January 2 1975 saw the first episode of The Sweeney airing on ITV. Thursday nights at 9 PM. There were 13 episodes with regulars John Thaw as Detective Inspector Jack Regan, Dennis Waterman as Detective Sergeant George Carter, and Garfield Morgan as Detective Chief Inspector Frank Haskins. They're all in the Flying Squad, part of the Metropolitan Police in Greater London, and deal with robberies and violent crimes. The Met, the Old Bill or Scotland Yard are their nicknames. The guys aren't in their offices that much, they're out on the street, with the criminals. Punchin' them. It's why Regan has so many enemies.
The Sweeney was pretty gritty for TV in 1975. Regan's not a nice guy, he likes putting hands on people. DS Carter is a bit hesitant to do just about anything but he does go along with some crazy ideas. In the first few episodes Regan's bosses use his loose cannon style to their advantage. One scene with Haskins and his boss has the boss saying, " There's nothing terribly wrong with revenge being harnessed to justice." Haskins' replies, "Well, maybe not, but you're talking about harnessing it to Jack Regan." These guys are totally going to throw him to the wolves if things go wrong in their plan.
The episodes are different enough to watch all in a row over a few days. The show is fast paced but not quickly cut. The car chases are more realistic, cars flailing around, than flashy. The stories don't always have a nice clean end. I'm finding them as entertaining as I did when I was 21. That's nice. I've got three more series to go. Yay!
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