Armchair Cinema (TV Series)

Regan (1974)

John Thaw: Det. Insp. Jack Regan

Photos 

Quotes 

• Miriam : You don't drink on duty?

  Det. Insp. Jack Regan : Only Scotch!

• [breaking into a suspect's house and rousing him from his bed] 

  Det. Insp. Jack Regan : Get your trousers on - you're nicked!

• Annie : Will I see you tonight?

  Det. Insp. Jack Regan : No.

  Annie : Tomorrow night?

  Det. Insp. Jack Regan : Definitely.

  Annie : Oooh. One night in nine. Not bad. Who gets you the other eight?

  Det. Insp. Jack Regan : I'm sorry, Annie. I've got a big job on.

  Annie : Is that right? Tell me, Jack, when do you ever have a *small* job on?

  Det. Insp. Jack Regan : Tomorrow night, I promise.

  Annie : Knockout. I'll run home now, get into my negligee and wait by the window.

• Det. Insp. Jack Regan : You heard the latest brainwave?

  Det. Sgt. George Carter : No.

  Det. Insp. Jack Regan : Flying Squad, Robbery Squad, Regional Crime Squad - all amalgamated into one sprawling mess. There'll be hundreds of little grey men, all working on top of each other, pots of tea and committees. I'm one of the best DIs in the Squad, d'you know that? They don't listen to me - they listen to committee men now.

• Det. Insp. Jack Regan : Cowley's dead. The doctors say they can't make a case about which injuries killed him - the beating or the car. Yeah, it means we can't even do the bastards for murder.

• [Cowley lived with his grandmother. Regan has just visited her, to break the news that he is dead] 

  Det. Sgt. George Carter : How did she take it?

  Det. Insp. Jack Regan : D'you know something? That old lady's got no reason to go on living now. Whoever killed Cowley killed *two* people.

• [Regan and Carter go to interview Morton at the ice rink] 

  Det. Insp. Jack Regan : It's a bit cold in here.

  Det. Sgt. George Carter : [sarcastically]  That's cos of the ice.

  Det. Insp. Jack Regan : Thanks. How many O levels have you got?

• [Regan and Carter are interviewing Morton] 

  Det. Insp. Jack Regan : Now you worked for Mallory so you know the score. I want to ask you some questions; you don't want to answer them. So up-front I'll lay it on: this is a colleague of mine. He hits people. Isn't that right, colleague?

  [Carter tries to look frightening] 

  Det. Insp. Jack Regan : He's got a miracle technique. D'you wanna see it?

  Morton : What d'you wanna know?

  Det. Insp. Jack Regan : Mallory's got a house in the country, hasn't he?

  Morton : No.

  Det. Insp. Jack Regan : [to Carter]  Hit 'im!

  [Carter pushes Morton against the wall. Morton reluctantly gives the information that Regan wants] 

• Det. Insp. Jack Regan : I'd like you to answer a few questions.

  Tusser : As a general rule I don't do that kind of thing.

  Det. Insp. Jack Regan : You say you get six months off for good behaviour. I'm saying "what good behaviour?". You just hit me. That means the full eighteen months plus an additional sentence for assaulting a police officer.

  Tusser : I haven't hit you.

  Det. Insp. Jack Regan : No, no. My sergeant's gonna hit me, but I'm gonna say you hit me.

  Tusser : You'd pull that one, eh?

  Det. Insp. Jack Regan : You know I would. Now you're going to give me information. I'm going to go away and check it. And if it's wrong I'm going to come back and you're going to hit me again. And you're going to get another three years.

  Tusser : You bastard.

  [Regan grins] 

• [Regan has just arrested Dale for murdering Mallory and Cowley. He looks at the tax disc on Dale's car] 

  Det. Insp. Jack Regan : This stinking heap is licensed till March. It's April the twentieth. I'll have you for that, an' all!

• Det. Chief Supt. Maynon : This afternoon I ordered you to be suspended, pending disciplinary charges.

  Det. Insp. Jack Regan : [drily]  So I hear.

  Det. Chief Supt. Maynon : You'd done a fairish job. Serious Crime Squad had twenty men on it and they'd no idea he was dead. And you got Dale for that and for killing Cowley. Poor Cowley. He was roaming around out there, not writing reports, not communicating with anybody - *your* responsibility. But just like you roam around out there.

  [Regan looks uncomfortable] 

  Det. Chief Supt. Maynon : Jack, the days of one-man bands are over now we're in an orchestra. Every move you made could have been made with the necessary authority, tact and diplomacy. As it is, you've made SCS look like fools and Laker your sworn enemy. And, what's most important, you could have ended up dead like Cowley.

  Det. Insp. Jack Regan : [defiantly]  Did I get the result?

  Det. Chief Supt. Maynon : You're a gambler, Jack. You played a long shot and it came up. That's why we're ringing the changes. No more lone rangers. From now on you'll be one two-hundredth part of any successful case - not the hero of the hour. I have a feeling you're not going to buy this. But think about it. And I'll think about you. Somehow we've got to find a way of making you work as part of a team. Or go away - get right out of it.

• [Dale's henchmen are waiting for him to give the order to shoot Regan. Regan tells Dale that Carter would kill him in that case, but Dale calls his bluff] 

  Det. Insp. Jack Regan : [to Dale's henchmen]  We're the Sweeney! We kill him - nothing! You kill us - thirty years!