ANALYZING THE SWEENEY - The Sweeney is not well known in the US but on the list of great British TV series it's up there with I, Claudius, The Avengers and Fawlty Towers. Mention The Sweeney to almost anyone in Britain and you will probably be greeted by a reply of 'Shut it!' or 'Get yer trousers on, you're nicked!'. Both are lines from the show and have long become much quoted catchphrases. Quite an accomplishment for a show that ended 25 years ago.

Why is it such a great series? Well, for a start it features two marvellous characters. The late John Thaw ('Inspector Morse') stars as Detective Inspector Jack Regan of Scotland Yard's famed 'Flying Squad'(so called because of their use of high performance squad cars to get them to the scene of major crimes). Routinely mixing with violent criminals, gangsters, informers, strippers and prostitutes in those parts of London tourists never get to see, Regan is a 24/7 copper with an ex-wife and 8 yr old daughter he rarely sees.

And he's nothing like Inspector Morse. At all. Jack Regan is as hard as they come. He displays no hesitation in beating up villains, threatening suspects, or even, in the episode 'Queen's Pawn', organising a kidnapping so as to put pressure on a suspect! For UK viewers accustomed to the traditional saintly image of the English policeman, Regan was a truly startling creation and Thaw's performance remains utterly convincing not least because Thaw, with his craggy features and gruff manner never looks like some pretty-boy trying to act hard.

Of course every great character has to have a sidekick and Regan's best mate is also his second-in-command - Detective Sergeant George Carter, superbly played by Dennis Waterman. Although ready to use his fists when required Carter is a bit more reluctant to use Regan style methods (although only a bit) and the two spend much of their time exchanging insults, chasing birds (girls) and smoking like chimneys whilst trying to drink every pub in the London area dry. The delightful onscreen chemistry between Regan and Carter, (one that was mirrored offscreen by Thaw and Waterman) is one of the main reasons viewers adore the show. For Regan and Carter feel like real working people caught up in the stresses and strains of increasing beauracracy, long hours, an unsympathetic boss and a shrinking home life. Like all great popular drama their experiences connected directly with those of the millions of viewers who tuned in every week to watch them.

The other key to the success of The Sweeney was the extraordinarily high standard of writing and direction on the show. The crew were much influenced by The French Connection and Dirty Harry and, in a revolutionary approach to series filmmaking they used that documentary style; shooting entirely on location in London with lightweight 16mm cameras and sound equipment, keeping dialogue scenes short and emphasising pace and action. They also pushed the envelope in the depiction of violence. Excitingly choreographed fight scenes were a hallmark of The Sweeney right from the start and 25 years after it finished it's still strong stuff.

The fears and perceptions of crime harboured by the British public and the problems endemic in the police service were superbly dramatised by the scriptwriters. These included police brutality ('Big Brother'), know nothing career climbers ('Taste of Fear'), personal involvement with villains ('Lady Luck'), European terrorism ('Faces'), police corruption ('Bad Apple') and hi-tech crime ('Tomorrow Man'). That all of these concerns are still major problems in British policing just goes to show how little the series has dated (apart from the inevitable fashions and haircuts). A strong streak of earthy humour was also everpresent, perfectly balancing the roughhouse nature of the fight scenes. Even more boldly, the villains sometimes got away with it.

The most influential writers, such as Troy Kennedy-Martin (who wrote the extraordinary BBC thriller 'Edge of Darkness' as well as the screenplays for 'Kelly's Heroes and 'The Italian Job') took great delight in subverting the conventions of the police series; just watch Regan and Carter's song and dance routine in the hilarious Kennedy-Martin scripted 'Visiting Fireman' and you'll see what I mean. Another equally important writer was Trevor Preston, whose own ambivalent feelings towards the police produced one of the series most unforgettable episodes with 'Abduction', wherein Regan's own daughter is kidnapped.

So popular was The Sweeney that reruns on the main commercial network, ITV, continued in Britain until the early 1990's. The show then migrated to terrestrial digital channels where it has won over new generations of fans who were too young to have seen the original screenings. The influence of the show cannot be overestimated. Indeed every major British crime series to have been shot on 16mm since, including The Professionals, Prime Suspect, Between the Lines and Cracker owes The Sweeney a huge debt both thematically and artistically. The best of these have successfully built on The Sweeney's legacy and established their own identities, while most remain little more than just pale wannabies.

