Best cop show ever
Cop shows have always been around in one form or another but which are the classics?
I have my two favourites to bore you with:
The Sweeney
What can you say about The Sweeney? It's the bloody Sweeney init!
Apart from the violence, hard drinking, smoking and birds it almost verges into "Terry & June" territory between Regan & Carter.
Storylines are great with first class actors that you always know from "somewhere else".
And the music.....the music is just fantastic. Funky hammond while Regan breaks someones nose, Rhodes piano while Carter wakes up from last nights bender.
Hawaii Five-O
What I have noticed on recent viewing is that Steve McGarrett treats his team like complete imbeciles and he never ever raises his voice. He doesn't have too, he's Steve McGarrett.
The locations are fantastic and again the music is just out there.
And just quietly they both have the greatest opening and closing credits ever.
- More from Scott Wilkinson.
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Not strictly a cop show
but Shoestring was great (in my memory at least). Would love to see it now.
That was the only time
Toyah seemed interesting
Public Eye
Or was it called "Marker" - anyway, Alfred Burke as down at heel private eye - really the only time the Brits produced a convincing alternative to Raymond Chandler/Philip Marlow. I especially remember the fantastic music - I was only a sprog at the time, and this would have been one of my earliest exposures to jazz...and of course it's on You Tube
Public Eye...
...brilliant series !
The very definition of down at heel !
I think the DVD was reviewed in The Word a while back.
The great thing
about The Sweeney was the two different theme tunes that would run over the credits depending on whether the bad guys had been nicked or got away. The full on 'pah PAH PAH!' bit if an arrest was made, a slow mournful version in a minor key if it all went pear shaped. Fab stuff.
The Sweeney...
...no bother. Brilliant television. The episode 'Taste Of Fear' is one of the most intense pieces of television I've ever seen.
I also love 'The Professionals' though it's more of a spy yarn really.
If you love the Sweeney
check out Gideon's Way, basically the Sweeney but set 10 years earlier in 'Swinging London'
Also what about Taggart?
Homicide : Life On The Streets
Excellent in every way - Characters you could empathise with - Story lines that ran and ran - Great Camera work - Amazing it survived on US TV for so long
Totally agree. The first
Totally agree. The first series with Ned Beatty and Jon Polito was outstanding.
Apparently The Wire
is quite good.
naw it's shit
plodding storylines, no resolution of mini-plots in each episode, and what's with the accents.
*ducks and runs v fast*...
*#!*
I understand you can simulate watching the Wire simply by standing in a room cursing continually. Might get boring though. Oh, err......
but you also need to
kill someone every now and again which can make a mess. And if you play McNulty you have to drink a lot and then have sex with the first person you can find. Which can also make a mess.
Sounds fun though
Sounds fun though
Its could be
but not if you still live with your parents (on so many levels).
Take it
you never saw Juliet Bravo and probably too young for Dixon Of Dock Green.
Oh dear, I just started whistling the theme to Z Cars.
Nurse!
dixon and z cars
Both had great theme tunes.
How about Taggart??
And what about two dismal attempts to televise Rebus?? Still Would have liked a slightly thinner Robbie Coltrane have a go at Rebus.
Cracker, now there was a good cop show.
Detectives still not televised
Micheal Connolly's "Harry Bosch"
Peter Robinson's "Inspector Banks"
Cracker was the best.
The Robert Carlyle one might, just might, be the pinnacle of UK televised drama.
Cracking!
Agreed, the Robert Carlyle one was incredible, and was in fact, the only Cracker story I ever watched.
Australian Accents
Paul Waring :Spot on Mate,watched it again last week,Brilliant.
In the Sweeney,who remembers the 2 Episodes with Patrick Mower and George Layton as 2 Aussie crooks ? They had the Antipodean equivilant of Dick van Dyke as their voice coach. The Sweeney went a bit naff after Haskins left.Who was replaced for a while by Victor Meldrew,Though the second feature film was great.
http://www.thesweeney.info/ great website for fans
Homicide
NYPD Blue
Hill Street Blues
But surely the best coppers on TV were Jones and Chisholm,Rycott and Mellish from "MINDER".
Series 4-7 were as good as it gets.
Quicker than the human eye
All of the above are fine pieces of drama but I think you've missed the obvious winner.
Best cop show ever was Hong Kong Phooey.
He was a dog, you see, who lived in a filing cabinet in a police station and worked there as janitor. BUT! He had special martial art powers so was able to foil the crooks before Sarge and Rosemary.
God help me.
The greatest police drama ever...
...was Cop Rock.
As close to perfection as the The Wire was, it would have been greatly improved by a few musical numbers in each episode.
BLIMEY!
That's unreal. I kept waiting for R Kelly to arrive. And why did he suddenly remember all the extra info only when he started singing?
Quite spookily relevant
I just watched an old CSI (not strictly a cop show but great fun all the same) and it featured a character who had died in the bath with the hot tap running & had steamed for 3 days (your skin turns to gloop & your brain to gelatine, apparently). Trying to trace his last movements, the female CSI's discovered the t-shirt he'd worn pre-bath, & imprinted on it in body paint was...a backwards '7'.
Trust me I know what I'm doing..........
Sledge Hammer was the greatest,
Intro,
Rumour has it he talks to his gun......
Sledge does Witness amongst others.....
Big Country influencing...
...Z-Cars was great in the mid-70's, using video, exterior shooting and very naturalistic acting to achieve a highly realistic feel - it got taken off. The Bill went down a similar road about 10 years ago when it went to hour-long episodes, with similar results - they turned it into a soap.
Big ups across the herring pond for Law & Order (still going strong). And I loved Barney Miller
I know it is dated now
but I still think Miami Vice was great. Fantastic locations, great music of its time and a fashion leader too. It probably helped that I lived in Miami for a couple of years and had much fun recognising the locations - even got stuck in a traffic jam one day whilst they were filming a drug bust at the port of Miami.
Dixon of Dock Green I recall from my childhood and it showed the friendly face of the police - not sure it has much relevance in today's cynical society but it was very good.
Prime Suspect,
Particularly the first couple of series.
Agree with Cracker - quality dropped after McGovern left, but still excellent.
And it's a bit recent to be classic, but Life On Mars was a blinder.
i'm supposed to be working
HOWEVER, nobody has mentioned Hill Street Blues, for Shame!
Working ?
Hey....be careful out there...
Morse
John Thaw in two of the best cop shows ever. How good was that man..... ?
one word
CHiPs.....