The Sweeney

The Sweeney is a British television police drama focusing on two crime-fighting members of the Flying Squad, an elite branch of the British police force specialising in armed robbery and violent crime. The programme originally aired on ITV from 1975 until 1978 and starred John Thaw as Jack Regan and Dennis Waterman as George Carter. Such was its popularity in the UK that it even spawned two theatrically-released feature film spin-offs, Sweeney! and Sweeney 2.

The series was created by writer Ian Kennedy Martin, brother of the better-known Troy Kennedy Martin, the latter of whom also contributed several episodes and wrote the second film. The programme was born out of a one-off drama, called Regan, which Ian Kennedy Martin had written for Thames Television's Armchair Cinema series of one-offs in 1974.

"Sweeney Todd", usually shortened to "The Sweeney", is Cockney rhyming slang for the Flying Squad, and accounts for how this programme received its title. The Sweeney is known for its its elaborate car chases and for its gritty and relatively realistic look at the criminal side of London as it existed in the 1970s. The catchphrase "Shut it!", still heard in the UK today, is from The Sweeney. The series was produced by Euston Films, a subsidiary of Thames Television, for ITV.

References to The Sweeney are a central focus of the 1979 song "Cool for Cats" by the band Squeeze.

The Sweeney is also a British rock band, starring Murray Torkildsen (vocals, guitar), Adam Batterbee (drums) and Sid (bass).

External link

• Information on "The Sweeney" at NostalgiaCentral.com
• Website for the rock band

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