The Sweeney

The Sweeney is a 1970s British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London. It stars John Thaw as Detective Inspector Jack Regan and Dennis Waterman as his partner, Detective Sergeant George Carter. The programme's title derives from "Sweeney Todd", which is Cockney rhyming slang for "Flying Squad". Its very great popularity in the UK helped bring about the production of two feature film spin-offs, Sweeney! and Sweeney 2.

This article is about the television series. For the film based on the television series, see The Sweeney (2012 film). For other uses of the name Sweeney, see Sweeney (disambiguation).

The Sweeney
The Sweeney opening titles (series 1–3).
Created byIan Kennedy Martin
StarringJohn Thaw
Dennis Waterman
Garfield Morgan
Theme music composerHarry South
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series4
No. of episodes53
Production
Executive producersLloyd Shirley
George Taylor
ProducerTed Childs
Production locationsWest London
South East England
Running time50 minutes
Production companiesEuston Films Ltd
Thames Television
DistributorFremantle Media
Budget£266,000 per episode [1]
Release
Original networkITV
Original release2 January 1975 (1975-01-02) –
28 December 1978 (1978-12-28)
Chronology
Preceded byRegan (1974)

Produced by Thames Television subsidiary Euston Films for broadcast on the ITV network, the series was developed from Regan, a television film written by Ian Kennedy Martin, brother of Troy Kennedy Martin, who wrote several episodes and also the second feature film. In the early 1990s repeats aired on UK Gold, and repeats currently air on ITV4.

Background

The Sweeney was developed from a one-off TV drama entitled Regan, a 90-minute television film that Ian Kennedy Martin wrote for Thames Television's Armchair Cinema series in 1974. The part of Regan was specifically written for John Thaw, who was by this time a friend of Ian Kennedy Martin, with whom he had worked on the TV drama series Redcap[2] in the 1960s.

From the very beginning, Regan was seen as having series potential. After the television film scored highly in the ratings, work began on the development of the series proper. Ian Kennedy Martin's idea was for the series to be mainly studio-based, with more dialogue and less action, but producer Ted Childs disagreed, and in consequence Ian Kennedy Martin parted company with the project. Childs produced it on 16mm film, a format that allowed for a much smaller film unit than videotape at that time. This made it possible to shoot almost entirely on location, which helped give the series a startling degree of realism, and to use film editing techniques, which enabled him to give the show a heavy bias toward action sequences.

The television play and the subsequent series were commissioned by Thames Television and produced by its film division Euston Films. It was originally broadcast on ITV between 2 January 1975 and 28 December 1978 at 21:00–22:00 on weekdays (usually Mondays), with repeated screenings at the same time until the early 1980s.

The writers were given strict guidelines to follow: "Each show will have an overall screen time (minus titles) of 48 minutes 40 seconds. Each film will open with a teaser of up to 3 minutes, which will be followed by the opening titles. The story will be played across three acts, each being no more than 19 minutes and no less than 8 minutes in length. Regan will appear in every episode, Carter in approximately 10 out of 13 episodes. In addition to these main characters, scripts should be based around three major speaking parts, with up to ten minor speaking parts."[3]

It is a fast-paced action series, depicting the Squad's relentless battle against armed robbery; but it nevertheless includes a substantial degree of humour. For the time it has a high degree of on-screen violence, and it is not unknown for several deaths to occur in an episode.

Previously, most dramas featuring the police had shied away from showing them as fallible. The police in The Sweeney are brutal and violent in dealing with London's hardened criminals, and prone to cutting corners and bending laws. The series shows a somewhat more realistic side of the police, often depicting a disregard for authority, rules and the "system", so long as it gets the job done.[4][5] Until The Sweeney, this had been a subject largely ignored by British television.[4][5] The series' own awareness of breaking new ground is evident in episodes such as "Trojan Bus", from the second series, in which Regan briefly whistles the theme-tune to Dixon of Dock Green after a particularly elementary piece of detective work.

The series reflected the fact that it was made during a dark period for the real-life Flying Squad, which in the late 1970s had been publicly censured for being involved in bribery, corruption and excessively close links with the criminal fraternity.[4] The actual commander of the Flying Squad, Detective Chief Superintendent Kenneth Drury, was convicted of five counts of corruption and imprisoned for eight years on 7 July 1977 (which may have inspired a plot element in the movie Sweeney 2). An internal investigation, called Operation Countryman, was then launched to stamp out corruption.[6]

Cast and characters

Main characters

The main two characters were Detective Inspector Jack Regan and Detective Sergeant George Carter. Their senior officer was DCI Frank Haskins. However, occasionally other senior officers took charge of the Flying Squad when DCI Haskins was seconded to other duties or investigations.

