I spent over twenty years policing Marylebone and St. Johns Wood from the late 1960s through to the early 90s and know nearly all the streets shown here and applaud the continuity of the Church Street scenes, having also lived on neighbouring Paddington police area for much fo that time. This show was a favourite, helped by that great theme music.
I loved it , being a child in this era I used to ask mum and dad if I could stay up to watch the sweeney , often told to get to bed , thanks for the memories 😀.
I was born in 1970 and I was allowed to stay up till 10pm on a Wednesday night when The Sweeney was shown in our ATV region, the closing music always reminds me of my mother then coming into the living room and saying bedtime.
My Favourite TV show as a kid. I was born in 1969 so can remember watching the last series in 1978 when I was 9 though have no recollection of the earlier series. My Mum didn't let me stay up late to watch TV but luckily during the period the last series was shown I was living at my Nan's and she let me stat up and watch it.
Snap, also born 69 and saw it as a child...when got to secondary school in early 80's we used to play 'Sweeney' in the playground, stopping and searching each other etc..😂 Was already intrigued by the programme then and I too used to watch it to my heart's content when staying with my grandmother who let me watch what I want...repeats were shown on TV constantly throughout the 80's and that's when I got to know all the episodes. Absolutely unique and very special series that influenced so much that came after.
@@jimspeed1388 hahaha I feel your pain bro! Taken me 43 years to realise; I don't know if the brand "Leyland 0680 " means anything to you especially if you are under 40 but I'd sooner have DMS Fleetlines with those (and Gardner) engines which I cut my teeth on than the horrible plastic cramped up crap we have now.
What a fantastic offering to us Sweeney fans. Cheers. I was in my mid-late teens and pretty much out and about during those years. But I always made sure to watch The Sweeney. I don’t think a better series has been made to this day. And how good to look back on 1970s London. That was my England, and even though I have a much better lifestyle today, I’d go back in a heartbeat.
Magic memories I lived in the area just round the corner from Ranson street .Wish life was like the way it used to be miss the area and my beloved mum and dad God bless.Thanks for the memories much appreciated.👍
BRILLIANT...Church Street, Edgware Road and Marylebone were on my doorstep back in the 70's so it's awesome to take a trip down memory lane looking at this vid....Pure nostalgia. Excellent.
This is a great channel for Sweeney fans. Love these types of then & now location videos to see how time has changed everything. The Sweeney was a great tv show followed by The Professionals - real gritty shows for the era never to be matched.
Loved this video thank you. I lived in Sussex Place for 20 years, just a few yards from the Victoria so know all these locations like the back of my hand. I also had the great good fortune to be mentored at film school by Roy Pointer, the legendary lighting cameraman who shot all of the Sweeney and later Minder. A Spitfire pilot during the war as a young man, he then worked in film with stars such as Bogart and Olivier before moving into television. The level of craft he brought to what was a pretty low budget series helped elevate it into the classic it has become.
The best ‘cop’ show ever. Wonderful memories from my childhood I would watch The Sweeney with my Grandad who would baby sit when my parents would go out to the.pub with relatives or work colleagues. Thinking about filming locations then and know and taking out the buildings what has changed the most? More traffic? More people? What do people do for work I cannot answer that myself but just more people in a busy London We lost Dennis just in 2022🙏🙏🙏🇬🇧🇬🇧🏴🏴👍 👍 ❤️❤️❤️
Great, as a 77 Year old I loved watching the Sweeney and although from East Sussex I worked for a couple of Years for the Railways in Queenstown Road, I think that Area was also used in the Programme.
I was born in 1964 and I clearly remember those days. I just started secondary school when the Sweeney was first shown on TV. I also remember that nearly everyone in the streets was white and English. Genetically, I'm only half English, the other half being Indian. The streets of London were safe back then and stabbings almost didn't exist. The London I was born in was very different to how it is today. How I miss the London of yesteryear!
Andrew Paul as the dodgy youth with the number plates, he later became a PC in The Bill in the 1980s. The Sweeney was brilliant, with such memorable dialogue as 'Get your trousers on, you're nicked'. Loved the Mk 3 Cortina shown in Daytona Yellow, I had a K Reg one in Monza Blue, from 1975 to 1980, it's long gone since to that great scrapyard in the sky. Nice to see Rachel Davies, a fellow Mancunian to John Thaw's Regan, in the early part of the film. It's amazing how so much of the areas remain the same, that can't be said for most other large cities in the UK.
non-Londoner but loved the Sweeney as a kid in the 70s: Great idea for a video and I must say, I'm slightly surprised how little has changed?! I worked in London between 84 - 90 (I was an ENG News Cameraman) and on my last visit to the UK in 2017, hired a car at Heathrow, needing to meet up with the wife and kids at Norfolk Square....promptly got hopelessly lost! Hell, I drove down Wood Lane and Didn't recognize it! I worked there for years but it had changed beyond anything I could imagine lol. With all the complaints one sees in the comment section about London changing beyond recognition...well, as your video Brilliantly shows (very well shot, by the way!) that's not completely true, is it!
Just discovered your channel . Used to love The Sweeney as a wee boy on a Monday night . At the time it used to blow me away that some parts of London looked still bombed out in the 1970`s post WW2 .
Britain was bankrupted by WW2. Transfer of wealth from Britain to the USA courtesy of the Military Industrial Complex. After fighting the NAZIs we then had to fight the Yanks to get some of our cash back through the Marshall Plan. We were only given half of what we asked for, and unlike Germany, France, and Japan, were charged interest on the 'LOAN'. It was North Sea Oil that eventually got Britain out of the post war poverty, and that Marshall Plan loan was finally paid off in 2006.
Great work you SLAG!! I enjoyed this way more than typical RUclips garbage. The Sweeney scenes definitely had more charm, but it's good to see many of the same places look almost as they did back then, just put some old classic cars in those roads and get a rough bird in a fur coat and you might not even notice. That tonibell sound, took me back to the late 70's, what amazing times those were!