What set this show apart from every cop show that had come before, at least in the UK, were the characters of Regan and Carter themselves. There was no master sleuth solving crimes with the help of a 7% solution, no coldly logical Poirot solving cases with a generous helping of mustache wax, no comical Columbo hiding his intellect behind a shabby raincoat and interminable "last" questions, and no Harry Callahan style uber-cop toting "The most powerful handgun in the World!" Nope, Regan and Carter were just a couple of ordinary blokes, smokin', swearin', gettin' blind drunk - whether on or off duty! - shaggin' birds, and endlessly chasin' skirts... they just happened to be cops!

Of the pair, Regan was by far the most ruthless, he wasn't too concerned if he had to beat a confession out of some slag, or lean on a grass to get what he wanted, which was basically to put the bad guys behind bars. George was just as down to earth and pragmatic in his approach to the "Law," but tried to do things ever so slightly more by the book than his boss, and would often cover for him when things got sticky with the Brass. The show was strong meat for its time, and generated quite a lot of complaints from those who liked their policemen to be seen politely helping little old ladies across the road... I guess you could say it was the "NYPD Blue," or "The Shield," of its day.

"Sweeney!" and "Sweeney 2" are really two extended episodes of the show, but they do reign in the rhyming slang that was such a part of the TV series as the films were obviously intended for a wider audience. "Sweeney!" opened out the usual TV format and involved Regan and Carter in dirty goings on in high places, corrupt politicians, murdered prostitutes, and blackmail, while "Sweeney 2" took them back to their roots, in having to deal with a ruthless team of blaggers - bank robbers. And strangely enough, after watching both films back to back, for only the first time since I saw them in the cinema on their original release, it's "Sweeney!" that, for my money, comes off best.

The film has a great ensemble cast, including the wonderful Ian Bannen as the corrupt politician in question, and Barry Foster - sporting what has to be the Worlds most god-awful American accent! - as his nefarious press agent. The story twists and turns and ends up with Regan on the run, through the streets of London, from a team of well armed hit men, with a high-class prostitute in tow, trying to figure out what on Earth's going on! This story allows Thaw to explore Jack Regan's character in some depth, and the climax of the film shows you just how ruthless he can be.

"Sweeney 2" should've been a blinder; Regan and Carter are chasing 'round London after a gang of blaggers who wave gold-plated sawn-off Purdy shotguns in peoples faces to get what they want, and they're not shy about using them either! But for some reason I can't put my finger on, the film just doesn't gel, it should, but for me it didn't. However, it's saved by some blackly comic scenes, especially the one where a young lady returns Regan's keys to him - in a very "personal" place - while he's sleeping off the booze, and a spectacularly violent ending.

I'm not so sure how "Sweeney!" and "Sweeney 2" will play to an American audience unfamiliar with the series and the characters, but I gave these films a 5 Star review because, for me, they're a wonderful nostalgia rush, and take me back to my teens in the 70's. Ah yes, the 70's... the "Decade that taste forgot!" An innocent time, when people could wear platform shoes, voluminous flares, migraine inducing tie-dyes, even mullets, and feel no shame. It's said that if you remember the 60's you weren't really there. Well, if you remember the 70's you probably cringe at the tasteless, tacky horror of it all. Punk had yet to really put the boot in, Elton John still had hair, Michael Jackson was recognizably human, and the world was mercifully free of Britney Spears!

Based on the successful British television show of hard drinking, rules breaking, super cops, the theatrical spin-off Sweeney! and its bloodier sequel Sweeney 2 are a breath of gritty nostalgia. The fine folks at Anchor Bay put these peas in a pod together as a bare-bones double feature. In the first feature film Sweeney! Detective Inspector Regan (John Thaw) and his trusty assistant, Detective Sergeant Carter (Dennis Waterman), are torn from their usual lifestyle of drinking and full-body socializing when a high class prostitute has the bad luck to be killed. Pursuing the case with a disregard for charm and subtlety, Regan unearths a deadly conspiracy to manipulate world oil prices with murder and blackmail. However, Regan is soon framed for driving drunk (more than usual, anyway) and suspended from the force by the sly machinations of his price manipulating nemesis, Elliott McQueen (Barry Foster). If you think a little matter like jail time and professional disgrace will stop Regan from blowing the lid off an international conspiracy and putting the handcuffs on his man, then you don't know John Regan (or the conventions of the genre)!




