[ecrea] CFP for upcoming Symposium: '"You're Nicked": The Sweeney and Crime Drama in British Film & Television'

*The UEA School of Film and Television Studies presents:*

* *

*‘You’re Nicked!’ /The Sweeney/ and Crime Drama in British Film and 
Television*

* *

*Friday 21^st September 2012*

This one-day symposium celebrates a classic British television crime 
drama just as the new film adaptation arrives in British cinemas. /The 
Sweeney/ (2012), directed by British /enfant terrible auteur /Nick Love, 
and starring Ray Winstone and Ben Drew (Plan B), demonstrates the 
enduring nostalgia and cultural appeal of the series, almost four 
decades after its debut.

/The Sweeney/ (ITV, 1975-78) has long been hailed as a revision and 
revitalisation of the British television crime drama. Created by Ian 
Kennedy Martin, and produced by Euston Films (the film arm of Thames 
Television), the series focused on the London Metropolitan Police’s 
‘Flying Squad’. Despite (or perhaps because of) the series’ brutality 
and violence, Detective Inspector Jack Regan (John Thaw) and Detective 
Sergeant George Carter (Dennis Waterman) became part of popular 1970s 
British culture, appearing in four series and two films (/Sweeney!, 
/1977; /Sweeney 2/, 1978).

Known for its action sequences, extensive location filming, claims to 
realism, and often brutal portrayal of its central characters, /The 
Sweeney/ broke away from and responded to safer police procedurals such 
as /Dixon of Dock Green/ (BBC, 1955-76) and /Z-Cars/ (BBC, 1962-78); 
while later productions including /The Professionals /(ITV, 1977-83) and 
/Dempsey and Makepeace/ (ITV, 1984-86) are a visible response to its 
success.

Although /The Sweeney /fell out of fashion during the 80s and 90s, the 
convergence of lad culture and post-feminism in contemporary Britain has 
renewed its appeal: catchphrases and behaviour are used and cited well 
into the 21^st century, while series-based merchandise and newer 
productions such as /Life on Mars /(BBC, 2006-07) draw on the nostalgic 
appeal of the central protagonists.

This one-day symposium is the first attempt to celebrate the success of 
this key television text, assess its legacy, and explore its repeated 
adventures in cinema, including the new 2012 adaptation.__

* *

*While this is not an exhaustive list, topics could include:*

· The influence of the single-play /Regan/ (ITV, 1974) on the series

· The creation/production of the series, including the role of Euston Films

· ‘I’ll come down on you so hard you’ll have to reach up to tie your 
shoelaces’: Performing masculinity in /The Sweeney/

· ‘Get your trousers on, you’re nicked!’ Sex, lies and /The Sweeney/

· Feminism, the 1970s and /The Sweeney / The Sweeney /(2012) and 
Postfeminism //

· Nostalgia and /The Sweeney /(2012)//

· ‘Remember, no guns unless they use ‘em’: Morality and /The Sweeney/

· The impact of /The Sweeney/ on British crime drama

· The mythologisation of London and London locations in /The Sweeney/

· Translating /The Sweeney/ from TV to cinema: /Sweeney!, Sweeney 2 /and 
/The Sweeney/

· Television stardom: John Thaw and Dennis Waterman

· Selling /The Sweeney/: merchandising paratexts from the 1970s to 
modern day//

· /The Sweeney/ abroad: selling the show to the world//

· Music in /The Sweeney/: from Dennis Waterman to Plan B

· Parody, pastiche and homage: from the Comic Strip’s /Detectives on the 
Edge of a Nervous Breakdown/ (C4, 1993), and the 1990s Nissan Almeira 
advert, to Gene Hunt

Abstracts of no more than *_250 words_* should be submitted by *Friday 
24^th August 2012* to (keith.johnston /at/ uea.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(keith.johnston /at/ uea.ac.uk)> *and* (s.godfrey /at/ uea.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(s.godfrey /at/ uea.ac.uk)>.

Dr Keith M. Johnston
Lecturer in Film and Television Studies
School of Film and Television Studies
University of East Anglia
Norwich
Norfolk
UK
NR4 7TJ

Tel: 01603 592274
email: (keith.johnston /at/ uea.ac.uk)