That was an awesome watch and a trip down memory lane for me. I was a PC working out of Paddington Green nick back in the 2000’s and this was my old stomping ground. It’s amazing how little most of the old DD division hasn’t changed. Paddingtons Long been shut now and as far as I’m aware there’s no local stations covering the area. It’s covered by Charing Cross which is a fair old distance.
Shutting down so many Police Stations has been a Huge mistake ..Bobbies can't walk out of a station onto their Beat anymore...disaster. They've even shut Savile Row!
@@borderlord during my time in the job I worked at West End Central, Harrow Road, Paddington Green, St John’s Wood and Marylebone. They all closed during my time. And it became more and more difficult to respond to anything. Eventually Charing Cross became the hub for most of what used to be the old divisions. You then end up in a situation where the outer beats like Harrow Road don’t have any routine patrols as such because everyone tends to stay around the nick. The last thing you want to be doing is getting buses and tubes to get to your patch which is what we ended up having to do. Ridiculous
@TheCleanersCupboard That's really interesting hearing about it from the inside. It always seemed a bad decision when I noticed it beginning to happen. I live off Oxford Street and first noticed Marylebone sold off about 10 years ago . Unbelievable they had you getting the bus to your patch. So if a Bobby arrests a shoplifter etc on Oxford Street instead of a patrol coming from Marylebone or Savile Row they have to call up Charing Cross for assistance ?! That must be very frustrating. I'm sure the Met owned the Stations...seems a mad management decision ,thinking they can run the streets from one call centre! The money they made from the buildings is probably gone on extra transport costs ferrying everyone around!
@@borderlord yep thats exactly it. I remember one busy Friday night I was one of the last PC’s left in Westminster that wasn’t tied up dealing with something, there were numerous 999 calls outstanding. I wasn’t a police driver at the time so my only option was jumping on the tube, bus and commandeering a taxi at one point to get to them. It wasn’t long after that I thought, this is getting ridiculous. This isn’t the job I joined anymore. I remember calling for urgent assistance once during a domestic and being told that the nearest available unit was over 20 minutes away which in London was unheard of. It was becoming a nightmare back then so god knows how bad it is now.
Paddington Green is being demolished as we speak. The land sold to developers who will soon put up million pound cardboard rabbit hutches. I despair..... It has been 'replaced' by what I can only describe as an office occupying a small former shop unit on Church Street. Shutters often down. A car perhaps parked outside. Community Policing? Ah-well.
Watched this from the very first episode. I think the pilot episodes were called " Regan " (which I have never seen repeated ) Then they changed it to The Sweeney with the blue background and music. The best Police series ever made in my opinion, it will never be bettered. Absolutely brilliant to see these locations. Thank you for making these videos.
As a few in the comments have said, The Sweeney was the indicator for bedtime. I would try to eek out as many minutes that I could before my dad would send me upstairs; rarely did I get beyond the opening theme tune/ This was when TV had the 9pm watershed when all programmes from 9pm were not regarded as suitable for kids. The Sweeney certainly was that.
Loved everything about the Sweeney, but the best bit for me was the end of each episode when some point was made arising from the plot, and the mournful version of the theme tune played out as the viewer pondered what had just been said. This always contrasted with the brash, loud, energetic version of the theme at the start involving car chases and violence. It was as though the inevitable exhaustion of the events portrayed called for a less rambunctious, less optimistic, more reflective, and world-weary ending than the start. Seeing London in its post-war nadir provided the perfect near-dystopian setting for the whole thing. Great video - thank you! 👍
Very well put, & I totally agree. The opening theme comes in all guns blazing shouting, "we're The Sweeney son, and we haven't had any dinner!" By the end it's more "I've 'ad it son, I've 'ad it up to 'ere". The 70s were much like that - a time of wild contrasts in many ways - Disco balls and glam rock, waste ground and 3 day weeks... I love the lugubrious swan-song of the closing credits; it captures the mood perfectly.
@Sweenealogy that's it exactly! 😂 I remember the '70s well, but was too young to see past the car chases and punch-ups in this TV show. Now, looking back, I see a truly magnificent piece of drama with astonishing casting / acting and considering the tight budgets, some great production. It's all so reflective of the '70s "failing Britain" zeitgeist. Looking forward to future explorations!
Sometimes, you don't realise quite WHY you love a particular show. It takes a while for that to reveal itself. And for me, although there was much to love about The Sweeney, it was that low-key version of the theme tune at the end that did it for me. Right up until the final cymbal. Top stuff @Sweenealogy
@@citizenx2422 spot on! It took me a few years to nail why the calmer there tune at the end was so critical to the whole show - and it is critical. For all the punching and adrenaline, seldom does one leave an episode of The Sweeney thinking all's well with the world, and the bad guys have got what's coming to them. Hollywood endings were definitely not part of it. Two great lead actors, perfect casting, 1970s down-at-heel London - every element utterly perfect in portraying a far-from-perfect world. All done for a very low budget. Genius!
That happens a lot, believe me! I used to live in Camden and often did early morning runs up the back side of Primrose Hill. I've recently filmed a location that was literally yards down the road from where I ran past several times a week, and I never even realised it!
brilliant video! you're right, it was the greatest tv show ever, it had the lot, brilliant stories, great characters(and actors) brilliant cars, gorgeous girls and above all that fantastic long gone 1970s vibe(obviously) superb
Love it. I'm really enjoying these videos. Its also great having a laugh at the action and language that would now be deemed terribly politically incorrect. There'll never be another show like the Sweeney.
Good stuff. The Sweeney, like so many old TV programmes, can now be regarded as a kind of historical record of sights, sounds and other features of this country's past and as such, should provide you with a great source of material. Keep at it!
@@Sweenealogy Have you done one covering West Kensington,Holland Park,Shepherds Bush,and the old Colet Court School and St Pauls School buildings? They filmed all the "interior of Police Station" sets in there,and numerous "chases across derelict land" on the wasteland behind St.Pauls.
