'ere Guv' 'ave a word it's a trailer for The Sweeney

Yer filthy shlag, etc. OK I'll stop that now.

Hooray! The Sweeney has been updated and now stars default Cockney geezer Ray Winstone and someone called Ben Drew as Regan and Carter! You all know the classic theme tune, right? Let's watch the trailer in unison and hum it together over the internet somehow. I think Google+ actually lets you do that. Anyway, ready? 3, 2, 1...



Oh. I see.

It's slightly revealing what age ranges use social networking and follow film news with terminal dedication, when in the same breathing space as Michael Bay announcing he's going to wedge his balls in our eye sockets until memories of the Ninja Turtles fall out of our ears, a series popular amongst TV viewers from the seventies gets a total makeover with barely anyone batting an eyelid.

Without the namedropping you'd be forgiven for mistaking this for any of the Saarf Lahndahn cop/gangsta movies released in the wake of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Which is a shame because The Sweeney - like a lot of 70s/80s UK crime shows - was a series with real character, and I'm sure a lot of people would rather at least see a near-parody of it than some lame excuse to use the nostalgia-inducing title.

Still, even if it appears to be The Sweeney in name only, there's a lot to like about the idea of Ray Winstone bombing about in one of those olde tyme rectangular cars, kicking in doors and shouting at people. Nick Love and John Hodge seem to have done their homework too, rounding off the trailer with Regan's first line from the series - which is a nice touch for enthusiasts but as I was saying before, is anyone not familiar with the origins going to care?