Sweeney!

The film followed DI Regan and DS Carter as they became embroiled in a deadly political scandal. One of the leading members of the British government, Charles Baker (Ian Bannen), is about to secure a huge deal with OPEC, stabilising the world oil market and boosting Britain's position within it. Baker is the rising star of the government, regarded as a future prime minister, and he is closely controlled by his urbane, manipulative American press secretary Elliot McQueen (Barry Foster).

When Regan investigates the mysterious death of a prostitute (Lynda Bellingham) as a favour to one of his informants, he becomes aware that Baker and McQueen might be involved. A spate of killings follow - which sees Regan take on both the criminals and the hierarchy of the Metropolitan Police and the British security services.

• John Thaw as Detective Inspector Jack Regan
• Dennis Waterman as Detective Sergeant George Carter
• Barry Foster as Elliot McQueen
• Ian Bannen as Charles Baker MP
• Colin Welland as Frank Chadwick
• Diane Keen as Bianca Hamilton
• Michael Coles as Johnson
• Joe Melia as Ronnie Brent
• Brian Glover as Mac
• Lynda Bellingham as Janice Wyatt
• Morris Perry as Flying Squad Commander
• Michael Latimer as P.P.S.
• Johnny Shannon as Scotland Yard Duty Sgt.
• Nadim Sawalha as Chairman of the Oil Producers' Conference

Sweeney! was made by Euston Films, who also produced the television series.

This was the second of three feature films based on the TV series. The first, Regan,[4] an 80-minute made-for-TV movie which aired on ITV in June 1974, served as the pilot for the TV show, launching the first series off the back of its success.

Euston had been planning a feature film version for some time: this movie was part of a £6 million six-film programme announced two years earlier, in 1975, by Nat Cohen of EMI Films.[5]

Filming was relatively quick and inexpensive, using cast and crew from the series.[2]

The movie was released in 1977, following the conclusion of the show's third season on television, as a money-making big screen outing for what had become an extremely popular series. In the 1970s it was common for television shows to be given cinematic releases, amongst which were some of the biggest box office hits of the decade. Most of these however had been comedies - Sweeney! was an attempt to make what the film magazine Sight & Sound described a more "internationally marketed action packed screen adventure."[6]

A number of minor characters in the film had previously appeared in the television series. But Garfield Morgan, who played Regan's boss, Haskins, in the TV show (but who would be largely absent from the final season on TV the following year) did not appear. As with the television series, a large amount of the filming took place on location (as on all Euston Films productions). The film includes some nudity, and a great deal of graphic violence, which had been impossible to do for a television audience, hence the picture was released in the United Kingdom with an X-certificate rating (over-18's only).

The film follows fairly closely the events of the Profumo Scandal which had rocked British politics more than a decade before, although the film has a much more violent premise. It also featured the major international issues of energy policy and oil usage.

It was praised for capturing the spirit and setting of the original TV series. The film was successful enough for a sequel the following year, Sweeney 2, which saw some of the action relocated to the Mediterranean.

Announcing the sequel, Barry Spikings of EMI said the first film "was successful, so we're helping fill the demand by making another one".[7]

• Sweeney! at IMDb
• Sweeney! at BFI