Jack Regan

John Thaw stars as Detective Inspector John "Jack" Albert Regan, a tough police officer, often frustrated by Scotland Yard's red tape. Originally from Manchester (like Thaw himself), he has been in London for several years, so his accent has modified, but traces of his northern origins are still evident. He also occasionally refers to his northern roots (his poor upbringing, his father's work on the Manchester Ship Canal), which brings banter from George Carter, a Londoner, such as humming "The Red Flag". A heavy drinker and smoker (comically, he is sometimes seen stealing other people's cigarettes), Regan has some success with women—although not as much as Carter, or in one episode, DCI Haskins. He can be seen as quick with his fists. He has an ex-wife, Kate, and daughter, Susie, who live in Ruislip; in the last episode of the first series, "Abduction", Susie is kidnapped.

Regan helps out an ex-informer whose son is kidnapped in "Feet of Clay" (Series 4); and his sympathetic pushing enables his boss Haskins to ask for help when his wife goes missing after a breakdown, in "Victims" (Series 4); it's Regan who finds her. Regan can bend the rules in order to achieve the desired result: for example, fabricating evidence and arranging for a criminal to be kidnapped in "Queen's Pawn", and illegally entering private properties and threatening to lie about being attacked by a prisoner in order to get information in Regan. Despite this, he's unwilling to cheat for personal gain: he delivers a sharp put-down to a corrupt copper in "Bad Apple", and refuses to take a bribe in "Golden Fleece".

In the Squad, informality is everything. Everyone calls DCI Haskins simply "Haskins" (except to his face), though Regan occasionally calls him by his first name, Frank. No one ever calls Regan "Mister"—except the villains, or sometimes Carter when talking to Haskins. To the Squad, he is always simply "the Guv'nor", or just "Guv". In turn, he invariably calls Carter and the other Squad members by their first names, or occasionally nicknames. When off duty, he and George Carter are friends and drinking buddies, so in private Carter calls him "Jack". This is all in accordance with widespread police convention.

Regan is driven around in a Ford Consul (Granada Mark I based) (1972–1975) 3.0 GT. Although he is seen driving various cars himself in the series, he always has a driver—usually Bill (an uncredited role played by Tony Allen)—when using the Consul Granada (and the similar Ford Granada models used in later stories), which served as a Squad car: when the Squad travelled they always went "mob handed" (in considerable numbers). Regan is seen to also have his own car outside of the Squad, a Mark II Ford Cortina.

George Carter

Dennis Waterman plays Detective Sergeant George Hamilton Carter who comes from south London; in the pilot episode, Regan seeks him out because of his knowledge of the south London area. His age is given in the episode "Hit and Run" as 26. In the series' timeline, we learn that George had previously been in the Squad, but had quit for family reasons (cf. Regan and "Jigsaw"). George was married to Alison Carter, a schoolteacher, but is widowed in the episode "Hit and Run" when Alison is murdered by mistake by a gang of diamond smugglers. He is a former amateur boxer, as shown in the pilot Regan, and is described as having professional boxing potential in the episode "Chalk and Cheese". Like his superior, he likes a drink (though less so than Regan), and appreciates football and—after the death of his wife—attractive women. Carter is not as potentially violent or aggressive as Regan, and usually plays the "good cop" role.

Frank Haskins

Garfield Morgan plays Detective Chief Inspector Frank Haskins, who is married with three children at boarding schools, and is Regan's immediate superior. Prior to the series timeline, the character had done "National Service in the Signals Corps in a minor intelligence role" (as revealed in the episode "Stay Lucky, Eh?"). He is frequently seen at odds with Regan, preferring more conventional "by-the-book" policing methods.

The main "Haskins episodes" are "Golden Fleece", in which he is set up to be the victim of a corruption inquiry, and "Victims", in which his wife suffers a mental breakdown attributed to her memories of a miscarriage. Although he appeared in the opening titles of every episode of the first three series, he did not appear in all of them.

The character was not present at the start of the fourth, final series, and his role was taken by other superiors such as Detective Chief Inspector Anderson, played by Richard Wilson, and Detective Chief Superintendent Braithwaite, played by Benjamin Whitrow. Haskins returned a few episodes into the fourth series. There are two versions of the fourth series opening credits—one with and one without Haskins.

The squad

In the early episodes, the team has a variety of drivers including Len (Jack McKenzie) (the first two episodes) and Fred (Denis DeMarne) (in the episode "Jigsaw"). However, the episode "The Placer" in the first series introduces the character of Bill the driver (played by Tony Allen, who subsequently worked as wardrobe manager for many of John Thaw's later projects), and he remains a constant throughout the series, although he plays a peripheral, non-speaking role in most episodes.

