Saturday, March 21, 2020

British Cop Shows

Flashback to the seventies: punk rock was in its infancy, the Concorde was setting trans-Atlantic records and the hottest part of The Sun was page three (ha ha!). Around the same time, British television was practically littered with cop shows, the most prominent examples being Thames' The Sweeney and LWT's The Professionals. While both series contained hilarious levels of over-the-top violence, the producers managed to sneak in a surprising amount of cheesecake  into various episodes - most often provided by tabloid starlets and page three girls.

 The Sweeney, 1976

 In most cases, the lingerie shots were entirely gratuitous, serving no purpose other than to titillate the predominately male audience. This should've come as no surprise however, as most storylines revolved around various forms of vice, corruption and organized crime. As everybody seemed to be on the take, our erstwhile heroes were frequently as bent as the villains they faced.

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