@@mjh5437 I've been round Holland Park and Shepherds Bush a few times back when I was doing the still photos / blog; I've not yet been back to film for this channel (but I will do). Yes - Hammersmith was definitely 'Sweeney Central' due to the location of the production offices, and as you say, many scenes were filmed in that area & around Colet Court / Colet Gardens. To be honest, I'm kind of "saving" that area till a bit later on, as I reckon it'll take me days and days to film all the location shots there!
My mum and dad divorced in 73 when I was 5 yrs it kicks you right in the derby,but we go through it mate ,my step dad was great do the 70s for me was great growing up in west London being able to relate to the locations of the Sweeny corrugated iron fencing all over the place bec there were still lots of bomb sites yet to be built on ,loving this channel mate Mark 😊😊
Thanks mate - yeah I was a similar age when my Mum and Dad split up, bit later on in the 70s. I was one of the lucky ones that I still had a great relationship with my Dad and Step Dad, but even so it still brings back a lot of feelings seeing something like that. Corrugated iron, waste ground, puddles, gasworks - all the stuff that gets me nostalgic for that era of London :)
They filmed a lot around Surrey, at Chertsey (Galleon Pub now gone) and at a scarpayard down the end of Colonel's lane, at Penton Hook Marina, The meads caravan site, , Fairoaks aerodrome (Ottershaw), in Ottershaw near the Otter pub, the garages round the corner in Visiting Fireman, and also around Chobham, at Kitsmead Lane (visiting fireman), the Chobham Tank Factory test track and at Gracious Pond Road where they did a few 'hold up' scenes.
Not the Galleon? I used to drive over Chertsey bridge every Friday and Saturday night in my 2 Ltr Mk 3 Cortina in the early 80s. I live in Bulgaria now. I bet Chertsey has gone for a Burton since I last saw it…
One of the many reasons for watching re runs of The Sweeney is to check out how London has changed over the intervening 40-50 years. So what's not to like with this video series. Love em 👍😊
The Sweeney was and still is my favourite crime tv series and was streets ahead of other shows. I came across your channel by chance and you have done an excellent job of tracking down the locations and comparing them to what still exists. I have subbed and eagerly waiting for the next video
In the early 70’s, went to London for a holiday with my parents. Stayed at the Bayswater Hotel, just some converted houses. Got very excited when Reagan and Carter ran into it, chasing someone. The inside was a set, complete different, but was fun to see somewhere I had actually been.
subbed. also enjoy watching the old 70's/80s shows and looking up streets and seeing how they've changed, nice to reminisce over one's childhood. thanks for sharing.
Oh I *loved* Space 1999. I had the Eagle Freighter and Eagle Transporter Dinky Toys, still in their original boxes years later - and my Mum gave them away to a childrens' home because "you never play with them any more". Good conditioned boxed ones go for hundreds now. Gutted!
That ending music takes me back to a very special time in my early teens. Great show that I still watch when it's on telly, even though I have them all on DVD!
@@Sweenealogy Your clips highlight how when this was filmed the amount of onlookers just standing around watching the action, i bet most directors these days would have a hissing fit if crowds werent kept back and streets closed 🤣🤣🤣
Nice .. Loads of memories come flooding back. I remember pushing my treader onto the road outside my flat & finding the sawn off barrel to a shot gun just lying there in the gutter ✌
These are gold ! I worked at JH Kenyon Funeral Directors depot at Freston Road W10, 1976-78..srea was on-its-arse at the time, lots of corrugated iron walls, derelict buildings squats etc, great for locations. They filmed the car park assasination scene frkm Sweeney movie in scrap yard opposite Kenyons, remember seeing Thaw and Waterman in Bramley Arms pub on corner between takes...happy days 😊
A number of episodes filmed sequences on Freston Road and the surrounding area - as you say, all looked very different back then. I’ve been up that way taking photos, but need to go back with the video gear for this channel. Bramley Arms features in Quadrophenia too
@@Sweenealogy Kenyons still there, but scapyard opposite (where they would regularly burn insulation off piles of wire to reclaim copper, turning sky black) long gone. Some episodes of Professionals filmed around there later, but lacked continuity mentioned in your video, car chases skidding round corner of Freston Road to emerge in Wealdstone 🤣. Look forward to the North Kensington location videos 👍
I have to commend you for your research. Really enjoyable, I used to be a minicab driver back then, in fact at one time I drove a brown Ford Consul, the poor mans Granada! Took me back to those days, thanks. Looking forward to Minderalogy! Keep up the good work.
That was great. In Ireland, we never watched it our household, but other kids in school would say as we play acted "You're nicked !". I moved to London and lived on Upper Berkeley Street, just across the Edgeware Road for those locations.
The Sweeney was a classic Euston films production - shot on film & almost entirely on location so an absolute treasure trove for the nostalgics. There's a nice scene filmed in the old Twickenham rugby ground - the one when Haskins was being fitted up for being a bent copper 😀
08:34 - Note the coat-hanger aerial on the Triumph Herald, a 1970s feature I'd almost forgotten. Ps. Thanks for taking the time for creating these documentaries.
I love your point about the character following the geographical route. I remember John Wayne in Brannigan where there's a car chase across Tower Bridge as it lifts (of course) and the cars taking off and landing by Parliament!😂 Spectre where Bond emerges out of Westminster Station after the train derailment and sprints almost two miles along the Victoria Embankment all the way to Trinity House by the Tower of London without even being out of breath and then taking part in a shootout. Being a retired cabbie I love seeing the London from my childhood and recognising those iconic locations. Cheers for that 👍
Thanks, I'm really glad you liked it :) Believe it or not, it's precisely the London cabbie I always have in mind whenever I see the ridiculous sequences of locations in movies that are nowhere near each other. Must feel like throwing things at the screen!
The Sweeney always used to film round my way in what is sometimes referred to as Frestonia. Posh now but back in the 70's it was nothing but squats and breakers yards so it made ideal backdrops for the seedy side of town. At 0:31 as the yellow Cortina crashes through the gates you can see the blocks of the Silchester Estate and Grenfell Tower.
Thank you for posting this. I love The Sweeney and also love comparisons of areas ‘Then and now’ so this is a double whammy for me. The editing that has gone into this to capture the comparisons is superb . Great work..