Detective Sergeant Tom Daniels (John Alkin) is the most prominent member of the supporting Squad. Other members include Sergeant Kent, Detective Constable Thorpe (Martin Read) and DS Matthews (John Flanagan) in the first series, DC Jerry Burtonshaw (Nick Brimble) (Series 1-2, 4) and DC Jellyneck (James Warrior) (Series 4). Detective Chief Superintendent Maynon (Morris Perry) appears occasionally as a senior officer, and is seen as being more willing than Haskins to bend the rules in order to get a result in the episode "Queen's Pawn". With Haskins absent, a semi-regular senior officer named DCS Braithwaite (Benjamin Whitrow) appears in Series 4.

Family

Other main characters include the close family of the three leads.

Regan's ex-wife Kate appears in the episode "Abduction", after previously featuring in the pilot; and his daughter Susie (Jennifer Thanisch) appears in several episodes, most notably, "Abduction".

Carter's wife Alison (Stephanie Turner) is seen attempting to prise him away from the Squad in the episode "Jigsaw", while her hostility toward Regan is apparent in the episode "Abduction". She is murdered in a case of mistaken identity in the episode "Hit and Run". In the DVD commentary for "Abduction", it is mentioned that the reason for this was that the actress (Stephanie Turner) was asking for too much money to continue to appear in the series. Her death was convenient for the show, releasing Carter to play a more freewheeling role, "on the pull"—and allowing his banter with Regan, which had become a very popular part of the show, to develop further. Stephanie Turner went on to appear in Juliet Bravo, also devised and part-written by Ian Kennedy Martin.

Doreen Haskins features in some episodes, although the penultimate episode "Victims" deals with her deteriorating mental health and returns to the theme of the job's impact on family life. One of Haskins' three children, Richard, also appears in that episode.

Guest stars

Guest stars in the show included:

ɫGeorge Cole and Dennis Waterman went on to star in Minder.
ɫ̩ɫ̩Morecambe and Wise appeared in return for Thaw and Waterman appearing on their show.

Many up-and-coming actors also appeared in the show during its run, such as:

Production

The filming of each episode normally took 10 working days, shooting about five minutes of edited screen time per day. Due to this, the number of different filming locations had to be restricted to 10, i.e. one location per day. At the Euston Films production office in Colet Court, Hammersmith, a standing set of the Flying Squad offices (referred to as "The Factory" by the characters) was constructed which provided an alternative option for when inclement weather restricted the day's shooting. Two days would normally be spent filming on the set, equalling 10 minutes of any episode being set in the offices. Shooting took place through the spring, summer, autumn and winter months; exterior night shooting was expensive, and was limited to three minutes of external night material in any episode.

Each episode had an eight-and-a-half-week production schedule: two weeks' pre-production (for casting, finding locations etc.), two weeks' shooting, four weeks' picture editing (the first two weeks of which overlapped with the shoot), two weeks' sound editing, and two-and-a-half days' dubbing.

Filming locations

Most of the locations used for filming The Sweeney were around the west London area—in particular, Acton, Chiswick, Shepherd's Bush, Hammersmith, Fulham, Earl's Court, Kensington & Chelsea and Notting Hill districts, close to the Euston Films HQ at Colet Court in Hammersmith. The London Docklands, derelict at the time, were ideal for filming location sequences. The opening titles were filmed in Colet Gardens. However, other notable locations in London, the South East of England and further afield were also used for filming the show's episodes and included:

Episodes

Regan, made as part of the Armchair Cinema series, was first shown on 4 June 1974.[7] In all, four series were made, Series One being broadcast between January and March 1975 and Series Two following between September and November of the same year. Series Three was broadcast between September and December 1976, with the final series being shown two years later from September to December 1978. Two 90-minute feature films, Sweeney! and Sweeney 2, were released in 1977 and 1978 respectively, between the third and fourth series.

Series 1

The promotional episode shown to the press was "Thin Ice", which featured a relatively lightweight and somewhat humorous story, some comedy and international locations.

Episodes from the first series included "Ringer", where the team were attempting to prevent a criminal being sprung from prison, "Jackpot", "Stoppo Driver", and "Abduction" (in which Regan's daughter Susie was kidnapped), the latter focusing on the strains that the job put on family life. "Jigsaw" subtly illustrated the backgrounds and family lives of Regan and Carter; parallels are drawn between the unhappy situation of the main villain's family and Regan's own domestic situation.

