The Blue Lamp and The Sweeney
Posted: February 1st, 2008, 4:44 pm
Spoiler Alert!
Here's two British movies that were also popular tv shows
IMO the hard hitting The Blue Lamp is the best British cop film while The Sweeney and Sweeney 2 are shall we say at best better than average. on the other hand I would say The Sweeney tv series is the best cop show to appear on UK tv and the only reason i can think of why it wasn't shown in America was because it was to violent for the U.S networks to take on in the 1970s when the likes of Starsky And Hutch were toning their violence down. The Blue Lamp, known as Dixon Of Dock Green, lasted for 20-yrs on tv, but in the 50s, unlike the movie, the tv show was rather soft by todays standard. it toughened up when another cop show Z-Cars appeared showing a more realistic approach to policemens lives.
The Blue Lamp was made in 1949 and featured hero Jimmy Hanley as rookie beatman Andy Mitchell, who lodges with older policeman George Dixon, played by the great character actor Jack Warner. midway through the film Dixon is shot dead by Dirk Bogarde during a cinema hold-up. London is so outraged by the killing the underworld join forces with the police in an effort to track Bogarde down and he is eventually caught by P.C Mitchell.
so popular was the film a series was commissioned some 6-yrs later and Dixon was brought back from the dead and became one of British tvs best loved characters, rising to the rank of Sargeant. the thing was Jack Warner was at retirement age when he started the tv show. he was about 84 when he finished.
Reagen was made as a one-off tv drama with a possiblity of a series later on. it starred John Thaw as maverick Detective Inspector Jack Reagen, Dennis Waterman as his Sargeant George Carter and Garfield Morgan as their boss Frank Haskins. it was about the newly formed Flying Squad, nicknamed The Sweeney, who fought violence with violence, showing Reagen and Carter just as tough as the villians they were trying to apprehend. There were if i recall 3 series of this groundbreaking Detective show and inbetween there were the two movies.
as i said the Sweeney movies were entertaining enough, but i felt there was at least two reasons why they didn't become all time classics. firstly in the series Reagen and Carter where big fishes in a little pond, but in the film they were taken out of their comfort zone and effectively became small fishes in a big pond, in an effort to make it grander than the tv show. from that aspect it didn't work. the 2nd reason was, while both the series and the film took advantage of the special bond that existed between both Thaw, Waterman and their characters, in the tv show it was a three man operation and i felt the fact Garfield Morgan was excluded from the two movies was a disgrace.
in the 80s Dennis Waterman scored a big hit with tv show Minder, playing a type of body guard to spiv George Cole (young Scrooge in Scrooge and Flash Harry in St. Trinians). It took a little longer for Thaw to find another hit to match The Sweeney, but he did in the shape of Morse in the 90s. it was another cop show, but more of a popular who dun it than the 'Get Your Trousers On, You're Nicked attitude from The Sweeney
Here's two British movies that were also popular tv shows
IMO the hard hitting The Blue Lamp is the best British cop film while The Sweeney and Sweeney 2 are shall we say at best better than average. on the other hand I would say The Sweeney tv series is the best cop show to appear on UK tv and the only reason i can think of why it wasn't shown in America was because it was to violent for the U.S networks to take on in the 1970s when the likes of Starsky And Hutch were toning their violence down. The Blue Lamp, known as Dixon Of Dock Green, lasted for 20-yrs on tv, but in the 50s, unlike the movie, the tv show was rather soft by todays standard. it toughened up when another cop show Z-Cars appeared showing a more realistic approach to policemens lives.
The Blue Lamp was made in 1949 and featured hero Jimmy Hanley as rookie beatman Andy Mitchell, who lodges with older policeman George Dixon, played by the great character actor Jack Warner. midway through the film Dixon is shot dead by Dirk Bogarde during a cinema hold-up. London is so outraged by the killing the underworld join forces with the police in an effort to track Bogarde down and he is eventually caught by P.C Mitchell.
so popular was the film a series was commissioned some 6-yrs later and Dixon was brought back from the dead and became one of British tvs best loved characters, rising to the rank of Sargeant. the thing was Jack Warner was at retirement age when he started the tv show. he was about 84 when he finished.
Reagen was made as a one-off tv drama with a possiblity of a series later on. it starred John Thaw as maverick Detective Inspector Jack Reagen, Dennis Waterman as his Sargeant George Carter and Garfield Morgan as their boss Frank Haskins. it was about the newly formed Flying Squad, nicknamed The Sweeney, who fought violence with violence, showing Reagen and Carter just as tough as the villians they were trying to apprehend. There were if i recall 3 series of this groundbreaking Detective show and inbetween there were the two movies.
as i said the Sweeney movies were entertaining enough, but i felt there was at least two reasons why they didn't become all time classics. firstly in the series Reagen and Carter where big fishes in a little pond, but in the film they were taken out of their comfort zone and effectively became small fishes in a big pond, in an effort to make it grander than the tv show. from that aspect it didn't work. the 2nd reason was, while both the series and the film took advantage of the special bond that existed between both Thaw, Waterman and their characters, in the tv show it was a three man operation and i felt the fact Garfield Morgan was excluded from the two movies was a disgrace.
in the 80s Dennis Waterman scored a big hit with tv show Minder, playing a type of body guard to spiv George Cole (young Scrooge in Scrooge and Flash Harry in St. Trinians). It took a little longer for Thaw to find another hit to match The Sweeney, but he did in the shape of Morse in the 90s. it was another cop show, but more of a popular who dun it than the 'Get Your Trousers On, You're Nicked attitude from The Sweeney