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The Sweeney Box Set (Vanilla version)
RRP: £49.99
Our Price: £27.99 (subject to change)
Best edited box set ever
Review date: 2008-05-14 Rating: 10 out of 10
There is not a lot to say about the Sweeney. It's a classic and reviewing the Sweeney would be like reviewing Shakespeare. Let's focus on the DVD instead. The episodes are lovingly restored and the best picture quality I have seen in a 70s TV series re-release. Sound is also very good. The bonus materials are excellent: there are documentaries but also episodes of other series like Redcaps, Special Branch and Strangfe Report. Apart from that you get lots of interviews and promotionsal materials from the 70s. Absolutely one of the best edited box sets ever!
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Reviews
Great fun to revisit
Review date: 2008-01-18 Rating: 8 out of 10
A lot of the memories from your childhood/teens don't really stand up too well on revisitation, but having bought The Sweeney Box set for myself for Christmas, I've been watching a few episodes (I also picked up the pilot, Reagan, which is great too).
From the opening bars of the theme tune - Surely one of TV's best ever - the Sweeney on DVD is every bit as great as when I watched it as an impressionable teenager.
The scenes of London (the run-down, disused docklands in Reagan is a real eye-opener for anyone who knows the area now!) are great nostalgia and the wobbly suspensioned Granadas are fun too (so are the Austin 1100 panda cars), but the scripts, editing and pace are all excellent - Nothing flags in the 50 minutes of each episode (none of your stretch it out to 3 hour slots so beloved of today's TV cop shows) and there's always a resolution (of sorts).
Another great part of watching the Sweeney is to see so many well known (or just familiar) actors (TV and film) playing small parts (eg Villains, grasses, girlfriends). A few of the actors ham horribly, though, it must be said!
If you liked the Sweeney when it was out originally, you'll find it still stands up well to revisitation (even if the mid 70s were a crime against fashion and hairstyles!)and if you just enjoy TV cop shows, the Sweeney is a great example of how to keep it tight and taut and realistic, even today.
Brilliant TV crime drama, neatly packaged
Review date: 2007-11-24 Rating: 10 out of 10
The Sweeney is by far the best TV series about British policing ever screened. It's gritty, hard-hitting (literally); packed with strong characters and tight plots; blessed with one of our great TV actors, and it set a very high bar for subsequent series to try to reach.
The Sweeney has very little of the gloss of American cops-n-robbers series. Instead it's set in the very grubby, very cheap offices of London's Flying Squad with rogue copper Jack Regan (John Thaw) and his regular crew. They break the rules, they beat up the bad guys, they take a pounding themselves. And they drive truly cool cars form the 1970s in some of the most unlikely chase scenes -- nearly always on the edge of losing control... much like Regan himself.
The early episodes of the first couple of series are the ones to treasure. If you're in any way offended by violent, bad-tempered behaviour, naked girlies and angry shouting, then don't watch. If you're gripped by the desperate situations that Regan gets himself in to, and compelled to see whether the Sweeney will come out on top this time (they don't always get their man, in fact they often fail when Regan cuts corners), then buy this set and sit back and enjoy. It's remarkable how much the writers could cram into 50 minutes, and how well it reflects the criminal underbelly of London at the time.
A whole genre of TV and film owes its birth to the Sweeney. Without this series there never would have been 'Lock, Stock...' or Layer Cake, never mind Life on Mars. The Sweeney set the tone and it has not been bettered.
The film-making of the 1970s has been massively surpassed in recent years, but the characters and plots of the Sweeney will reveal that even the best of current TV drama is pretty limp by comparison. OK, the series loses the plot somewhat in the last series, with flippant episodes which Thaw and Waterman almost play for laughs -- but when it's good, the Sweeney is unbeatable. And this set just about covers the ground (although you should try to catch the movies, too).
After all, it gave us grown men calling each other 'guv'nor' and 'skipper', driving old Jags and yelling 'SHUT IT'. That's a brilliant night in, innit?
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
John Thaw
Garfield Morgan
Dennis Waterman
Creators:
John Thaw (Primary Contributor)
Garfield Morgan (Primary Contributor)
Director(s):
Recording label: Network
Manufacturer: Network
EAN: 5027626281847
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 14
Format: Box set, PAL,
Release date: 2007-12-10
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 2650 minutes
Language: English (Unknown)