REVIEW – We take a look at the new remastered 50th Anniversary Blu-Ray release of classic cop show The Sweeney

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The Sweeney

In 1974, the one-off TV film “Regan” aired as part of the ITV anthology series Armchair Cinema, and followed DI Jack Regan (John Thaw) and his team, headed by George Carter (Dennis Waterman) as they investigated the murder of a fellow officer who got caught up in a gangland feud.

The film was a critical and ratings success, and served as a pilot for an ongoing series, title The Sweeney. The resulting show was another ratings hit, lasting for 4 series, and enjoying many, many years of regular repeats.

The Sweeney has had a few releases on home video, and now Old Gold Media are bringing us this restored and remastered Blu-ray collectors edition, bringing together the Regan film (both in its original feature-length version, as well as a shorter edit) with all episodes of the first series, along with audio commentaries, episode introductions and more.

If you’re a fan of the show, there’s little new about it that I can tell you, but as someone who had never seen it before (to be honest, over the years it simply just never appealed to me), I was intrigued to give this new release a spin – both in terms of the show itself, and the restoration work that’s been done.

I’m happy to report (not that you really need me to, of course) that as a TV drama The Sweeney is exceptional. Putting aside the dated fashions and technology, the show still feels extremely modern, with street level crooks and crime, clever police work, office politics, and a gritty tone throughout. Yes, some of the fights are a bit shonkily staged, and bad language is pretty much limited to an over-use of “BASTARD!”, but there’s a really authentic feel to the show that even many more recent police shows lack. Some great location filming around London, along with plenty of up-close, handheld camera work really puts the viewer in the thick of the action, and gives a real sense of place to show.

The performances are great all round. These were star-making roles for Thaw and Waterman, obviously, but the supporting cast all bring their a-game as well, from series regulars like Garfield Morgan as their boss DCI Haskins, to a British acting who’s who of guest stars, including Brian Blessed, Julian Glover, Patrick Troughton, Warren Mitchell, John Hurt and many more, who appear across the show’s 4 series.

If, like me, you haven’t seen The Sweeney before, now’s the perfect time see what you’ve been missing.

Video

The restoration work for The Sweeney originally began over 10 years ago, with all the episodes of the first series being scanned from their original 16mm negatives (apart from the ‘Ringer’, the series’ first episode, where the negative no longer existed. That episode was restored by combining together 3 different prints of varying quality). That work was then put on hold before resuming in 2022, with additional work being done, including the creation of new cropped 16:9 HD masters, in addition to the original ratio 4:3 HD masters.

Both had extensive work done to repair damage, tidy up rough edit points, adjust grading and so on. While no DNR was used in the creation of the 4:3 masters, some light grain management was used for the 16:9 version, where some of the heavier grain was more visible as a result of the 16:9 frame being cropped and zoomed in slightly from the original 4:3 image.

Restoration colourist Jonathan Wood gives a thorough look at the whole process, with some great side by side comparisons in this video here:

This new Blu-Ray release includes the 4:3 version of the series only, while it looks like the 16:9 versions will be used at some point for streaming.

The video quality is outstanding throughout. With the exception of Ringer (though even that still looks pretty damn good), and taking into account the 16mm source material, every episode looks fantastic. There’s a bit of softness here and there, but on the whole the images is packed with detail, with consistently accurate colours and good contrast, helped by plenty of details in the darker areas of the image. Grain looks natural and is never distracting. This may not be home cinema demo material, but there can’t be many 50 year old TV shows that look this good. It’s fair to say it looks better now than it’s ever been.

Audio

Audio is offered in both original mono and 5.1 tracks. Both are valid options when listening. Obviously the mono track is the one for purists, and it’s clean from any distractions like hissing and popping, while the 5.1 opens up the sound stage a little, though remains mainly focused on the front channels, while the .1 channel adds a bit more oomph during some scenes, especially with music.

Again, it’s not demo stuff, but both versions sound great.

Extras

This is the only area of this release that’s a little disappointing. Don’t get me wrong – there’s a good selection of extras, including audio commentaries and introductions on several episodes, and music-only audio options on all episodes, but these are all carried over from the previous Blu-Ray release.

The only new extra is a brief piece on the new restorations, though this is much shorter and less detailed than the YouTube video you can see above.

None of these are bad – they’re all interesting features, especially the commentaries, which feature a mix of participants, including actors Dennis Waterman and Garfield Morgan, as well as various writers, directors and producers. But, for a 50th anniversary set, I would have expected some new additions, perhaps looking at the ongoing legacy and influence of the show, all these decades later.

Packaging

The packaging for this release is simple, with the old faithful slip case containing a fold-out holder with 5 discs. Also included is a booklet with a couple of essays, alongside episode and restoration notes. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s a format that’s more than proven itself over the years, so if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, I guess.

Summary

Well, I can finally say I’ve seen The Sweeney, and I love it.

It’s clear that the restoration work – not just on this first series, but the other 3 as well – has been a real labour of love, and the team really have worked wonders. Series 2 is due for release soon, so we hopefully won’t have to wait too long for 3 and 4.

The transfers are fantastic, and each episode looks and sounds great. My only gripe is that the same energy and effort hasn’t been extended to the extra features – it would have been nice to get some new pieces looking back at The Sweeney and other TV of the time, as the show celebrates its 50th anniversary.

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