In Sweeney 2, Just before being nicked for corruption charges, Flying Squad chief Jupp (Denholm Elliott) hands Detective Inspector Regan (John Thaw) one last case. It seems that there is a crew of particularly nasty bank robbers popping in and out of London banks with mysterious regularity. Led by Francis Hill (Ken Hutchison), they steal oddly precise amounts of loot and are not shy about killing inconvenient people, including their own wounded! Curious and curiouser when Regan tracks the gang to Malta, and finds the gang living the life of Reilly on a palatial estate, complete with wives, children, and the benevolent protection of greased palms. A perfect set-up for a bloody showdown in London, wouldn't you say?

If you can't get your fill of rough-hewn coppers, horribly dated clothes and seedy '70s London, then this is the show for you! Well, that's actually quite a relief. I was having nightmares in dreadful anticipation of seeing Sweeney Todd! This Sweeney! and Sweeney 2 set is not about a murderous barber and his Soylent Green pie-making cohort, but a roving unit of relentless, incorruptible policemen (the Scotland Yard "Flying Squad") whose focused pursuit of the lawless is sometimes as dangerous to themselves as their prey.

The flavor of Sweeney! and Sweeney 2 is very much in the vein of The French Connection, as if Popeye Doyle's twin grew up in London. The crooks in Sweeney! aren't nearly as intelligent, but their ham-handed antics still entertain if your suspension of disbelief is intact. (Given the plot of Sweeney!, you might be forgiven if you wondered whether it ought to be called The American Connection.) Since its American cousin was released in 1971, I would be quite surprised if The French Connection did not inspire in some fashion Sweeney series creator/writer Ian Kennedy Martin (Baretta). If you like/hate one, you will probably like/hate its trans-Atlantic counterpart.


Though a comparatively short 97 minutes, Sweeney! drags at times, primarily when the focus shifts from the action and Regan's bull in a china shop antics to the less than compelling aspects of the plot. After all, making a bland yet complicated plot of political blackmail and world oil cartels seem exciting is not a simple task. Director David Wickes seems overly enamored with unusual camera angles and techniques at the expense of clarity, as if Sweeney! is an in-joke with his cinematic pals. Finally, if you have high standards for special effects, don't look too closely when the action gets bloody—the results seem more like actors with cheap fake blood than convincing casualties. Overall, Sweeney! is a decent film, if a bit slow and ponderous.

On the other hand, Sweeney 2 is more in tune with the blood and guts ethos of the Flying Squad. At one point Regan mutters that he's never seen so many dead people. What, didn't he ever see a Clint Eastwood movie? Director Tom Clegg (Space: 1999, the Sharpe series) discards the cute camera tricks of the first film for a serious, straightforward style suited to the story. The result is an improved, solid police movie, with a first-rate set-up and slow build-up to the inexorable bloody final confrontation.

The problem is that Sweeney 2 has trouble deciding if it is a movie about the Flying Squad, a movie focusing in on the bank robbery crew and their motives, or an extended television movie. Though the focus starts with D.I. Regan and Company, the frequent interludes with the robbers' tranquil domestic lives and their "professional" activities tease you with the promise of insight. Yet, for all the attention, you never get any look into the robbers aside from frustratingly indirect exposition and a jarring dash of darkly pessimistic politics at the very end. Possible dramatic blockbusters are mishandled, such as an inquiry into the death of a bystander due to Detective Sergeant Hamilton's actions that is raised but not followed up on, or the corruption of Regan's former boss, which comes across with all the drama of a Yorkshire pudding.

The script of Sweeney 2 has another annoying moment with a mid-film hotel bomb scare scene. While the picture of hordes of police officers swilling down free booze at the hotel bar while beleaguered Detective Sergeant Hamilton saves the day is delightful, this scene has zed to do with the film. It does do a wonderful job of stopping Sweeney 2, stomping over the flow of the story, and padding the running time. If this were a modern mile-a-minute thriller, than a brief breath-catching film might be well taken, but not in a deliberately paced film.

John Thaw is the heart and soul of Sweeney! and Sweeney 2. A masterfully subtle actor, John Thaw carries the world-weary, rules-hating, criminal despising ethos of Detective Inspector Regan with dignity and menace. As good as Thaw is, I'm afraid he is less convincing as the servant of Bacchus the writers want him to be, though he soldiers on as best he can. Thaw's Jeff Daniels look-alike sidekick, Dennis Waterman (Minder) keeps up with his lead, though he adds a quality of ironic humor absent from the more straightforward Thaw.



