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Post by Arthur Pringle on Apr 18, 2020 13:48:00 GMT
I've been reading Ian Kennedy Martin's novel 'Regan'. It doesn't bear much resemblance to the tv play with a plot about a visiting American cop ( closer to 'Visiting Fireman' ) & the IRA. The only similarity is Regan visiting a Black female singer at a club. Regan & even Haskins are a lot more abrasive in the novel, Carter is very much a background character & is not liked by Regan, he's portrayed as an ambitious upstart. In fact none of the characters are very likeable & it's quite a humourless book.
Regan has a German girlfriend who cheats on him with the American cop.
As I was reading it I came across some dialogue I recognised, not from the tv 'Regan' or The Sweeney but from a tv play I saw recently written by Ian Kennedy Martin called 'Easterman'. This is on the Network dvd of a 1978 ITV series called 'Scorpion Tales'. It features Trevor Howard as a hard drinking, no nonsense copper called Mavor. 'Mavor' is also the name of a character in the Regan novel.
I was curious to see what else Kennedy Martin had written so I looked on imdb & saw a film listed called 'Mitchell'. This is a low budget American cop film from 1975 starring Joe Don Baker ( best known perhaps for playing the hitman in Don Siegel's film 'Charley Varrick' ). I found a copy of it on dailymotion & as I watched it I realised that it was a partial remake of a 1971 Armchair Theatre play by Kennedy Martin called 'Detective Waiting' ( shown on talkingpicturestv recently ) starring Richard Beckinsale as a copper who gets involved with a local villain he's keeping surveillance on. The villain in Detective Waiting is called 'Cummins', the name of the villain Joe Don Baker is trailing is called 'Cummings' & Trevor Howard's boss in 'Easterman' is called 'Cummings'.
Mitchell & Detective Waiting are okish, but Easterman I thought was very good. Trevor Howard was a hard drinking man in real life & he's brilliant as a soon to be retired bad tempered, battered looking & bitter copper with no time for niceties.
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Cartman
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Post by Cartman on Apr 18, 2020 13:58:46 GMT
Interesting post, Arthur, thanks. I haven't read the book but I have seen the Armchair Cinema pilot episode which I thought was very good. It sounds that it turned out for the best that it didn't follow the book.
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Albert Riddle
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Post by Albert Riddle on Apr 18, 2020 23:42:57 GMT
Great stuff Arthur
Thats why book versions of films or such like are always worth the read as they are very often different from the on screen adaptions.
I still love the Armchair theatre Reagan as one of my top 5 .
Think I might try and get hold of the book sounds superb .
Thank you Arthur great piece 👍
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Sparky
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Post by Sparky on Apr 19, 2020 7:51:10 GMT
Great post Arthur. I have the book, but haven't read it for quite a while. Is yours a paperback or a hardback version?
I was looking for this book for years, and a Hardback version popped up at a Memorabilia Fair for the "right price". I remember being quite surprised on how different it was from the TV film "Regan" when I read it.
Book adaptations will always be slightly different. With a book, the Author has to paint an image of the scene, the characters intentions. In a TV Script, a lot of that detail can go as the story is told in pictures, so to set up a scene - all they would do is perhaps stick in an establishing shot to set up the location & scene and then get on with the nitty gritty.
Ian Kennedy-Martin started out adapting books to studio based TV Plays, as did Troy.
A lot of creative writing classes use adapting books as a writing exercise.
It's not something I'd like to do - as you are mucking about with someone else's work.
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Post by Arthur Pringle on Apr 19, 2020 14:07:03 GMT
I have a hardback copy Sparky, same version as the smudge below ( this isn't my copy ), was only about a fiver on ebay a few years ago. Not read any of The Sweeney novels, I think they have little in common with the show as well.
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Albert Riddle
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Post by Albert Riddle on Apr 19, 2020 14:17:13 GMT
Cheears Arthur
I shall get a copy and give it a read 👍
Alby
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Sparky
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Post by Sparky on Apr 19, 2020 17:05:51 GMT
I have a hardback copy Sparky, same version as the smudge below ( this isn't my copy ), was only about a fiver on ebay a few years ago. Not read any of The Sweeney novels, I think they have little in common with the show as well.
Yeah, that's the same one I have.
I was interested to see the Sweeney novels, just to see what they are like. Are they nothing at all to do with the Series? (Apart from having Regan in it?)
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Albert Riddle
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Post by Albert Riddle on Jun 18, 2020 20:18:50 GMT
I’m gonna see if I can get it on eBay 👍
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Albert Riddle
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Post by Albert Riddle on Jun 18, 2020 22:30:02 GMT
Can’t find it . If anyone knows where there is any could you let me know.
Thanks
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Post by Gene Hunt on Jun 19, 2020 5:06:23 GMT
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