Smallscreen News

Daniel Craig Could Be George Carter In ‘Sweeney’ Reboot

By Ian Cullen Jul 5, 2010, 18:12 GMT

British actor Daniel Craig EPA/FRANK LEONHARDT

Daniel Craig is better known as James Bond these days. However, as we all know work on the third film in Craig’s tour of duty as 007 has been halted. But like everything in life actors need to keep working, and the wheels of movies and television have to keep on turning.

Which is why it comes as little surprise that Craig continues to tread water in terms of finding work to fill out the break between Bond movies, but perhaps what is a surprise is the fact that he has been short listed to play the role of ‘Detective Sgt. George Carter’ in the planned movie remake of the cult 1970s cop series ‘The Sweeney,’ which focused on the Sweeney Tod, Flying Squad. Cockney slang innit!

The James Bond actor joins Ewan McGregor, Orlando Bloom and Tom Hardy who have all expressed interest in the role according to The News Of The World.

The role of Carter was originated by Dennis Waterman in the series, which was perhaps amongst the hardest hitting UK cop shows of the 70s in both the literal and figurative sense. The series in todays world would be deemed as politically incorrect because of its tough stance on crime, and the brutal way in which crooks were apprehended. It wasn’t softly, softly.

Rumoured to be playing the role of ‘Det. Insp. Jack Regan’ is Ray Winstone who I think could be quite good in the role. The role of Regan was originated by the late John Thaw who went on to play the more cerebral ‘Inspector Morse’ between 1987 until 2000.

The News Of The World’s source says: "All four are keen on the role but whoever ends up doing it will change the movie's tone. Ray's going to be great as Regan but the chemistry between him and Carter needs to be right," a source said.

"The success of Life On Mars shows there's a huge appetite for '70s cop dramas. With the right cast The Sweeney could be even bigger."

The original series was produced by Thames Television, and considered must see television during the 1970s. The 2006 BBC series Life On Mars, which saw John Simm’s character of Sam Tyler travel back to 1973, took much of its inspiration from the character of Regan for their character of DCI Gene Hunt.

Monsters and Critics' contributing writer Ian Cullen is a former actor and community artist, and a lifetime fan of Science Fiction and television. He runs www.scifipulse.net - a site, which follows the trends of science fiction television and movies. He lives in Manchester, England.