Guest starring in Sweeney 2 are some fine character actors, including Ken Hutchison (Straw Dogs), Denholm Elliott (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Trading Places), and the ever compelling Nigel Hawthorne (Yes, Minister, Firefox, The Madness of King George). Sadly, while Elliott has a nice turn as the "bent" former leader of the Flying Squad, Hawthorne barely has the time to be noticed. Hutchison, on the other hand, has plenty of real estate on screen, but fails to give Francis Hill much texture aside from his evil skin.

Sweeney!, whether intentionally or not, seems to borrow from another film in the early 1970s, namely Hitchcock's dark, homicidal Frenzy. Shared between the films is the late actor Barry Foster, and therein lies a bit of a problem: he seems to be the same person in both films. He looks roughly the same, carries himself with similar false friendship, and oozes the same evil charm. Okay, in Sweeney! he sports a dubious American accent, but having seen both films, I found the sameness to be most distracting, and that's a negative on Foster's acting ledger. A shame, really, because Foster seems to have the talent for much more.

But I digress, "The Sweeney," whether it's the TV series or the films, stands or falls on the relationship between Regan and Carter, this is what binds the stories together, as well as tight plotting, and excellent characterization across the board, not only from Thaw and Waterman, but the minor characters as well. In fact, watching these films is like perusing a who's who of British TV actors from the 70's, including the ever dependable Denholm Elliot, in "Sweeney 2," who US viewers will recognize as "Marcus Brody" from the "Indiana Jones" movies.

There were 4 seasons of The Sweeney and all 53 episodes of the show are currently undergoing digital restoration here in the UK by Network Video in anticipation of a season by season DVD boxset release starting later this year. If any US viewers have PAL compatible equipment and an interest in how we do crime this side of the Atlantic then I urge you not to miss The Sweeney when it finally arrives. In the meantime these two movie spin-offs make an enjoyable (albeit imperfect) introduction to a British TV show that can truly be described as 'classic'. (by Nicholas Sylvain)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SHEILA HANCOCK'S ONLY INTERVIEW SINCE JOHN'S DEATH - Contributed by Morsefan which I'm sure is known to most of you, is this touching interview Sheila gave shortly after John's death, published in the Daily Mail on Saturday, April 6, 2002. We've all read excerpts from it in other news stories but thanks to Zoe we have the complete news article. They are thumbnailed, in order, left to right, below. Clicking on the pages will enlarge them to full-size on your screen.









Sheila talks about John's last night, her grief, and having to face life without John. Here you can read the original story, in full, as it appeared in the Daily Mail. Thanks, Zoe!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

REVIEW OF THE TWO OF US STARRING JOHN THAW & SHEILA HANCOCK - This review of an Australian production of one of John Thaw's most noted stage plays was sent to us by Theresa in Australia and originally appeared in the Theatre Australia of March/April, 1977.

By Norman Kessell. THE TWO OF US by Michael Frayn. Theatre Royal, Sydney. N S. W., (Opened 1 5ii. 77) Director, Patrick Lau. Designer, Terry Parsons Starring SHEILA HANCOCK, JOHN THAW, DAVID NETTHEIM, & VAlMA PRATT. New faces in old shows is a current theatrical phenomenon in Australia. This production at the Theatre Royal, Sydney, of Sheila Hancock and John Thaw in The Two Of Us, has been followed by Douglas Fairbanks Jnr, David Langton and Stanley Holloway in The Pleasure Of His Company. Later we are to have American film star James Stewart in-would you believe? -Harvey! One fellow critic has observed what a pity it is we are not seeing these interesting overseas players in newer works. Even that, alas, is not without its hazards, remembering the disastrous Peter O'Toole sortie in Dead Eyed Dicks and the featherweight Keenan Wynn opus, The Mind With The Dirty Man.

The talented British husband and wife team brought over for Sydney and Melbourne seasons of The Two Of Us are known to Australians only per medium of the screen and the box-Sheila Hancock through TV's The Rag Trade and many films, and John Thaw also in films but more immediately as star of the now telecasting series The Sweeney.

The play they are in we first saw here in 1972. Many theatregoers will remember the Marian St. Theatre production with Anne Haddy and Max Meldrum which was so successful it was immed. iately transferred for an equally successful run at the Independent Theatre-a North Shore theatrical "first" unlikely ever to be repeated. This new version is produced by Paul Elliott and Bernard Jay in association with the Austra-lian Elizabethan Theatre Trust and Playbill (Australia) Pty Ltd and by arrangement with the M. L. C. Centre Management-a classic example of the co-operative complex necessitated by the economic structure in theatre today.

