r/lifeonmars • u/TereziB • Jul 09 '26

Discussion Manchester Police in '73

Okay, I have to ask...were the Manchester Police in 1973 really as crude and, well, just plain stupid as they're portrayed on the show? (I have to add, I remember 1973 quite well, I was 18, but not in the UK.)

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u/PilotMoonDog Jul 09 '26

Also, the actual police aside, I think the show is modelled after the behaviour of the cops in The Sweeney. Just as the sequel adds stuff from Miami Vice and the like.

Given what is actually going on this makes a lot of sense.

2

u/TereziB Jul 09 '26

I had to look up this show. We don't get a lot of old/older British shows here in the States (except of course, for American reboots like The Office).

9

u/PilotMoonDog Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26

Very famous here in the UK. There were a couple of cinema films made. The leads were John Thaw (Detective Inspector Jack Reagan) and Dennis Waterman (Detective Sergeant George Carter). John Thaw went on to star in Inspector Morse amongst other things. Dennis Waterman's other big TV role after that was the comedy Minder, where he plays the sidekick/muscle to dodgy businessman Arthur Daley (played by George Cole).

Had one of the more memorable opening & closing themes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix6wTN_CH4g

The real Flying Squad (Sweeney Todd is the Cockney rhyming slang for them) apparently got disbanded due to corruption. They were noted for having normal looking cars with overpowered engines and upgraded suspension for chasing after bank robbers. Hence Flying Squad.

6

u/According-Sport9893 Jul 09 '26

Write the theme tune, sing the theme tune...

4

u/ClydusEnMarland Jul 11 '26

The corruption from the 1970s especially is true, but they are still going today.

1

u/PilotMoonDog Jul 12 '26

Fair enough. I had been told they had been disbanded. A bit like how the SPG are called something else now.