5 Star Nostalgia

50 Yrs of

Grit, Grime and Crime.

In the dry crisp air of January 1975, those watching Thames TV were in for a shock, as The Sweeney burst onto the small screens across the land. As the members of Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police, deal with serious violent crime in London. Created by Ian Kennedy Martin (The Onedin Line, Juliet Bravo), and running for three years, this is the newly restored first season shown in the original aspect ratio. Full of special features (See Below).

If you know, you know, and if you don’t, get it! Twelve hours of Cop Drama.

The Sweeney are Detective Inspector Jack Regan (John Thaw, A Year In Provence, Inspector Morse), Detective Sergeant George Carter (Dennis Waterman, New Tricks, Minder), and their boss Detective Chief Inspector Frank Haskins (Garfield Morgan, 28 Weeks Later, Albert!). The streets of London are separated by various gangs that plan on doing violence and bank robberies.

“Get your trousers on, you’re nicked!”

The Sweeney go up against hardened criminals, so they are armed when going into the affray. With this series being on at prime time, there were plenty of well known faces that wanted to appear in this gritty off-the-wall small-screen hit show. They dart around the streets of London in their NHK 295M, a metallic copper-bronze (“Tawny Metallic”) 1974 Ford Consul 3000 GT V6 seen at the start of the programme along with the even more famous, once heard it’s never forgotten theme tune by Harry South (The Chinese Detective, The Big Switch).

These coppers aren’t your cleaner than clean types, no, they have feelings and have beliefs that mean they will get the job done, even if it is not by-the-book. They’ll get into scrapes, they’ll be accused, but they will get their man/woman in the end. All done in crispy colour that will keep you riveted-to-your-seat, for twelve hours.

 

Available to order now from Amazon, HMV, Rarewaves and Zavvi

Special Features:
Option to view episodes in original Mono, 5.1 Surround sound, or isolated music only tracks
Armchair Cinema: Regan (original & 50-minute versions)
Interview with series creator Ian Kennedy-Martin
Restoring the Sweeney
Reconstructed Titles from Original Stills
Vintage Thames Trailer for Jackpot
Introduction to Queen’s Pawn by Tony Selby
Introduction to The Placer by John Forgeham
Introduction to Cover Story by Prunella Gee
Introduction to Golden Boy by Dudley Sutton
Introduction to Stoppo Driver by Billy Murray
Introduction to Big Spender by Warren Mitchell
Introduction to Abduction by Wanda Ventham
Audio Commentary on Armchair Cinema: Regan by actor Dennis Waterman, producer Ted Childs & director Tom Clegg
Audio Commentary on Ringer with actors Dennis Waterman, Garfield Morgan, writer Trevor Preston & editor Chris Burt
Audio Commentary on Jackpot with authors of ”The Sweeney: The Official Companion” Robert Fairclough & Mike Kenwood
Audio Commentary on Thin Ice with producer Ted Childs, writer Troy Kennedy-Martin & director Tom Clegg
Audio Commentary on Night Out with director David Wickes & assistant director Bill Westley
Additional Audio Commentary on Night Out with producer Ted Childs & writer Troy Kennedy-Martin
Audio Commentary on Stoppo Driver with actors Dennis Waterman & Garfield Morgan
Audio Commentary on Abduction with actors Dennis Waterman, Garfield Morgan, writer Trevor Preston & director Tom Clegg
Booklet