Actually, The Two Of Us is now a misnomer, because Actors Equity has understandably in-sisted on an equal number of Australians being in the cast, thus making it The Four of Us. This has to some extent upset the balance of the show, while the inbuilt virtuosity that was an essential element of Michael Frayn's quartet of one-actors has been literally halved. And coincidentally, but significantly, this production was only half successful-on opening night in Sydney, anyway.

In the first play, Black And Silver, Miss Hancock and Thaw play a couple whose return to Venice to try to recapture the romance of their honeymoon is constantly thwarted by the crying of their baby. All the gentle humanity and humor of this situation has somehow vanished under Patrick Lau's direction and the domestic details involved become merely crude rather than comic.

In The New Quixote, Valma Pratt plays a mature woman who in an alcoholic haze at a party the night before has picked up a brash young man and allowed him to share her bed. Thus encouraged, he proceeds to move into her cottage, complete with hi-fi and dirty washing, and she succeeds in getting rid of him only by exploiting his curious philosophy of reverse truth. Thaw is an experienced and resourceful actor and he injects tremendous energy into this role, but there is no way, even with a blond wig, that he can present himself as a young man of 20 or so.

The show's more successful half came after interval, first in Mr. Foot, with Miss Hancock giving a splendidly amusing, yet strangely touch-ing portrayal of a sensitive woman, intelligent woman totally repressed by maddeningly boor-ish air of superiority assumed by her husband, played by David Nettheim. Almost her only source of communication with him is his foot, the constant incontrollable twitching of which is usually her sole guide to his thoughts.

Piece de resistance, however, is the final play, Chinamen, with Miss Hancock and Thaw together again as a harassed couple trying to cope with an unwanted guest at a dinner party. With ingenious staging, immaculate timing and many quick changes, between them they play all five visible roles in this well-directed, fast-moving little comedy. Thaw plays both the host and the unwanted guest, with Miss Hancock as the hos-tess, the unwanted guest's estranged wife and, funniest of all, the wife's new hippy boyfriend. Terry Parson's workable sets and Anastasia Wade-Brown's costumes are effective aids.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EXCLUSIVE MAGAZINE INTERVIEW WITH JOHN THAW - by Gary Stevenson (June 2001) - John Thaw was one of Britain's most versatile actors of stage, screen, and television, before his untimely death on February 21st 2002 at the age of 60 after a battle with cancer of the oesophagus. His portrayal of Chief Inspector Morse won him a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Best Actor Award in 1990 and 1993; the ITV Personality of the Year Award in 1991; and the TV Times Favorite Actor Award in 1991. For many years, Thaw played the lead role in 'The Sweeney!', one of the most successful series on British television, collecting several awards. He starred in two feature films as the same character, for which he won the Evening Standard Best Film Actor of the Year Award in 1977.

Chatting with John back in June of 2001, I first asked him how his treatment was going with regard his publicly-admitted illness. "Well, I am receiving treatment for cancer of the oesophagus," he said calmly. "As soon as this has been completed, I intend to return to work. Sheila (Hancock) and I appreciate everyone's support and understanding, but would now be very grateful if our privacy as a family could be respected."

Q: Is it hard to look at that final day of shooting on 'Inspector Morse: The Remorseful Day' and see yourself dead?

A: "Well, seeing yourself on a mortuary slab pulls you up," he says with a wry, yet painfully truthful smile. "I'd done a past Morse when he was in hospital and you think, 'this could be me tomorrow or in six months time', and 'I could be here as John Thaw'."

Q: With regard your role as Inspector Morse, was it easy saying goodbye to him after all these years?

A: "I really have mixed feelings about it," he says, his right hand coming up to gently rub his chin. "It's sad since I'm losing one of my favorite characters. I've enjoyed doing it very much, and I feel very proud to have created a character that is so respected. On the other hand, as an actor and a human being, it gave me more freedom to concentrate on other things."

Q: After all this time, what still do you miss most about playing the character?

A: "I still miss working with Kevin [Whately]. I think we had a great rapport together. I miss that contact with him as an actor. Parts like Morse don't grow on trees. He's so complex and there are so many sides to him which, for an actor, is a joy. In one scene he'll be churlish, as he's not exactly the kindest person in the world, he wryly smiles again, and yet in the very next scene he'll be a sensitive, caring man in a totally different situation."

Q: Do you have a favorite episode?

