I have always liked the police procedural. From Ed McBain to Steve McQueen in Bullitt, there was something satisfying about watching the process of solving the crime. So as a child I watched Z Cars and its follow up Softly Softly. The police in these programmes might be flawed but they held the line against criminals. From memory, they always 'won'. Then in the 1970s, television gave us The Sweeney.
Jack Regan and George Carter were from the same communities as the villains they chased. They could have had a life of crime. They knew their turf and understood their limitations. Their success as coppers was down to class and that was also the thing that stopped them moving up the police hierarchy. Our heroes, who were very flawed, didn't always get their man or woman. They were damaged by the work they did and also oddly addicted to it. For a boy from Hackney, it felt as though The Sweeney told it how it was.
The story of Regan and Carter now comes to the big screen. The trailer looks promising. Ray Winstone is the logical choice for Regan. Ben Drew is a very interesting choice as Carter.
Hopefully, the film is well-made. It will be even better if it captures the ethical ambiguity of its original.