The early episodes feature a great degree of hostility and mistrust between Regan and his senior officer, Haskins, who in one episode ("Ringer") attempts to separate Carter from Regan in order to help Carter's career.

The episode "Queen's Pawn" is a display of how Regan is willing to bend the rules in order to get a result, as he fabricates evidence, illegally opens private mail, and even arranges the kidnapping of one of the criminals in order to get the desired result.

Series 1 Episodes

All episodes were broadcast in 1975 on ITV, Thursdays at 21:00.[8]

Episode No Title Original airdate
1"Ringer"2 January 1975 (1975-01-02)
Detective Inspector Jack Regan endangers an operation, and loses his girlfriend's car.
2"Jackpot"9 January 1975 (1975-01-09)
Regan and his team are suspected of pocketing £35,000.
3"Thin Ice"16 January 1975 (1975-01-16)
Regan's determination to catch a crook leads to conflict with senior officers.
4"Queen's Pawn"23 January 1975 (1975-01-23)
Three crooks walk out of court as free men. Regan is determined to get a conviction, and plans to make one of them turn Queen's evidence.
5"Jigsaw"30 January 1975 (1975-01-30)
Regan tries to nail a criminal for robbery, and meets opposition from an MP.
6"Night Out"6 February 1975 (1975-02-06)
Regan gets suspicious about an invitation to spend a night out with an old friend.
7"The Placer"13 February 1975 (1975-02-13)
Regan goes undercover to break a ring of lorry hijackers.
8"Cover Story"20 February 1975 (1975-02-20)
A beautiful journalist poses problems for Regan.
9"Golden Boy"27 February 1975 (1975-02-27)
A chance encounter in a pub puts Regan on the trail of gold bullion robbers.
10"Stoppo Driver"6 March 1975 (1975-03-06)
A gang boss plans to blackmail a Flying Squad driver into driving a getaway car.
11"Big Spender"13 March 1975 (1975-03-13)
Large amounts of money being spent lead Regan to the Smiths—and another case.
12"Contact Breaker"20 March 1975 (1975-03-20)
Regan tries to prove that a prisoner on parole has nothing to do with a bank raid.
13"Abduction"27 March 1975 (1975-03-27)
Regan's daughter is kidnapped.

All Series 1 episodes were shot in 1974.

Series 2

The episodes "Faces" and "Thou Shalt Not Kill" were broadcast during the second series. In the former, a communist group (which appears to be German-based, with echoes of the then-contemporary West German communist terrorist group the Baader-Meinhof gang) is staging heists to raise funds for its cause. However, the group has been infiltrated by British Secret Service MI5, leading to inter-departmental politics between the police and the security services. "Thou Shalt Not Kill" features a tense hostage situation inside a bank, with Haskins faced with the dilemma of whether to risk the hostages' lives by shooting the criminals.

Other highlights included a pair of tongue-in-cheek episodes, "Golden Fleece" and "Trojan Bus", featuring two cocky but likeable Australian villains, played by British actors Patrick Mower and George Layton; and the more serious episode "Hit and Run", in which Carter's wife Alison is murdered.

Series 2 Episodes

All episodes were broadcast in 1975 on ITV, Mondays at 21:00.

Ep. No Title Original airdate
1"Chalk and Cheese"1 September 1975 (1975-09-01)
2"Faces"8 September 1975 (1975-09-08)
3"Supersnout"15 September 1975 (1975-09-15)
4"Big Brother"22 September 1975 (1975-09-22)
5"Hit and Run"29 September 1975 (1975-09-29)
6"Trap"6 October 1975 (1975-10-06)
7"Golden Fleece"13 October 1975 (1975-10-13)
8"Poppy"20 October 1975 (1975-10-20)
9"Stay Lucky, Eh?"27 October 1975 (1975-10-27)
10"Trojan Bus"3 November 1975 (1975-11-03)
11"I Want the Man!"10 November 1975 (1975-11-10)
12"Country Boy"17 November 1975 (1975-11-17)
13"Thou Shalt Not Kill"24 November 1975 (1975-11-24)

All Series 2 episodes were shot in 1975.

Series 3

The episode "Taste of Fear" introduced violent psychopathic criminal Tim Cook (George Sweeney), an army deserter whose experiences in Northern Ireland had left him embittered. Cook also appeared in the later episode "On the Run".

Other episodes explored different themes: "Tomorrow Man" focused on the clash between traditional policing methods and newer more technological ways of solving crime, methods which, in the modern world, have made crimes such as those depicted in The Sweeney—for example, villains in stocking masks carrying out wages snatches—seem old-fashioned. "Bad Apple" dealt with police corruption, and here, Regan, despite being seen to bend the rules in other episodes in order to achieve convictions (i.e. for legitimate motives), will not bend them for his own profit, and is shown to hold the deepest contempt for the corrupt officers.