A: "I have two or three. For sentimental reasons, I like the very first one we did: 'The Dead of Jericho.' There, we were laying down the roots for all the years to come. I like the one called 'Masonic Mysteries,' which was quite different. For other reasons I like the one we shot in Australia - 'Promised Land' - which finishes with Morse walking up the steps of the Sydney Opera House to the strains of Der Rosenkavalier, the Strauss opera. I thought that was very touching. That was shot by John Madden who also did 'Shakespeare in Love'."

Q: And, finally, what are your memories of working with Dennis Waterman on 'The Sweeney!'?

A: "Good times,' he now brightly smiles. "Great times. I loved working with Dennis. We had so much fun. So much fun. Of course, I was much younger and more rough with the criminals back then," he now chuckles, 'But I daresay they all got what they deserved."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NEW SCHOOL OF MUSIC AND DRAMA UNVEILED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER - October 1, 2003 - The University of Manchester's School of Music and Drama is to unveil its new £6 million home during a festival of events from 2 to 5 October. ‘Launchpad’ - an exciting weekend of drama workshops and performances, concerts, recitals and masterclasses - will feature students, staff and alumni from the School of Music and Drama, as well as visiting international celebrities. The festival will be packed with activities that reflect the strengths of the two departments, bringing to the centre of the campus a wealth of performance activities to inaugurate the new building and its spaces.

The University of Manchester has made available more than £6 million to provide new premises for the School of Music and Drama. The new buildings on Coupland Street afford many new opportunities for collaborative teaching and research, and for the development of new courses. The building includes the new purpose-built Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall, the John Thaw Studio Theatre, the Lenagan Library, audio/visual facilities, improved performance, workshop and practice spaces, as well as new Electro-Acoustic Music studios run jointly with the Royal Northern College of Music. This studio theater is to host both concerts and plays in the future, in honor of Manchester's favorite son.

The Lindsays, the University’s String Quartet-in-Residence for over twenty-five years, will give their first concert in the new hall to mark the start of their annual Evening Series, with three new, short quartet movements written by composers from the Department of Music. The festival will close with a rare performance of Eisler’s cantata The Mother, performed, conducted and directed by students and staff from the Department of Music. The hall has its own new Steinway D grand piano, costing over £70,000.

The University’s Department of Drama has organised several key events for ‘Launchpad’ including ‘The Lawnmower’ – a piece from Britain’s leading professional disabled theatre company, ‘Writing for performance pieces’ – in which students read from their own new scripts written over the last year, and ‘They’ll Never Have It So Good: people of the post-war period’ – a 10-minute performance about the lives of four women on VE Day with an accompanying 40-minute workshop, examining the characters’ lives and the aftermath of war

The new centre is in the former Rutherford Laboratory building, behind the Manchester Museum in the centre of the university campus. It replaces the music department's former concert space, a converted flea-pit cinema in Denmark Road, opposite the Whitworth Art Gallery. The two university benefactors commemorated in the new buildings were Cosmo Rodewald (1915-2002), a former senior lecturer in history at Manchester who retired in 1976 and used his inherited wealth, often anonymously, to help the university and other bodies; and John Thaw, the Longsight-born and Ducie High School educated actor and TV favourite, whose foundation donated generously to the project.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

REMASTERING THE SWEENEY - Ever wondered how that tatty old TV series was magically cleaned up for DVD? Danny Phillips asks Pearson Television's remastering experts how it's done. - As much as we love them, the TV programmes of yesteryear look terrible by today's standards. With our eyes tuned to the high quality of DVD and modern TV broadcasts, the original versions of shows like '70s cop-fest The Sweeney look horribly grainy and washed-out. They may have looked good at the time, but nowadays they just won't do, especially with the demand for such programmes to be released on DVD.

Remastering provides the perfect solution. The recent DVD entitled The Sweeney: Car Chases features classic episodes of the hit show, and is a good example of how filthy old master film can be cleaned up to look as good as new. Pearson Television, which owns the rights to The Sweeney, is in the process of remastering the entire Sweeney back catalogue. Peter Langmaid, who's in charge of all Pearson remastering projects, has worked for Disney, MGM and 20th Century Fox, and has 20 years' experience with Pearson and Thames Television, building an intimate knowledge of their programmes.

As technical manager, it's Peter's job to ensure all of Pearson's programmes are given a spit and polish for their worldwide release on DVD and VHS. He is at pains to point out the considerable effort it takes to make the ageing film stock look sparkling clean. What Video & TV was invited to attend the remastering of the 1974 feature-length pilot episode, Regan, which led to the Sweeney series we all know and love. It was part of a series of films for TV called Armchair Cinema, and featured John Thaw and Dennis Waterman as coppers Regan and Carter for the first time.

