Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.

I’ve just recently started to get into this series, thanks to a DVD release of the first series and my fascination with LIFE ON MARS, and I’m digging it. I’ve seen a lot of ‘70s cop television from America, but bloody little of it from the UK, and it’s got a whole different vibe.

Great stuff, and if they’re really making a movie of it, I hope they take care to make sure it’s great. It certainly has the potential:

I can't blame you for missing this news because we seem to have missed it over here.. I only found it myself after reading the SWEENEY TODD article on this site!

This is big news on our side of the pond. I suppose I'd better do the publicity department’s job for them...

Currently in production is a movie remake of the revolutionary 1970s British cop show THE SWEENEY, starring Ray Winstone (! thank you god!) as the Jack Regan character immortalised by John Thaw (later known for INSPECTOR MORSE) directed by Nick Love (FOOTBALL FACTORY, THE BUSINESS, OUTLAW) and written by one of the original series creators Ian Kennedy Martin.

THE SWEENEY brought a level of grit, violence and immorality to British TV that arguably not been seen before or since. The most recent export British tv export, LIFE ON MARS, owes almost it's entire premise to the contrast between the modern world and that of the raw and seedy 70s crime scene depicted in THE SWEENEY.

Jack Regan and the Metropolitan Police Flying Squad, so named because their original high speed pursuit vehicles were post war RAF cars ('The Sweeney' = 'Sweeney Todd' !! it's rhyming slang mate!!) tackle the worst and most mobile organised crime across the various police boroughs of London without worrying too much about who they annoy in the process. The original tv series ran to four seasons and was popular enough to spawn two spin off movies, the second of which, SWEENEY 2, is good enough to bare some comparison to LONG GOOD FRIDAY and SEXY BEAST

It is not known if this new version is a period 70s movie or a modern reboot but if it's half as good as it could be this could really propel Mr Winstone, still hot after his great exit scene in THE DEPARTED, to superstar status.

Final thought - have they started casting MINDER yet?

Call me HORSEFLESH