Thanks for this. I've played this game too, where you spot Street signs etc using Street View. What's most interesting is the car chases ending up on derelict land - usually bomb sites still undeveloped from WW2. There was a lot of it about by the river then.
I loved all those waste ground chases - most of it long since built on but you can still find some of the locations. I’ve been to a few back when I was just doing photos on my blog - need to go back with the video camera and get some film done 😊
Oh my god! I knew this day would come! Thank you so much for putting this together. Big sweeney fan here, the best London police drama by a country mile. All the episodes were great but I have one in particular that I think was one of the best, “in from the cold” filmed during the summer of 76. I’m pretty sure almost none of the locations used for filming that episode exist now unfortunately. Please keep up the excellent work 👍👍👍
I grew up in Heston (part of Hounslow). They did some filming at my school, Berkeley juniors, for one of the films. I think The Sweeney 2. When they were on a break, Dennis Waterman came over and had a kick about with us!
this takes me back to the 70s, always on a friday night. i watched all of these fairly recently as they were on early morning at the end my night shifts! similar to the early taggarts in 80s glasgow. very same grimey, rough and ready look. also often had locals gathered in the street to watch the action. incredible how much the 2 cities have changed in such a short time. or at least the working class areas which are always the first to be decimated as you say. that's interesting that the filming route chosen was the actual route. far cry from the likes of the shetland series where the be all and end all are arty scenery shots which only the locals know make no sense route wise.
Grew up around there at the time, went to Paddington Green primary The Church Street chase was the talk of the school at the time, with wildly differing stories from so many who claimed to have seen it being filmed.
love this…I have the box set and remember growing up during this time. They even did a shot at the ‘Galleon’ pub on chertsey bridge, and the Running Horse on the A316.
Thank you so much for this!! I love the work you've put in and I've always been so interested in locations. I watched Regan the other day and managed to find online where some of it was shot. I'm in heaven with this video!❤☺️👍👍
I always wondered about the last part of the Jack or Knave episode, because I fancied that the building in which Jack resigns is at the Hammersmith end of the road to Olympia, and he subsequently walks towards Hammersmith Broadway. I also remember seeing, in an earlier episode, an incident involving a fracas with a not-so-innoovent victim in, I believe, Uverdale Road, Chelsea, a place which, in itself, shouldn't give a weary time-traveller too much of a conniption fit, even if he might cavil at the cruel and unusual punishment meted out to the old power station on Lots' Road
Yes Jack walks off towards Hammersmith Broadway at the end - absolutely iconic “resignation speech”. There were a couple of scenes filmed in Uverdale Road - I covered them in the previous video on this channel
I spent over twenty years policing Marylebone and St. Johns Wood from the late 1960s through to the early
90s and know nearly all the streets shown here and applaud the continuity of the Church Street scenes, having
also lived on neighbouring Paddington police area for much fo that time. This show was a favourite, helped
by that great theme music.
I loved it , being a child in this era I used to ask mum and dad if I could stay up to watch the sweeney , often told to get to bed , thanks for the memories 😀.
I never got to stay up to see this, but i could hear the music while in bed.....great days
One of the best COP series of all time..Pity our present day woke police are not like the SWEENEY OR THE OTHER COPS AND ROBBER SERIES THE BILL.
😂 yeah I think I only got to see it once in all my time. Always had to be in bed 😮
I used to be in bed by 7pm
When I became a teenager, watched all the repeats
I was born in 1970 and I was allowed to stay up till 10pm on a Wednesday night when The Sweeney was shown in our ATV region, the closing music always reminds me of my mother then coming into the living room and saying bedtime.
Haha, and me.
We was sent to bed! Always hated that theme tune
My Favourite TV show as a kid. I was born in 1969 so can remember watching the last series in 1978 when I was 9 though have no recollection of the earlier series. My Mum didn't let me stay up late to watch TV but luckily during the period the last series was shown I was living at my Nan's and she let me stat up and watch it.
Snap, also born 69 and saw it as a child...when got to secondary school in early 80's we used to play 'Sweeney' in the playground, stopping and searching each other etc..😂 Was already intrigued by the programme then and I too used to watch it to my heart's content when staying with my grandmother who let me watch what I want...repeats were shown on TV constantly throughout the 80's and that's when I got to know all the episodes. Absolutely unique and very special series that influenced so much that came after.
Fur coat no knickers ...put the kettle on love , we're the Sweeney and we ain't ad no dinner
Always enjoy the vehicle spotting when watching the Sweeney, old cars, vans and trucks especially Ford's.
😂same
Shocking lack of buses though especially DMSs (Londoners) :)
@@Biigfish559 I'm not much of a bus spotter partly due to being a Diesel fitter and being allergic to them as there a pain in the arse to work on.
@@jimspeed1388 hahaha I feel your pain bro! Taken me 43 years to realise; I don't know if the brand "Leyland 0680 " means anything to you especially if you are under 40 but I'd sooner have DMS Fleetlines with those (and Gardner) engines which I cut my teeth on than the horrible plastic cramped up crap we have now.
@@Biigfish559 Unfortunately I am over 40. served my time in a Daf dealership in the 90s.
What a fantastic offering to us Sweeney fans. Cheers. I was in my mid-late teens and pretty much out and about during those years. But I always made sure to watch The Sweeney. I don’t think a better series has been made to this day. And how good to look back on 1970s London. That was my England, and even though I have a much better lifestyle today, I’d go back in a heartbeat.
If only I had a time machine. The best two programmes were The Sweeny and Minder, two great classics. 👍
Shut it
@@guvneruk relax
I never thought The Sweeny would provide us with a history lesson on London's evolving architecture. 🤔
It’s the show that keeps on giving 😊
I would say the London architecture was better back in the 70s. Now it's full of millionaire apartments.
@@chriscollins550 👍That, and glass skyscrapers.
@@FatNorthernBigot
Americanised
Magic memories I lived in the area just round the corner from Ranson street .Wish life was like the way it used to be miss the area and my beloved mum and dad God bless.Thanks for the memories much appreciated.👍
Absolutely brilliant. Loved the Sweeney since I watched my first episode in the late 1980s
BRILLIANT...Church Street, Edgware Road and Marylebone were on my doorstep back in the 70's so it's awesome to take a trip down memory lane looking at this vid....Pure nostalgia.
