Having just lost John Hurt I thought of this excellent instalment of The Sweeney. Many of the "villians" are nasty people who get their comeuppance delivered, sometimes violently, by Regan and Carter. John Hurt is an exception, a computer-whiz who is overworked by his greedy employer (George Cole of course!) and is involved in a late-night traffic accident resulting in a death and a jail sentence. His employer jettisons him. When Hurt is released he has no support and has lost everything. With the help of a local criminal he masterminds a way to redress that imbalance. Hurt's effective portrayal of a non-violent white-collar criminal elicits sympathy and the viewer is rooting for him even though one knows that Regan and Carter usually get their man. A good story.
4 Reviews
Tomorrow Man
Prismark1017 April 2021
Warning: Spoilers
George Cole and John Hurt in an episode of The Sweeney.
Hurt plays Tony Grey, a computer whizz kid who had done time for running someone over.
His business partner Dennis Longfield (Cole) overworked him. He then made Grey drive to Manchester for an urgent business meeting knowing that Grey had not slept for days.
When Grey needed money, Longfield bought his share out for a paltry amount. Longfield has branched into computer security thanks to Grey's software and the company is doing very well.
Grey plots revenge and comes into contact with an old crook that Regan is keeping an eye on.
On one level Grey is too hot headed and too drunk. It is a clever ploy including having a doppelganger to terrorise Longfield.
It is interesting to see the early days of computer fraud. Regan even calls in an IT expert to explain the basics.
It turns out that Grey was too clever for Regan and Carter. He exploited the flaws in the program he designed.
However that doppelganger looked nothing like John Hurt!
Hurt plays Tony Grey, a computer whizz kid who had done time for running someone over.
His business partner Dennis Longfield (Cole) overworked him. He then made Grey drive to Manchester for an urgent business meeting knowing that Grey had not slept for days.
When Grey needed money, Longfield bought his share out for a paltry amount. Longfield has branched into computer security thanks to Grey's software and the company is doing very well.
Grey plots revenge and comes into contact with an old crook that Regan is keeping an eye on.
On one level Grey is too hot headed and too drunk. It is a clever ploy including having a doppelganger to terrorise Longfield.
It is interesting to see the early days of computer fraud. Regan even calls in an IT expert to explain the basics.
It turns out that Grey was too clever for Regan and Carter. He exploited the flaws in the program he designed.
However that doppelganger looked nothing like John Hurt!
Interesting plot - and cast
Leofwine_draca31 March 2021
Warning: Spoilers
A pretty decent episode of THE SWEENEY thanks to the presence of guest actor John Hurt, who brings a level of swaggering bravado and confidence to the proceedings. He plays a former employee of George Cole now pitting his wits against the man who ruined him. What's interesting is that the plot is centred around an early form of computer hacking.
Nina Thomas makes the perfect moll-next-door
TheFearmakers18 April 2022
Another episode with an obvious inspiration drawn from Peter Falk's COLUMBO... although it has nothing to do with John Thaw as Inspector Regan badgering a suspect...
Instead the similarity occurs in the cold open when John Hurt as computer expert Tony Gray ignites a deliberately overboard ploy in chewing-out boss George Cole... but that results in revenge and trickery instead of murder...
So Hurt joins an already targeted shady/crooked businessman, providing himself a con game despite the Flying Squad's own undercover officer in natural beauty Ann Curthoys, joining his red-herring computer seminar at a tech convention where most of the episode takes place...
But it's his adorable redhead/girl-next-door moll, Nina Thomas, that makes TOMORROW MAN more intriguing than it would've been otherwise... a shame given the stellar cast, in particular the future first ALIEN victim, maintaining a somewhat muddled con that neither Regan, Carter or the audience can completely invest in.
Instead the similarity occurs in the cold open when John Hurt as computer expert Tony Gray ignites a deliberately overboard ploy in chewing-out boss George Cole... but that results in revenge and trickery instead of murder...
So Hurt joins an already targeted shady/crooked businessman, providing himself a con game despite the Flying Squad's own undercover officer in natural beauty Ann Curthoys, joining his red-herring computer seminar at a tech convention where most of the episode takes place...
But it's his adorable redhead/girl-next-door moll, Nina Thomas, that makes TOMORROW MAN more intriguing than it would've been otherwise... a shame given the stellar cast, in particular the future first ALIEN victim, maintaining a somewhat muddled con that neither Regan, Carter or the audience can completely invest in.
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