"Visiting Fireman", written by Troy Kennedy-Martin, has elements involving radioactive material and the Security Services that would later be expanded into the BBC series Edge of Darkness.

Series 3 Episodes

All episodes were broadcast in 1976 on ITV, Mondays at 21:00.

Ep. No Title Original airdate
1"Selected Target"6 September 1976 (1976-09-06)
2"In from the Cold"13 September 1976 (1976-09-13)
3"Visiting Fireman"20 September 1976 (1976-09-20)
4"Tomorrow Man"27 September 1976 (1976-09-27)
5"Taste of Fear"4 October 1976 (1976-10-04)
6"Bad Apple"11 October 1976 (1976-10-11)
7"May"25 October 1976 (1976-10-25)
8"Sweet Smell of Succession"8 November 1976 (1976-11-08)
9"Down to You, Brother!"22 November 1976 (1976-11-22)
10"Pay Off"29 November 1976 (1976-11-29)
11"Loving Arms"6 December 1976 (1976-12-06)
12"Lady Luck"13 December 1976 (1976-12-13)
13"On The Run"20 December 1976 (1976-12-20)

The following episodes were shot in 1975: Tomorrow Man, Visiting Fireman, Taste of Fear, Sweet Smell of Succession, Loving Arms and Lady Luck.

The following episodes were shot in 1976: Selected Target, In from the Cold, Taste of Fear, Bad Apple, May, Down to You, Brother!, Payoff and On the Run.

Series 4

There was a two-year gap between the third and fourth series while the team made two full-length feature films (Sweeney! and Sweeney 2) to cash-in on the show's popularity.

For the fourth series there were several changes, including a different title sequence and DCI Haskins being absent from a number of episodes. The final series has been criticised as the weakest. This decline in quality led John Thaw and Dennis Waterman to the realisation that the show was in danger of running out of steam, and to take the decision to end it while it was still at the peak of its popularity.

Notable episodes include "Nightmare", which features a slightly experimental dream sequence as part of the plot. This is also the episode with the highest number of deaths, and features another then-contemporary plot of two ex-IRA men committing a major crime in order to buy their way back into the organisation. "Bait" featured a performance by George Sewell, who had starred in the Euston Films-produced episodes of an earlier police series, Special Branch; earlier still he had featured in the film Get Carter, which was a major influence on The Sweeney, and whose main character, Jack Carter, may have been the inspiration for the names of the two main Sweeney characters.

"Hearts and Minds", the last episode to be filmed, featured the comedians Morecambe and Wise, and was a quid pro quo for the appearance of Waterman and Thaw in a sketch in the 1976 Morecambe and Wise Christmas show on the BBC.

The final broadcast episode, "Jack or Knave?", which aired on 28 December 1978, saw an ambiguous ending, with the main character, Jack Regan, temporarily locked up after being implicated in a corruption scandal, then finally being exonerated. He then announces that he's had it with the Squad, and the series ends with him resigning in disgust, but it's left open as to whether he would be persuaded to change his mind.

Series 4 Episodes

All episodes were broadcast in 1978 on ITV, Thursdays at 21:00.

Ep. No Title Original airdate
1"Messenger of the Gods"7 September 1978 (1978-09-07)
2"Hard Men"14 September 1978 (1978-09-14)
3"Drag Act"21 September 1978 (1978-09-21)
4"Trust Red"28 September 1978 (1978-09-28)
5"Nightmare"5 October 1978 (1978-10-05)
6"Money, Money, Money"12 October 1978 (1978-10-12)
7"Bait"19 October 1978 (1978-10-19)
8"The Bigger They Are"26 October 1978 (1978-10-26)
9"Feet of Clay"2 November 1978 (1978-11-02)
10"One of Your Own"9 November 1978 (1978-11-09)
11"Hearts and Minds"23 November 1978 (1978-11-23)
12"Latin Lady"30 November 1978 (1978-11-30)
13"Victims"14 December 1978 (1978-12-14)
14"Jack or Knave?"28 December 1978 (1978-12-28)

The following episodes were shot in 1977: Messenger of The Gods, Drag Act, Trust Red, Money, Money, Money, Feet of Clay, One of Your Own and Jack or Knave?.

The following episodes were shot in 1978: Hard Men, Nightmare, Bait, The Bigger They Are, Hearts and Minds, Latin Lady and Victims.

Film adaptations
Main articles: Sweeney!, Sweeney 2, The Sweeney (2012 film), and The Squad (2015 film)

The cinema spin-offs of The Sweeney feature the same actors and characters. The two films have levels of swearing, violence, sex and nudity that would not have been possible on television at the time.