Excellent.
Glad you enjoyed it!
This is a great channel for Sweeney fans. Love these types of then & now location videos to see how time has changed everything. The Sweeney was a great tv show followed by The Professionals - real gritty shows for the era never to be matched.
Thank you - really glad you liked it 😊
@@Sweenealogy What a cracker of a series. 👍
I often watch reruns of The Sweeney and Professionals very much reminding me of how London once was rather than what it has now become.
I remember falling asleep to the theme tune. Strangely it was my mother who loved to watch it. She liked gritty drama and tough men
All those lovely classic fords - miss em
The gawd blimey cockney narration is just perfect for this. Love the Sweeney, shows just how far we've come!
Loved this video thank you. I lived in Sussex Place for 20 years, just a few yards from the Victoria so know all these locations like the back of my hand. I also had the great good fortune to be mentored at film school by Roy Pointer, the legendary lighting cameraman who shot all of the Sweeney and later Minder. A Spitfire pilot during the war as a young man, he then worked in film with stars such as Bogart and Olivier before moving into television. The level of craft he brought to what was a pretty low budget series helped elevate it into the classic it has become.
The best ‘cop’ show ever.
Wonderful memories from my childhood
I would watch The Sweeney with my Grandad who would baby sit when my parents would go out to the.pub with relatives or work colleagues.
Thinking about filming locations then and know and taking out the buildings what has changed the most?
More traffic?
More people?
What do people do for work
I cannot answer that myself but just more people in a busy London
We lost Dennis just in 2022🙏🙏🙏🇬🇧🇬🇧🏴🏴👍 👍 ❤️❤️❤️
Great, as a 77 Year old I loved watching the Sweeney and although from East Sussex I worked for a couple of Years for the Railways in Queenstown Road, I think that Area was also used in the Programme.
Thorough, precise, concise.
I may be here a while 🤣
I was born in 1964 and I clearly remember those days. I just started secondary school when the Sweeney was first shown on TV. I also remember that nearly everyone in the streets was white and English. Genetically, I'm only half English, the other half being Indian. The streets of London were safe back then and stabbings almost didn't exist. The London I was born in was very different to how it is today. How I miss the London of yesteryear!
Me too.
Yep, certainly the third world has arrived in the capital.
Andrew Paul as the dodgy youth with the number plates, he later became a PC in The Bill in the 1980s. The Sweeney was brilliant, with such memorable dialogue as 'Get your trousers on, you're nicked'. Loved the Mk 3 Cortina shown in Daytona Yellow, I had a K Reg one in Monza Blue, from 1975 to 1980, it's long gone since to that great scrapyard in the sky. Nice to see Rachel Davies, a fellow Mancunian to John Thaw's Regan, in the early part of the film. It's amazing how so much of the areas remain the same, that can't be said for most other large cities in the UK.
Funny about the Cortina, we had an estate just like Eddie Shoestring's! As a kid the dashboard was way above my head, horrible plastic seats.
non-Londoner but loved the Sweeney as a kid in the 70s: Great idea for a video and I must say, I'm slightly surprised how little has changed?! I worked in London between 84 - 90 (I was an ENG News Cameraman) and on my last visit to the UK in 2017, hired a car at Heathrow, needing to meet up with the wife and kids at Norfolk Square....promptly got hopelessly lost!
Hell, I drove down Wood Lane and Didn't recognize it! I worked there for years but it had changed beyond anything I could imagine lol. With all the complaints one sees in the comment section about London changing beyond recognition...well, as your video Brilliantly shows (very well shot, by the way!) that's not completely true, is it!
Just discovered your channel . Used to love The Sweeney as a wee boy on a Monday night . At the time it used to blow me away that some parts of London looked still bombed out in the 1970`s post WW2 .
Britain was bankrupted by WW2. Transfer of wealth from Britain to the USA courtesy of the Military Industrial Complex. After fighting the NAZIs we then had to fight the Yanks to get some of our cash back through the Marshall Plan. We were only given half of what we asked for, and unlike Germany, France, and Japan, were charged interest on the 'LOAN'. It was North Sea Oil that eventually got Britain out of the post war poverty, and that Marshall Plan loan was finally paid off in 2006.
The ultimate colt series, they don't make em like that anymore guv, love it ❤
Great work you SLAG!! I enjoyed this way more than typical RUclips garbage. The Sweeney scenes definitely had more charm, but it's good to see many of the same places look almost as they did back then, just put some old classic cars in those roads and get a rough bird in a fur coat and you might not even notice. That tonibell sound, took me back to the late 70's, what amazing times those were!
Some of the greatest acting ever, great drama,, story lines and humour, way ahead of it's time . Thanks for the memories.
Just brilliant my compliments to you. My era and the best ever.
That was an awesome watch and a trip down memory lane for me. I was a PC working out of Paddington Green nick back in the 2000’s and this was my old stomping ground. It’s amazing how little most of the old DD division hasn’t changed. Paddingtons Long been shut now and as far as I’m aware there’s no local stations covering the area. It’s covered by Charing Cross which is a fair old distance.
Shutting down so many Police Stations has been a Huge mistake ..Bobbies can't walk out of a station onto their Beat anymore...disaster.
They've even shut Savile Row!
@@borderlord during my time in the job I worked at West End Central, Harrow Road, Paddington Green, St John’s Wood and Marylebone. They all closed during my time. And it became more and more difficult to respond to anything. Eventually Charing Cross became the hub for most of what used to be the old divisions. You then end up in a situation where the outer beats like Harrow Road don’t have any routine patrols as such because everyone tends to stay around the nick. The last thing you want to be doing is getting buses and tubes to get to your patch which is what we ended up having to do. Ridiculous
@TheCleanersCupboard That's really interesting hearing about it from the inside.
It always seemed a bad decision when I noticed it beginning to happen.
I live off Oxford Street and first noticed Marylebone sold off about 10 years ago .
