Eric and Ernie had invited John Thaw and Dennis Waterman onto their Christmas show at the time when The Sweeney was very popular (1977–78). They afterwards said that they would like to take part in a Sweeney episode. We thought initially that it was a joke. However, when we realised they were serious, we had to decide what kind of episode we should contrive for Eric and Ernie’s participation. We decided that, whatever we did, they should play themselves. Accordingly, the late Donald Churchill and I set out to write a script. We had to struggle somewhat to avoid the script falling between two stools, i.e. being neither comedy nor action drama. I must confess I have not seen the film for many years now but I like to think we pulled it off. Of course, Eric and Ernie made their own very special contribution to the script which was what we really all wanted.
Cricket doesn’t get better, or more politically incorrect, than this. But then this was the 1970s when clearly everything was acceptable. Eric is accompanied at this gratuitous shedding-of-clothes ceremony by former World of Sport presenter Dickie Davies. – GM
My recollection of shooting the film is that it was a hoot. The Sweeney in those days was geared to be a very cost-effective production and staying on schedule was a vital ingredient of our modus operandi. Although Eric and Ernie were very professional and fitted in with the ‘kick, bollock and scramble’ which characterised our production methods, their natural comedy and frequent ad libs brought us all to near hysteria on occasion with the whole cast and crew corpsed with fits of uncontrollable laughter and there were times when, as the man responsible, I wondered if we would ever complete the schedule. We did of course. Eric and Ernie were aided and abetted by John and Dennis, both of whom were closet comics.