In Sweeney! (1977), Regan and Carter become involved in a plot based on the Profumo affair. British actor Barry Foster features as an Americanised version of Stephen Ward.[9] Made in 1976, the film appears to be set in the then near-future, indicated by the line "The same damned speech you made in 1978"; also visible on a wall in the scene where the OPEC delegates meet is a logo displaying "1979".[10]

In Sweeney 2 (1978), Carter and Regan eventually find themselves going to the island of Malta in order to track down a group of particularly violent armed robbers who have been committing bank and payroll robberies all over London and kill anybody that gets in their way, even members of their own gang, Regan and Carter were assigned the case by their recently convicted chief inspector as his last order, as he is about to be charged with corruption.[11]

In The Sweeney (2012) the setting moved to the present day, with Regan being played by Ray Winstone, Carter by Ben Drew and Haskins by Damian Lewis.

The 2012 film was remade in France as The Squad, also known as The Sweeney: Paris.

Music

Harry South, a key figure in British jazz during the 1950s and 1960s, wrote the theme tune and end title music. Dave Gelly in The Guardian named it "the most emblematic TV theme of its day".[12] But aside from this, the rest of the music was chosen from off the shelf production music libraries such as De Wolfe, KPM, Bruton and Chappell.[13] A soundtrack album Shut it! The Music of The Sweeney was released in 2001 and features much of the incidental music used in the programme as well as many classic pieces of dialogue from various episodes. It also featured the main title theme from the first big screen version, Sweeney!.[14]

Books

Nine books were written and released in 1977 published by Futura Publications Ltd.[15]

  • The Sweeney[16]
  • Regan and the Manhattan File
  • Regan and the Deal of the Century
  • Regan and the Lebanese Shipment
  • Regan and the Human Pipeline[16]
  • Regan and the Bent Stripper
  • Regan and the Snout Who Cried Wolf
  • Regan and the Venetian Virgin
  • Regan and the High Rollers

The first three books were written by Ian Kennedy Martin, the rest by Joe Balham. The plots of the books are not taken from any of the television episodes; overall, the tone of the books differs somewhat from the television series in that Regan is usually depicted as working alone, and his relationship with Carter is distinctly unfriendly.[16]

  • The repeat of the episode "Selected Target" on 21 December 1978 recorded the highest viewing figure of the series, with 19.05 million people watching. This coincided with a 24-hour strike at the BBC.[17][18]
  • In Series 1 to 3, the main characters' cars were a Ford Consul GT 3.0 litre V6 (often mistaken for a Granada Mk1), Granada GXL Mk1, Ford Granada S Mk1 and a Cortina Mk3. In series 4, a late Mk1 Ford Granada Ghia is used as well as the updated Granada Mk2 and Cortina Mk4.
  • Dennis Waterman was cast after his performance in the Special Branch episode "Stand and Deliver". In the same episode, Stephanie Turner (who played his wife in The Sweeney) played his sister. Later, Turner had the lead role in her own police series, Juliet Bravo.
  • The Sweeney is mentioned in the song Wow! by Kate Bush.[19]
  • In the orange-tinted photographs that are shown in the closing credits for Series 1–3, an enlarged set of fingerprints is displayed on a board behind Detective Chief Inspector Haskins.
  • A red Fiat 850 coupé makes a cameo appearance in many episodes: typically, it is parked at the side of the road as the action takes place around it. One theory is that the car belonged to a crew member who tried to include it as an in-joke in as many episodes as possible.[20]
  • Reference is made to The Sweeney in the Black Books episode "The Blackout".
  • Regan and Carter appear briefly as part of a stakeout operation in one of the novelizations of the TV series The Professionals.
  • Scotland Yard's real Flying Squad lost an important surveillance technique when The Sweeney exposed their use of the roadside tents erected by telephone engineers, who would place them over open manholes in the street to protect them from the weather. These tents are frequently shown in the series as hideaways for keeping a covert eye on suspects.
  • A two-part 1998 installment of Diagnosis: Murder, "Obsession", features lead villains named Carter Sweeney and Regan Sweeney.
  • The creators of the show Life on Mars and its sequel, Ashes to Ashes, have often stated that The Sweeney was a big influence on both programmes.[21]
  • To date, only one episode of The Sweeney has been shown on the BBC. It was shown on 31 May 1993 as part of the "Cops On The Box" segment of BBC Two's "Crime And Punishment" season.[22] The episode broadcast was "Supersnout". It was introduced by Shaw Taylor, better known for his Police 5 series on ITV.