Unbelievable they had you getting the bus to your patch.
So if a Bobby arrests a shoplifter etc on Oxford Street instead of a patrol coming from Marylebone or Savile Row they have to call up Charing Cross for assistance ?!
That must be very frustrating.
I'm sure the Met owned the Stations...seems a mad management decision ,thinking they can run the streets from one call centre!
The money they made from the buildings is probably gone on extra transport costs ferrying everyone around!
@@borderlord yep thats exactly it. I remember one busy Friday night I was one of the last PC’s left in Westminster that wasn’t tied up dealing with something, there were numerous 999 calls outstanding. I wasn’t a police driver at the time so my only option was jumping on the tube, bus and commandeering a taxi at one point to get to them. It wasn’t long after that I thought, this is getting ridiculous. This isn’t the job I joined anymore. I remember calling for urgent assistance once during a domestic and being told that the nearest available unit was over 20 minutes away which in London was unheard of. It was becoming a nightmare back then so god knows how bad it is now.
Paddington Green is being demolished as we speak. The land sold to developers who will soon put up million pound cardboard rabbit hutches. I despair..... It has been 'replaced' by what I can only describe as an office occupying a small former shop unit on Church Street. Shutters often down. A car perhaps parked outside. Community Policing? Ah-well.
Excellent, I finished watching the professionals around xmas and found myself googling locations constantly. I like this.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Watched this from the very first episode. I think the pilot episodes were called " Regan " (which I have never seen repeated ) Then they changed it to The Sweeney with the blue background and music. The best Police series ever made in my opinion, it will never be bettered. Absolutely brilliant to see these locations. Thank you for making these videos.
As a few in the comments have said, The Sweeney was the indicator for bedtime. I would try to eek out as many minutes that I could before my dad would send me upstairs; rarely did I get beyond the opening theme tune/ This was when TV had the 9pm watershed when all programmes from 9pm were not regarded as suitable for kids. The Sweeney certainly was that.
Loved everything about the Sweeney, but the best bit for me was the end of each episode when some point was made arising from the plot, and the mournful version of the theme tune played out as the viewer pondered what had just been said.
This always contrasted with the brash, loud, energetic version of the theme at the start involving car chases and violence. It was as though the inevitable exhaustion of the events portrayed called for a less rambunctious, less optimistic, more reflective, and world-weary ending than the start.
Seeing London in its post-war nadir provided the perfect near-dystopian setting for the whole thing.
Great video - thank you! 👍
Very well put, & I totally agree. The opening theme comes in all guns blazing shouting, "we're The Sweeney son, and we haven't had any dinner!" By the end it's more "I've 'ad it son, I've 'ad it up to 'ere". The 70s were much like that - a time of wild contrasts in many ways - Disco balls and glam rock, waste ground and 3 day weeks... I love the lugubrious swan-song of the closing credits; it captures the mood perfectly.
@Sweenealogy that's it exactly! 😂
I remember the '70s well, but was too young to see past the car chases and punch-ups in this TV show.
Now, looking back, I see a truly magnificent piece of drama with astonishing casting / acting and considering the tight budgets, some great production. It's all so reflective of the '70s "failing Britain" zeitgeist.
Looking forward to future explorations!
Sometimes, you don't realise quite WHY you love a particular show. It takes a while for that to reveal itself. And for me, although there was much to love about The Sweeney, it was that low-key version of the theme tune at the end that did it for me. Right up until the final cymbal.
Top stuff @Sweenealogy
@@citizenx2422 spot on! It took me a few years to nail why the calmer there tune at the end was so critical to the whole show - and it is critical. For all the punching and adrenaline, seldom does one leave an episode of The Sweeney thinking all's well with the world, and the bad guys have got what's coming to them. Hollywood endings were definitely not part of it.
Two great lead actors, perfect casting, 1970s down-at-heel London - every element utterly perfect in portraying a far-from-perfect world. All done for a very low budget. Genius!
Brilliant work. I have been to Edgeware Road a few times and I never had a clue the filming locations were so close. 😩
That happens a lot, believe me! I used to live in Camden and often did early morning runs up the back side of Primrose Hill. I've recently filmed a location that was literally yards down the road from where I ran past several times a week, and I never even realised it!
brilliant video! you're right, it was the greatest tv show ever, it had the lot, brilliant stories, great characters(and actors) brilliant cars, gorgeous girls and above all that fantastic long gone 1970s vibe(obviously) superb
Love it. I'm really enjoying these videos. Its also great having a laugh at the action and language that would now be deemed terribly politically incorrect. There'll never be another show like the Sweeney.
Good stuff. The Sweeney, like so many old TV programmes, can now be regarded as a kind of historical record of sights, sounds and other features of this country's past and as such, should provide you with a great source of material. Keep at it!
Thanks! There's certainly plenty to keep me busy.
@@Sweenealogy Have you done one covering West Kensington,Holland Park,Shepherds Bush,and the old Colet Court School and St Pauls School buildings? They filmed all the "interior of Police Station" sets in there,and numerous "chases across derelict land" on the wasteland behind St.Pauls.
@@mjh5437 I've been round Holland Park and Shepherds Bush a few times back when I was doing the still photos / blog; I've not yet been back to film for this channel (but I will do). Yes - Hammersmith was definitely 'Sweeney Central' due to the location of the production offices, and as you say, many scenes were filmed in that area & around Colet Court / Colet Gardens. To be honest, I'm kind of "saving" that area till a bit later on, as I reckon it'll take me days and days to film all the location shots there!
@@Sweenealogy I grew up in the area so often saw the film crew out on the streets,great fun,and they didn`t mind us kids hanging around to watch it.
