The Sweeney (TV Series) Thin Ice (1975) User Reviews

Gone to the dogs...

[canndyman · 6/10 · 6 July 2022]

This episode concerns flashy gangster Gerald Bishop (with a great performance from Alfred Marks) whom Regan has been trying to nail for years... just as he's about to get his man, Bishop sneaks out of the country on a boat to his French Riviera retreat.

But Bishop does have a weak spot - his love for his beloved dog Archimedes, who he's left behind in kennels with the hope of a flunkey covertly delivering him back to his master.

This story is probably my least favourite of all (even including the Morecambe & Wise episode), and stands out like a sore thumb in what was a very strong first season, packed with classic stories.

It's almost as if the scriptwriter hasn't fully grasped the concept of the show, and it's played mostly for laughs.

Brian Glover does well as Bishop's hapless flunkey, but it all feels a bit laboured and unbelievable.

The best part for me was the running gag concerning Haskins' expensive 'listening device' - the banter between he and Regan being genuinely funny and in keeping with the show.

There's quite an unpleasant event though towards the end (off-camera) that that would leave even the most hardcore Sweeney viewer feeling pretty disgusted - it certainly did for me.

All in all, a pretty tame episode that is in no way representative of what this great show could do.

Great cast

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 30 January 2021]

A fun episode that's all about the guest stars; Dennis Waterman barely gets a look in here. There's a lighter, breezer tone which works well in conjunction with the subject matter. Alfred Marks is a hoot as the dog-loving gangster and Margaret Nolan a delight as his moll, but the real scene stealer is Brian Glover as the hapless associate. Add in Peter Jeffrey and you're sorted...

The Dog Episode

[TheFearmakers · 6/10 · 26 June 2021]

The first of three episodes and the first low-rated score, probably because it's also the first of what would become many offbeat episodes, quirky, nonsensical almost as a sea-departing criminal adores nothing but his dog, and the boys have to follow him... the dog... with the aid of snout Brian Glover and under the long uptight arm of the biggest nose in England, putting America's Karl Malden to shame, Peter Jeffrey... so there are no cute girls, no good action sequences, and the characters so in the dark no real interesting light shines on this one, but it's not god-awful either...

Thin Ice

[Prismark10 · 5/10 · 12 December 2019]

Gerald Bishop (Alfred Marks) is a gangster who is doing a strategic retreat so he can live to fight another day.

Under pressure from both Detective Supt. Pringle and Regan, he is heading off to France and leaving his beloved dog, Archimedes behind. Bishop is a man of menace but not without principles. He loves that dog.

Regan makes sure that Bishop is not reunited with his beloved dog. It is one way to lure Bishop back to Blighty. One bloke Moose who does go to France with a dog, is beaten black and blue when it emerges that he brought the wrong dog with him. Bishop strangled the dog.

A more comedic episode of The Sweenry about a gangster obsessed with his dog. Alfred Marks was a comedian who had a nice sideline as a character actor and did play several menacing roles. He ensures that the audience is left in no doubt that Bishop is a vicious man.