Detectives on the edge of a nervous breakdown

The 1993 Comic Strip film Detectives on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown features a character introduced as "Shouting George from The Weeny" (played by Jim Broadbent).

Comics

In 1977 and 1978, publishers Brown Watson (who specialised in annuals based on TV series) published two editions of The Sweeney Annual featuring a mix of comic strips (some with art by Brian Lewis) and illustrated text stories, interspersed with occasional features on the TV series, articles about policing, puzzles and (in the 1978 annual) an interview with John Thaw and Dennis Waterman.

In the early 1980s, the comic Jackpot featured a strip called "The Teeny Sweeney" which was originally drawn by J. Edward Oliver. A trio of schoolboys played at being plain-clothes policemen, with two of them looking like little versions of Regan and Carter. They even had "Flying Squad" written on the side of their cartie. Their attempts at being helpful, however, almost always ended in disaster.

TV ad

A TV ad for the Nissan Almera car in the late 1990s had two characters similar to Carter and Regan racing through London to deal with a "bank job".[23] A suspicious group of men have entered a bank dressed as painters. As "Carter" races the car through the streets, "Regan" keeps bellowing at him and others to "Shut it!"

At one stage, "Regan" shouts "Mark it!", which is slang for following a suspect, but in this case, means "market" as "Carter" drives erratically through a market place. "Carter" tells "Regan" to stop shouting, to which "Regan" barks the reply "I can't!".

When they burst into the bank, it turns out that the men are genuine painters and that "Regan", their guv (or boss), is there to tell them that they have the wrong sort of white paint(!) "Carter" says, "Think we'd better go back to the yard, guv, and get some more." "Shut up!"[24]

One of the painters talks in a squeaky-like voice and is called "Squealer", which is slang for informant.

DVD releases

The complete series of The Sweeney was released by Network on 14 DVDs in 2005 which did not feature the pilot episode or the two films released after the series ended. Regan was also released on DVD in November 2005. Both films, Sweeney! and Sweeney 2, have also been released on DVD.

The 2007 18-disc Network release contains Regan, all four series and both of the spin-off films. Along with all this, the box-set contains exclusive extras.

Below is a list of all the extras of the boxset:

Regan:

  • Introduction by Ian Kennedy-Martin.

Commentary with Dennis Waterman, producer Ted Childs and director Tom Clegg.

Series One:

  • Interview with creator Ian Kennedy-Martin.

Commentaries with Dennis Waterman, Garfield Morgan, producer Ted Childs, writers Trevor Preston and Troy Kennedy-Martin, directors Tom Clegg and David Wickes and editor Chris Burt.

  • "Thick as Thieves" episode and "Special Branch" episode.

Episode introductions by guest stars Warren Mitchell, Wanda Ventham, Prunella Gee, John Forgeham, Billy Murray, Tony Selby and Dudley Sutton.

  • Restoring The Sweeney

Series Two:

  • Interview with stunt arranger Peter Brayham.
  • "Wild Boys" featurette.
  • The Sweeney annual PDF.
  • Interview with writer Roger Marshall.
  • "Golden Fleece" episode script PDF.

Episode introductions by guest stars Bill Maynard, Gwen Taylor, James Booth, Ken Hutchison and Lynda Bellingham.

  • Sweeney! film trailer with introduction by Lynda Bellingham.
  • Sweeney! film promotional gallery.

Series Three:

  • "Redcap" episode.
  • "Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show" 1976 sketch.
  • "Strange Report" episode.
  • Episode introductions by guest stars Geraldine James, Steven Pacey, George Sweeney, Nadim Sawalha, Tina Heath and John Lyons.
  • "ITV – This is Your Life" clip from 1976 Thames trailer.
  • "Evening News Film Awards" clip.
  • The Sweeney 1977 Annual PDF

Series Four:

  • "The Electric Theatre Show" interviews with John Thaw, Dennis Waterman and Ted Childs.
  • "This is Your Life – John Thaw" extract.
  • "This is Your Life – Dennis Waterman" extract.
  • Series 4 textless titles with dual sound.
  • Episode introductions by guest stars James Warrior, George Sewell, Jenny Runacre, Nick Stringer, Gary Morecambe and Peter Wight.
  • Sweeney film trailer with introduction by Ken Hutchison and James Warrior.
  • Sweeney 2 promotional gallery PDF.
  • Out-takes.
  • The Sweeney 1978 Annual PDF.
  • Stills gallery Extract from "Behind the Sunshine" PDF, recounting the making of "Hearts and Minds".