The remastering takes place at Pepper Telecine, based in London's Covent Garden, which houses a wealth of state-of-the-art equipment. The company was established in 1999 and boasts a core team of dedicated remastering experts. Pepper also houses a C-Reality telecine machine - a snip at around £500,000 - which digitally scans the film without touching the surface, and allows remastering wizards to manipulate images as they see fit. One such wizard is Chris Beeton, Pepper's senior telecine operator, who has 25 years of experience behind him. Peter and Chris have worked together for many years on an array of projects, and our visit found them frantically trying to finish the pilot - hardly surprising with studio time priced at £650 an hour.

Chris is at the helm of the £300,000 Pogle Platinum control desk in a darkened studio, 'grading' or 'colouring' the images scanned through from the telecine machine. The console sports a vision mixer, audio controls and scopes, and behind this sits a bank of monitors and computer screens. Chris and Peter survey the images, decide what each one needs, then Chris adds or removes colour and light to make each shot look as it was originally intended. Detail and contrast can also be improved, and the equipment can even simulate camera movement. But it's not an automated process - there's a great deal of creativity behind it.

'The principles remain the same over the years, as to what you can and can't do,' says Chris, fiddling with a closeup of John Thaw's face. 'As well as colour correction, you can use noise reduction to remove grain, dirt and slime. You can move the picture around and rotate it, you can do all sorts of wacky things if you want to. Most of it never gets used in a programme like this, it's more commercial.' Although The Sweeney DVD was originally made for viewing on 4:3 TVs, Pearson is using the technology to crop the original picture to a 16:9 shape. This kind of tampering may draw scorn from fans of the original broadcasts, but Peter is adamant that widescreen is the way to go.

'The Sweeney was shot in 4:3 on standard 16mm film. It was always deemed to be feature film action but on the small screen, with a totally different style from anything preceding it. There was a lot of waste in the picture area, so we can actually zoom in and make it 16:9. The resulting image is so much more pleasing to the eye, and we think it's worth doing.' The computer trickery is just one phase of a process which takes up to 10 days to complete. The first step is to locate the master 16mm negative held in deep storage which, like the Sweeney pilot, may not have been touched for decades. It's a Herculean task to find it among the 250,000 others in storage, but luckily Pearson has a comprehensive computer database of all its programmes.

The negative is sent to a company called Colour Film Services, which performs a manual examination to check that the film splices from the original editing procedure are still intact. It's a delicate operation; the often-irreplaceable negative must be checked by hand to ensure no damage is done. Weak splices cannot be removed entirely, but must be strengthened with polyester tape to keep the film length the same. The lab then 'grades' the original negative, using a film analyser and adjusting the various picture elements, like light and colour. Once it has been graded, it then makes a test 16mm positive print to check if the grading is right. If successful, the next step is for the lab to produce a film print good enough for the telecine operators to use in the remastering process. This is known as an 'intermediate' or 'interpositive'.

The interpositive is scanned on a high-definition-capable C-Reality machine, and comes through to the studio where the colourists can begin tweaking. As it is scanned through, the computer detects the beginning of each scene automatically, identifying the first frame of a new scene by differences in luminance levels or movement. It stores a still of that frame, and the computer knows exactly where it starts and finishes. The colourist can then go anywhere within that shot to make alterations. The equipment is sophisticated enough to allow different levels of grading at the beginning, middle and end of the shot, then evenly merge them into one. After every shot has been painstakingly rendered, the improved images are transferred onto Digital Betacam tape ready for DVD authoring or transfer to VHS.


'We've been remastering now for two-and-a-half years,' says Peter. 'We've looked at every possible way of doing it, and the cheapest and easiest would be just to come off the existing videotape onto a digital format. It doesn't improve the quality, all it does is give you a digital copy of an old transfer which is probably covered in dirt and generally not very good. 'Now we're trying to improve it. Unlike video, film allows you to pull out more information from the 16mm neg as technology improves. If there are problems with contrast, light and shade and the colours aren't right, we can electronically improve that image.'

