Watching series 2, it strikes me that Guy Ritchie may have filched some of 'his' ideas of villainy from The Sweeney. I think I like it better than series 1, it seems really polished, especially the camera work and editing. Bonus: it looks fantastic on our old CRT tv! Plots are a little uneven, but I don't mind. MrsD. considers it very violent -- I don't recall her remarking so about S1, but since she is such a slobbering fan of JT, I expect she'll continue enduring the savage punchups and rather ludicrous car chases regardless.