My mum and dad divorced in 73 when I was 5 yrs it kicks you right in the derby,but we go through it mate ,my step dad was great do the 70s for me was great growing up in west London being able to relate to the locations of the Sweeny corrugated iron fencing all over the place bec there were still lots of bomb sites yet to be built on ,loving this channel mate
Mark 😊😊
Thanks mate - yeah I was a similar age when my Mum and Dad split up, bit later on in the 70s. I was one of the lucky ones that I still had a great relationship with my Dad and Step Dad, but even so it still brings back a lot of feelings seeing something like that. Corrugated iron, waste ground, puddles, gasworks - all the stuff that gets me nostalgic for that era of London :)
That first episode with the truly brilliant actress Rachel Davies playing Tina....👌
Please keep them coming. That was fantastic, can’t wait for the 2nd part 👍👍👍
They filmed a lot around Surrey, at Chertsey (Galleon Pub now gone) and at a scarpayard down the end of Colonel's lane, at Penton Hook Marina, The meads caravan site, , Fairoaks aerodrome (Ottershaw), in Ottershaw near the Otter pub, the garages round the corner in Visiting Fireman, and also around Chobham, at Kitsmead Lane (visiting fireman), the Chobham Tank Factory test track and at Gracious Pond Road where they did a few 'hold up' scenes.
Not the Galleon? I used to drive over Chertsey bridge every Friday and Saturday night in my 2 Ltr Mk 3 Cortina in the early 80s.
I live in Bulgaria now. I bet Chertsey has gone for a Burton since I last saw it…
Yes indeed - I have plans at some point to do “out of town” locations too - but got plenty on my plate in London!
Brilliant stuff. The world I grew up in. Currently watching the Sweeney on dvd, start to finish.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
One of the many reasons for watching re runs of The Sweeney is to check out how London has changed over the intervening 40-50 years. So what's not to like with this video series.
Love em 👍😊
The Sweeney was and still is my favourite crime tv series and was streets ahead of other shows. I came across your channel by chance and you have done an excellent job of tracking down the locations and comparing them to what still exists. I have subbed and eagerly waiting for the next video
Thanks - really appreciate the comments 😊
In the early 70’s, went to London for a holiday with my parents. Stayed at the Bayswater Hotel, just some converted houses. Got very excited when Reagan and Carter ran into it, chasing someone. The inside was a set, complete different, but was fun to see somewhere I had actually been.
I love all the Herberts sat about watching the action ...
subbed. also enjoy watching the old 70's/80s shows and looking up streets and seeing how they've changed, nice to reminisce over one's childhood. thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the sub! Glad you enjoyed it
I remember as a kid watching the sweeney being filmed on the South Acton estate around the Bollo bridge road end
And the one on the terraces at QPR stadium
Best parts of my childhood showing on YT at the moment. The Sweeney and Space 1999 in less than 24hrs in my feed. Brilliant.
Oh I *loved* Space 1999. I had the Eagle Freighter and Eagle Transporter Dinky Toys, still in their original boxes years later - and my Mum gave them away to a childrens' home because "you never play with them any more". Good conditioned boxed ones go for hundreds now. Gutted!
That ending music takes me back to a very special time in my early teens. Great show that I still watch when it's on telly, even though I have them all on DVD!
Superb work, love the channel, well done again
Thanks! 😊
Thank you 🙏 😊
@@Sweenealogy Your clips highlight how when this was filmed the amount of onlookers just standing around watching the action, i bet most directors these days would have a hissing fit if crowds werent kept back and streets closed 🤣🤣🤣
What a great piece of research. Thanks for taking the time to make this.
Nice .. Loads of memories come flooding back. I remember pushing my treader onto the road outside my flat & finding the sawn off barrel to a shot gun just lying there in the gutter ✌
These are gold ! I worked at JH Kenyon Funeral Directors depot at Freston Road W10, 1976-78..srea was on-its-arse at the time, lots of corrugated iron walls, derelict buildings squats etc, great for locations. They filmed the car park assasination scene frkm Sweeney movie in scrap yard opposite Kenyons, remember seeing Thaw and Waterman in Bramley Arms pub on corner between takes...happy days 😊
A number of episodes filmed sequences on Freston Road and the surrounding area - as you say, all looked very different back then. I’ve been up that way taking photos, but need to go back with the video gear for this channel.
Bramley Arms features in Quadrophenia too
@@Sweenealogy Kenyons still there, but scapyard opposite (where they would regularly burn insulation off piles of wire to reclaim copper, turning sky black) long gone. Some episodes of Professionals filmed around there later, but lacked continuity mentioned in your video, car chases skidding round corner of Freston Road to emerge in Wealdstone 🤣. Look forward to the North Kensington location videos 👍
I have to commend you for your research. Really enjoyable, I used to be a minicab driver back then, in fact at one time I drove a brown Ford Consul, the poor mans Granada! Took me back to those days, thanks. Looking forward to Minderalogy! Keep up the good work.
That was great. In Ireland, we never watched it our household, but other kids in school would say as we play acted "You're nicked !". I moved to London and lived on Upper Berkeley Street, just across the Edgeware Road for those locations.
Thanks for this 11.44 minutes well spent, it’s almost like it never happened. loved the Sweeney proper meat & Gravy not like todays tame slop
......l loved London growing up. My Uncle had a business on Goodge Street....all my family were Londoners. 😎
The Sweeney was a classic Euston films production - shot on film & almost entirely on location so an absolute treasure trove for the nostalgics. There's a nice scene filmed in the old Twickenham rugby ground - the one when Haskins was being fitted up for being a bent copper 😀
Absolutely brilliant video as usual. Great to see everywhere virtually unchanged. Can't wait for pt2
Thank you - really appreciate the comments 😊
08:34 - Note the coat-hanger aerial on the Triumph Herald, a 1970s feature I'd almost forgotten.
Ps. Thanks for taking the time for creating these documentaries.
Haha, yep - the bent coat hanger aerial, I'd forgotten all about those too!
I love your point about the character following the geographical route. I remember John Wayne in Brannigan where there's a car chase across Tower Bridge as it lifts (of course) and the cars taking off and landing by Parliament!😂 Spectre where Bond emerges out of Westminster Station after the train derailment and sprints almost two miles along the Victoria Embankment all the way to Trinity House by the Tower of London without even being out of breath and then taking part in a shootout. Being a retired cabbie I love seeing the London from my childhood and recognising those iconic locations. Cheers for that 👍
Thanks, I'm really glad you liked it :) Believe it or not, it's precisely the London cabbie I always have in mind whenever I see the ridiculous sequences of locations in movies that are nowhere near each other. Must feel like throwing things at the screen!