But as Peter points out, things can go wrong: 'I was doing an exterior fox-hunting scene, and it was a bright sunny day so we made it look fantastic. But we were doing it with no audio, and when we relaid the sound, the guy looks up at the sky and says 'Oh dear, it looks like a storm's coming!' So we had to go back and regrade the entire sequence to make it look dull.' The Sweeney pilot was due to be remastered towards the end of 2001 and early 2002, but was brought forward because of high demand. Around six episodes have been finished, but every episode will eventually be remastered in both 4:3 and 16:9 over a three-to-five-year time period. Not only is Pearson brushing up its catalogue for worldwide sales, but it also has an eye on the future arrival of domestic high-definition players. The interpositive created for the remastering process makes an ideal source for high-definition transfers.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DECEMBER 2003 INTERVIEW WITH SHEILA HANCOCK - In the December 13-19 2003 issue of Radio Times Sheila Hancock talks frankly in her first major interview since the death of John Thaw. The complete two-page interview is available below as thumbnail images, simply click on the image to expand it to full size and read the interview. (Or "save as" to your computer and you can enlarge it to any size you wish). Thanks go out once again to Zoe for this contribution!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

JANUARY 2004 INTERVIEW WITH KEVIN WHATELY - The following interview with Kevin Whately comes to us from our good friend Zoe, who found in in a TV magazine last week. In it Kevin talks about his feelings for John, the last time he saw him, what the past two years have been like without John, Kevin's early days singing on the Underground, his plans for the future, and much more. It is a moving remembrance of his long-time friend and colleague that we present in time for the second anniversary of John's death. You can best read the article by using the "save as" feature on your computer to enlarge it full-size (larger than even using the thumbnails). If anyone has a transcript of this interview or would like to prepare one, please let me know.

SPECIAL TREAT FOR KEVIN WHATELY FANS - To view 2 video clips of Kevin in scenes from Peak Practice, click HERE FOR CLIP 1 and HERE FOR CLIP 2. Both are roughly a minute in length and showcase Kevin doing what he does best.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

KEVIN WHATLEY ON PLAYING NEVILLE HOPE & AUF WIEDERSEHEN, PET - (2004)

A slightly bemused Neville finds himself 'recruited' to MI6 to act undercover on low level intelligence missions in the Cuban capital. And he's about as far from James Bond as it's possible to be:

"Of all of them, Nev's not a liar. He, and maybe Dennis, are the most honest people in the gang. Neville's always said exactly what he thought even when it's got him in trouble! He's more on the Alec Guinness [who starred in the 1959 film of Graham Greene's novel Our Man In Havana] end of the spying scale rather than the Pierce Brosnan end. It really gets him down because he's not used to lying to his worst enemy let alone his best friends."

"It's not the first time that they've thought he's having an affair when he's not! But that's the least of his worries. He's so far into his lies that it's almost a relief to him that they haven't cottoned on."

"He's the only one with a 'pet' left, he's got his family and a life that he likes. I think sharing these awful digs with a load of sweaty, stinky fellas is, at his age, almost too much for him."

"He's really had enough but it's a tribal loyalty that keeps him working with them. He's committed to them and they've been together so long that really he's emotionally blackmailed into going."

"I've started claiming that it was my idea to go to Cuba. I'm sure that it's not entirely true but at one point they were talking about going to South America and I'd been to Cuba the year before so I suggested it. I went a few years ago with my family. There is an amazing music scene, the people and the place were beautiful and it's totally unspoilt."

"Also, with the Cuban revolution, it's got a working class affinity and, without being anti-American, I think the world does have a respect for the way that Castro stands up to the American sanctions."

"So when we were talking about series four, I suggested that Cuba might have had a hurricane and that we could be repairing the damage. But the team came up with this wonderful O.E.D. when they were in Cuba recce-ing. None of us had known that the O.E.D. existed but we knew it would work!"


DID YOU KNOW?
- Kevin’s real daughter played his on-screen daughter, Debbie, in the first two series of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.
- He has two children with his wife, actress Madelaine Newton. Madelaine appeared in When The Boat Comes In and early episodes of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet as Dennis’s girlfriend Christine Chadwick.
- Before studying at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, Kevin hoped to become a doctor, then trained as an accountant.
- One of his earliest credits was a part in Coronation Street.
- His diverse range of musical tastes include Senegal-born singer Baaba Maal, Pink Floyd and Dire Straits. He plays guitar himself and after leaving drama school, spent time as a folk singer.
- While he's not working, Kevin spends his free time taking the family dog for a walk around their local village where he lives with his wife and two children.
- Since finishing the show, Kevin has taken on the new challenge of playing Wolf – a hunter who tracks down two daring pigs that became national heroes by escaping slaughter in The Legend of the Tamworth Two.

Next: Articles & Interviews (Pt.8)