguns, pick axe handles, car chases, fights, flared trousers and sideburns galore as our heros battle and bring to justice the various blaggers operating on their manor while at the same time drowning themselves in booze, smoking like chimneys and chatting up the birds. Gloriously politically incorrect this was a series which we will sadly never see the like again. In a word, magnificent!