I’m getting addicted to your videos absolutely love um 👍
Thank you so much for these! Superbly done, exact location matches. Absolutely fascinating, like travelling backwards and forwards through time.
Thank you - really glad you like the videos 😊
Brilliant takes me back to my teen years. Luv it!
There used to be a VD clinic on Star Street, back in the day. Yes, that's what they were called then! It also used to be known as the Val Dolligan!
You were one of the customers?
We called them the Clap Clinics too.
Cor blimey, thought I was a mad fan, amazing research.Love the seventies .Thanks for the memories.
Everything I like in a vid, Marylebone, history and above all, The Sweeney. Great vid. Subscribed.
The Sweeney always used to film round my way in what is sometimes referred to as Frestonia. Posh now but back in the 70's it was nothing but squats and breakers yards so it made ideal backdrops for the seedy side of town. At 0:31 as the yellow Cortina crashes through the gates you can see the blocks of the Silchester Estate and Grenfell Tower.
Thank you for posting this. I love The Sweeney and also love comparisons of areas ‘Then and now’ so this is a double whammy for me. The editing that has gone into this to capture the comparisons is superb . Great work..
Thanks!
Brilliant!
The baddies nearly always had mk2 Jaguars.
John Thaw had a really bad ass attitude as Jack Regan. Fabulous!
Outstanding work Constable. You'll be in consideration for a promotion......
Brilliant stuff - exactly what RUclips is for (and what it needs) Keep going!
Great work, love seeing the history of TV locations, Dalek 63-88 do simliar and the detective work involved is great.
Great work again - really looking forward to part 2. Thanks.
Thanks for the feedback - glad you enjoyed it!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Possibly the best thing on RUclips.
Very enjoyable. A good bloke is Nick and l am glad it has got a good viewing 👍🏼
Thank you! I can't tell how nostalgic that was.....
Absolutely brilliant, throughly enjoyed it. Amazing job you've done here and I look forward to seeing part 2.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it :)
Corrugated iron and Tonibell ice cream bells. Proper 70s childhood to me. Look forward to Pt2
To me too, mate - sights and sounds of our yoof, eh :)
OMG, this channel is all I've dreamed of without ever knowing it
Thanks for this. I've played this game too, where you spot Street signs etc using Street View. What's most interesting is the car chases ending up on derelict land - usually bomb sites still undeveloped from WW2. There was a lot of it about by the river then.
I loved all those waste ground chases - most of it long since built on but you can still find some of the locations. I’ve been to a few back when I was just doing photos on my blog - need to go back with the video camera and get some film done 😊
@@Sweenealogy Now you can't leave a spare patch of ground empty for a few minutes before something is built on it! 😯
The old Brentford Market was used a few times.
@@aalexjohna I used to go there when they changed the covered market into a skatepark called Rolling Thunder about 1978-1980,
These videos are great i love seeing the then an now and seeing any differences .
Genius, sheer genius! Highest praise from a real Regan.
Thank you Guv - much appreciated!
Oh my god!
I knew this day would come! Thank you so much for putting this together.
Big sweeney fan here, the best London police drama by a country mile.
All the episodes were great but I have one in particular that I think was one of the best, “in from the cold” filmed during the summer of 76.
I’m pretty sure almost none of the locations used for filming that episode exist now unfortunately.
Please keep up the excellent work 👍👍👍
A lot of that episode was filmed around Nine Elms - as you say, most of that area had been long since levelled and rebuilt :(
Eye for detail.Wow.Love it.Happy Days 👍⭐️🇬🇧🫶
Cheers!
I grew up in Heston (part of Hounslow). They did some filming at my school, Berkeley juniors, for one of the films. I think The Sweeney 2. When they were on a break, Dennis Waterman came over and had a kick about with us!
John Thor was my dad's drinking buddy back in the day old uncle John .👍 R .I .P
Great nostalgia. Many thanks
Fantastic research and beautifully presented. Can't wait for the next episodes.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Classic stuff!
this takes me back to the 70s, always on a friday night. i watched all of these fairly recently as they were on early morning at the end my night shifts! similar to the early taggarts in 80s glasgow. very same grimey, rough and ready look. also often had locals gathered in the street to watch the action. incredible how much the 2 cities have changed in such a short time. or at least the working class areas which are always the first to be decimated as you say. that's interesting that the filming route chosen was the actual route. far cry from the likes of the shetland series where the be all and end all are arty scenery shots which only the locals know make no sense route wise.
Grew up around there at the time, went to Paddington Green primary
The Church Street chase was the talk of the school at the time, with wildly differing stories from so many who claimed to have seen it being filmed.
love this…I have the box set and remember growing up during this time. They even did a shot at the ‘Galleon’ pub on chertsey bridge, and the Running Horse on the A316.
I lived on Star Street during the first lock down. My black door on Star Street was once the front door to the Winchester Club in Minder
Thank you so much for this!! I love the work you've put in and I've always been so interested in locations. I watched Regan the other day and managed to find online where some of it was shot. I'm in heaven with this video!❤☺️👍👍
Well done ! Thanks for taking the time to document - film etc....
I always wondered about the last part of the Jack or Knave episode, because I fancied that the building in which Jack resigns is at the Hammersmith end of the road to Olympia, and he subsequently walks towards Hammersmith Broadway. I also remember seeing, in an earlier episode, an incident involving a fracas with a not-so-innoovent victim in, I believe, Uverdale Road, Chelsea, a place which, in itself, shouldn't give a weary time-traveller too much of a conniption fit, even if he might cavil at the cruel and unusual punishment meted out to the old power station on Lots' Road
Yes Jack walks off towards Hammersmith Broadway at the end - absolutely iconic “resignation speech”.
There were a couple of scenes filmed in Uverdale Road - I covered them in the previous video on this channel
A great post, very good, and brilliantly presented Takes a lot of time and research to do this type of stuff.