The Sweeney (TV Series) Contact Breaker (1975) User Reviews

Another top-notch episode from season 1

[canndyman · 9/10 · 22 June 2022]

The Sweeney are staking out at bank that Haskins' snout has told them is about to be blagged - unfortunately, it's the wrong bank, and a neighboring bank is robbed instead to the tune of £200k in cash.

The blaggers are clever in how they broke in and disabled the alarm system, and Reagan suspects it could be an inside job. The only clue is that the elderly security man who was tied up heard the name of the man who fixed the alarm - 'Danny'.

One local 'wire man' fits the bill - Danny Keever (played by Warren Clarke). The only problem is that he's already in prison (sent down by Haskins), but is on weekend release, and also on day release to work at an electronics company. Could he have taken part in the blag - thus potentially jeopardizing his 'soft' sentence... or, as Reagan suspects, has he been fitted-up?

This is a cracking episode with all the elements that made this show so good. The pre-credits sequence of the stocking-masked robbers breaking into the vault gets things off to an explosive start, and we can see we're dealing with real pros.

It's another episode where Reagan has to trust his instincts, despite interference from Haskins who, as usual, wants to take the easy options and undermine him.

I loved the piano music that accompanied the gang leader's sedate drive to the newsagent's in his Jag - once again the incidental music is well-chosen & complements the action in a clever & unusual way.

The story has plenty of twists and turns, and keeps you entertained and intrigued right until the end.

Highly recommend!

Contact Breaker

[Prismark10 · 7/10 · 19 February 2020]

Written by Robert Banks Stewart. This was his only contribution to the show.

Haskins gets a tip of a bank job taking place while a stock car race is happening. The noise from the cars would shield the noise the robbers make.

It is just that The Sweeney are staking out the wrong bank. The robbers get away with over 200k in cash.

One of the tied up bank employee hears the name Danny Boy being said, he was the electrics man who silenced the alarm.

With little to go on, Regan homes in on Danny Keever, a electrics man tailor made for this kind of a bank job. The problem is he is doing a stretch in prison, Haskins sent him down. However Carter finds out that Danny had a weekend release as his parole is coming up.

The story contained a clever twist. Early on the audience is told that Danny has been set up by the robbers.

Regan and Haskins are at loggerheads as Regan thinks the evidence against Danny is just too convenient. Danny Keever claims he is innocent but he has no alibi.

Warren Clarke is very likeable as Danny, a man who realises he has been framed and his future is doing more porridge. It is just a case of who set him up and why. I think one smooth guest star is a very likely candidate.

Dim Recollection

[TheFearmakers · 5/10 · 3 March 2019]

Pretty mellow episode. Warren Clarke, Dim from Clockwork Orange, deserved a bit more edge to his character; a pawn, basically, used by his supposed mates who rob a bank while he's nearby at a stock car race, which we see banging-up moments of in the beginning, and a great song by John Moran titled "Rebel" spices things up a bit. But mostly it's a fair episode; cops going from place to place asking questions.

Nothing special

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 21 February 2021]

Another middling episode with an unfocused plot and real lack of drive when it comes to the momentum. Warren Clarke is a good guest star but he has little to get his teeth into with it, playing a character used by others rather than doing much himself.