The Sweeney

The Sweeney

1975 - United Kingdom

Tough, hard-hitting, uncompromising and the show which redefined the quaintly reassuring image of British television police forever, The Sweeney evolved from a play by the prolific Ian Kennedy Martin entitled Regan, which premiered on the ITV network in June 1974 as part of Armchair Cinema.

The show's title was derived from Cockney rhyming slang - Sweeney Todd = Flying Squad, and over the course of four staggeringly successful seasons between 1975-1978 and two spin-off feature films, helped transform experienced lead actors John Thaw and Dennis Waterman from mere household name's into genuine icons of a decade where dubious fashion sense held equal sway with a cynically violent grittiness, formerly unheard of in the genre of the TV police drama.

Unlike their higher budgeted glossy US TV counterparts, Detective Inspector Jack Regan and Detective Sgt George Carter were troubled heroes with feet of clay, as hard drinking, excessively violent and ruthless as the criminals they stalked. So successful was the chemistry between the two stars that the producers saw fit to kill off Carter’s wife early on to enable him to spend more time with his ‘guvnor.’ Following creator Kennedy Martin's stark ‘warts and all’ original format undeviatingly, the series time and again took delight in shattering the cosy illusion of the guardians of law and order as reassuringly avuncular Dixon of Dock Green figures, which had dominated television screens for decades, and instead presented the viewers with police who were forced to fight fire with fire. Although the authorities tried to deny that such characters existed within the police force there were many who acknowledged the series realism, and indeed the series technical advisor was former Flying Squad officer Jack Quarrie. 

The Sweeney

Adding to the over-all reality of the series was the decision by Thames Television subsidiary, Euston Films, to shoot entirely on film at a modest budget of £40,000 per episode. This basic economy, allied to the imaginative early use of hand held cameras to put the viewers in the middle of the action, gave the series an immediacy and intimacy of action which was almost documentary-like in its illusion of reality. At the height of its popularity the series was attracting a weekly audience of 19 million viewers and attracting guest stars who represented the cream of the British acting profession such as Diana Dors, John Hurt, Brian Blessed, Russell Hunter, George Cole and astonishingly, the beloved and legendary Morecambe and Wise.

Apart from the fact that The Sweeney was a prime example of consistently exciting, expertly produced, written and acted police series at its finest, it was even more important as the catalyst for an entirely new direction in the evolution of dramatic programming in this genre. And that in itself is about as good a definition of the term 'classic' as you're likely to find on this particular manor, squire.

Published on February 5th, 2019. Written by Laurence Marcus & Peter Henshuls "Get your trouser on - you're nicked!" (2000) for Television Heaven.

Read Next...

Big Breadwinner Hog

Peter Egan stars as Hogarth, a ruthlessly ambitious, flash and violent small-time criminal who has visions of being king of London's criminal underworld.

Also tagged Crime Series

Wojeck

Drama series about a Canadian coroner

Also tagged Copsonthebox

Poldark

Winston Graham's series of historical novels published from 1945 to 1953 and again from 1973 to 2002, was one of the most successful British television adaptations of all time having been sold to over forty countries.

Also released in 1975

Number 10 tv series

A whole host of stars feature in this historical anthology series telling the stories of seven Prime Ministers and their time in office at London's most famous address

Also starring Garfield Morgan

The Loner tv series

Trilogy of dark comedic plays about a man coming from nowhere, going nowhere, and about what happens to him in transit

Also released in 1975

Inheritance

Drama starring John Thaw which revolved around the fortunes of the Oldroyds of Annotsfield, a Yorkshire mill-owning family, through five generations.

Also starring John Thaw

John Thaw as Inspector Morse

Arguably the world's, and certainly Britain's, finest entry in the long and distinguished history of the television/detective fiction genre.

Also starring John Thaw

Weavers Green

Britain's first rural twice-weekly soap opera centred around village life in East Anglia, seen through the experiences of local a vet. All Creatures Great and Small meets Emmerdale.

Also starring Dennis Waterman