Regan is a TV movie that's also the pilot for the 70s British TV series The Sweeney. It was produced for the Armchair Cinema series on ITV. I have fond memories of watching The Sweeney back when I was living in Winnipeg. It's a tough and gritty world, there's danger on the streets of London, violence could happen at any time. Sweeney Todd is Cockney rhyming slang for Flying Squad. That's the department that Regan works for, they handle armed robbery and violent crimes.
Ian Kennedy Martin created the show and wrote the script. He didn't write any of the series episodes but he had a co-writing credit on Sweeney 2, a feature film, with his brother. Ted Childs is the producer, he went on to produce The Sweeney series. Regan was directed by Tom Clegg, he would also direct 14 episodes of The Sweeney series. Besides that he worked on Special Branch, Space: 1999, Minder, a lot of the Sharpe Series and many more programs. He died a couple of years ago but we can hear him talking on the DVD of Regan. He does a commentary with Dennis Waterman and producer Ted Childs. It was entertaining.
Jack Thaw plays Detective Inspector Jack Regan and Dennis Waterman plays Detective Sergeant George Carter. Regan's an old school cop who doesn't mind breaking a few rules. He's also broken his marriage and he isn't having much luck in the romance department when his girlfriend's guy comes back from the sea. Carter had worked on the Flying Squad for a year and a half then got married and transferred to a quieter job. Regan lures him back to help him work on a case he's been told to lay off. Oh, that Regan! He's always going off on his own. Luckily he gets some results and makes the other coppers look bad. Oh, that Regan! He's always making enemies.
I enjoyed the story. I'll be happy to continue on with the series. I just received the DVDs from the UK so they're nice and handy.
Comments