Ringer

While the BBC still persevered with Dixon of Dock Green who was just about to get a telegram from the Queen for 100 continuous years on the beat. Thames Television together with Euston Films smashed the image of the police in London's Flying Squad.

Hard to think that John Thaw was 33 years old when the pilot episode was broadcast. Regan and Carter pursued villains by using tough tactics and faster cars. Their Ford cars were more than a match when those villains drove away in Jaguars with sawn off shotguns.

New DCI Haskins is not comfortable with Regan doing his own thing. Regan is conducting surveillance on gangsters Dave Brooker and Frankie Kemble who were even respected by the Kray Twins. When Regan's girlfriend's car is stolen with the camera and information he has compiled in it. The villains get wind of what the police are up to. Regan and Carter need to race against time and stop the villains before their next job.

No subtleties here, Regan and Carter use a two fisted approach to get the job done. Actually Brooker and Kemble are more old school villains than just chamless violent thugs.

The show has plenty of location shooting, a feature of Euston Films productions. There is even some humour and a nice interplay between John Thaw and Dennis Waterman.

Just to rub the BBC's noses in it, Kemble is played by Brian Blessed, better known as PC Fancy in Z Cars. Look out for June Brown who would go on to become famous as Dot Cotton in Eastenders.

Cop shows would never be the same again in Britain. A year later Dixon was pensioned off and the BBC introduced Target in 1977. It was even more violent than The Sweeney.

In many ways 'Ringer', the first episode proper of 'The Sweeney', was not substantially improved on.in subsequent ones.

It introduces us to many 'Sweeney' trademarks, with its colourful assortment of villains and the 'networking' which was an integral part of life for those on both sides of the fence, We also gain some insight into how these activities impacted other people.

I really like the gritty feel of 'Ringer',enhanced by the camera-work, the settings and the visuals generally.

Ian Hendry, Brian Blessed and Alan Lake make for an intriguing trio of villains, all very different from each other but without descending into cliche. There is some great banter between the three of them.

Regan's relations with his superiors are also put under the spotlight, although his exchanges with Haskins seem harsher and more abrasive than they would generally be in subsequent episodes.

The acting is primarily of a high quality, and there are some entertaining and impactful performances by those in minor roles, such as June Brown and Ray Mort. There is also plenty of humour in between the darker and more menacing moments.

In terms of atmosphere, the building of suspense and so forth, this is possibly one of the stronger episodes of the show. Snappy dialogue and editing contribute to this.

So, all in all, a fine episode which set the standard for later ones to follow.

This is an amazing piece of brit cop grit...You must watch the sweeney if you like classics in the vein of long good friday. This obviously is a cop show but the villains point of view is well shown in this episode, its tough as nails this show. East end gangster Frankie Kimble has plans to bust an associate out of jail during an escort and it should go off without a hitch...until some local car thieves steal main character jack regans(john thaw) car which he had valuable police surveillance photos inside of, and before long the surveillance photos wind up in the hand of Kimble who happens to be the star of the photos as well as his crew. Realizing the law is onto them Kimble and crew debate if they should call off the jailbreak, and if they do go ahead with it this could be the chance the coppers need to catch Kimble and crew red handed...could this be the opportunity the sweeney needs to put the villains behind bars!?

Following the pilot, this is definitely the first episode since Haskins doesn't want Carter to be Regan's partner since there's too much potential in Carter. How that'd soon change and Regan and Carter would be equally lectured by Haskins, but much less since Haskins starts out more the cliche barking boss...

This is one of the best episodes as it's sparse and uncomplicated, and gritty the likes of GET CARTER that, ironically or perhaps not so, Ian Hendry is the bad guy along with the master-voice Brian Blessed who, sadly, has a fake silver beard that looks like an SOS pad...

But for the kind of gritty no-nonsense exploitation the show's known for, and as far as the first season goes, look no further than this.