Sweeney! and Sweeney 2:

  • Commentary on Sweeney! with Ted Childs, Ranald Graham and David Wickes.
  • Commentary on Sweeney 2 with Ted Childs and Tom Clegg.
  • Textless material.
    • These extras are exclusive to the boxset.

All four series one are now available as Region 1 (North America) DVDs.

High-definition Blu-ray

In 2012, the first series was released on high-definition Blu-ray discs by Network Distributing Ltd.. For this release the original film negatives were scanned in HD and comprehensively restored by BBC Studios and Post Production.[25] The pilot episode (Regan) was also given a Blu-ray release by Network at roughly the same time. In September 2018, Network confirmed on Twitter that Blu-ray releases of Series 2 to 4 had been abandoned due to "lack of demand".[26]

References
  1. Cooke, Lez (2015). British Television Drama: A History. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 258. ISBN 978-1-84457-895-5.
  2. "Ian Kennedy-Martin - Sweeney: a preamble". www.iankennedymartin.com. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  3. Alvarado, Manuel; Stewart, John (1985). Made for Television: Euston Films Limited. BFI Pub. p. 59. ISBN 9780423013108.
  4. "The Sweeney gave us TV's most arresting coppers", The Telegraph, 17 November 2015, retrieved 27 April 2017
  5. Marsh, Ian; Melville, Gaynor (2014). Crime, Justice and the Media (2nd ed.). Routledge. pp. 157–158. ISBN 978-1-134-08715-0.
  6. Andrew Walker. The Sweeney's proud history, BBC News, 17 May 2004.
  7. Chibnall, Steve; Murphy, Robert (2005). British Crime Cinema. Routledge. p. 143. ISBN 9781134702701. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  8. "THE SWEENEY - Episode Guide". thesweeney.info. 4 June 1974. Archived from the original on 18 May 2007. Retrieved 31 May 2010.
  9. Lubin, Gus (13 November 2012). "FLASHBACK: At Least Petraeus Wasn't Having An Affair With The Mistress Of A Soviet Spy". Business Insider. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  10. Sweeney! at IMDb
  11. Sweeney 2 at IMDb
  12. Gelly, Dave. 'Harry South: The Songbook review – a perfect potted history' in The Guardian, 2 July 2017
  13. Shut it! The Music of "The Sweeney"
  14. Discogs
  15. "The Sweeney - Swag". thesweeney.info. Retrieved 31 May 2010.
  16. Book review, trashfiction.co.uk
  17. "The Sweeney - Episode Guide". thesweeney.info. 4 June 1974. Retrieved 13 June 2010.
  18. "Industrial Disputes". The TV Room. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2010.
  19. Chesterton, George (25 January 2012). "Old music: Kate Bush – Wow". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  20. "The Sweeney Forum :: View topic - Fiat 850 Coupe (Red) - UJB 92G". thetvlounge.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 31 May 2010.
  21. Wylie, Ian (21 May 2010). "Ashes to Ashes: co-creator Matthew Graham says goodbye to Gene Hunt". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  22. https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbctwo/england/1993-05-31#at-18.55
  23. "The best car adverts ever - 19. Nissan Almera: The Sweeney". Auto Express. 12 December 2012. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  24. "Nissan Almera Advert - Sweeney Spoof". YouTube. Retrieved 31 May 2010.
  25. "The Sweeney". BBC Studios and Post Production. Archived from the original on 6 October 2013. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
  26. Distributing, Network (3 September 2018). "Hi Scott, I'm afraid that because of a lack of demand we decided not to go ahead with more Sweeney on Blu-ray". @networktweets. Retrieved 1 February 2019.

Further reading
  • Manuel Alvarado and John Stewart, Made for Television: Euston Films Limited. London: Methuen/BFI, 1985. ISBN 0-423-01310-6.
  • Robert Fairclough and Mike Kenwood, Sweeney! The Official Companion. London: Reynolds & Hearn Ltd., 2002. ISBN 1-903111-43-9. (review).
  • Dennis Waterman, Reminder. Hutchinson, 2000. ISBN 0-09-180108-7.
  • Martin Day and Keith Topping, Shut It! Virgin Books, 1999. ISBN 0-7535-0355-7.
  • Mike Kenwood and George Williams, Fags, Blags, Slags & Jags: the Sweeney. The Unofficial Companion to the TV Series, 1998. No ISBN.
  • Troy Kennedy Martin, "Four of a Kind", in: H.R.F. Keating, ed., Crime Writers. London: BBC, 1978. ISBN 0-563-16287-2.
  • Andrew Pixley, "The Sweeney: Compulsive Viewing", in: Prime Time Magazine, issue 13. London: WTVA ("Wider Television Access"), circa 1984. ISSN 0266-0083.
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