TV COPS WEEKEND - And the award for best cop show ever goes to...

This is a very personal choice, in fact it's my choice, but I would give the award for best ever cop show to, The Sweeney. This was real gritty, dirty but ultimately escapist viewing even if it did seem realistic as hell, and many British cops liked to give the impression that they did what TV's Sweeney did.

Jack Regan (John Thaw) was a hard drinking, chain smoking, womanising thug of a copper and his sidekick Carter (Waterman) was almost as bad. But these were the kind of coppers needed to come up against the brutal criminals the show depicted. There was swearing, shagging, car chases, tortue and cutting edge drama.

The show's title came from Cockney rhyming slang for Flying Squad - IE - Sweeney Todd, Flying Squad. Everything about the show was a cut above the norm - it was made by Euston Films for Granada Television and shot on high grade film. The crew employed, particularly the stunt men were the best in the business and as a result the series showed some startlingly real action scenes.

'Get your trousers on. You're nicked.'

Slang was used heavily in the series which whilst adding to the show's authenticity it rather limited its appeal to foreign markets and as a result The Sweeney is not as well know around the world as it deserves to be. Indeed I'm not sure if it's at all known in the US - perhaps someone can confirm or deny that in the comments of this post. There were two feature film spin-offs made for the cinema and each did brisk business

The fourth and final season was made two years after the third - the gap being forced while the cast and crew filmed the two feature films, and the show ended with Regan throwing away his warrant card and quitting the force.

Dennis Waterman went onto the even more popular Minder and John Thaw drifted from forgettable role to forgettable role for a few years, before striking gold with the excellent Inspector Morse. Indeed Morse may be Thaw's best know role but it was Jack Regan that was his best ever creation.