Sweeney, The

The Sweeney is a 70's coshow and at the time it was apparently seen as being ground breaking as it did not really show the police in the best of lights as they were portrayed as hard drinking womanisers who used violence to get confessions and were not beyond bending the law to get a conviction. So a bit like real life then lol. The series focused on the London Flying Squad (Sweeney Todd is the rhyming slang from which the series gets its name after all you only use the first word in rhyming slang) and a Detective Inspector by the name of Jack Reagan played by the great John Thaw with his sidekick George being played by Dennis Waterman. They work on the ...  Read the complete review

Up until the time "The Sweeney" burst onto TV screens throughout Britain in 1975, the most exciting home-grown UK cop shows that viewers could look forward to were the likes of the limp and insipid "Z-Cars" and "Dixon Of Dock Green" (Evening all!) The Sweeney dispelled forever the cosy image TV portrayed of the loveable British beat bobby, smacking the viewing public right between the eyes with the harsh and somewhat unpalatable reality of what modern policing had become in an increasingly violent modern society. The late John Thaw (sorely missed) played the part of Detective Jack Regan of the Flying Squad. (Flying ...  Read the complete review

This was the tv cop show that broke the mould for British police drama. Pre 1975 Dixon of Dock Green set the standard, friendly bobby on the beat who always got his man. The Sweeney was hard hitting, gritty drama starring John Thaw & Dennis Waterman as two members of the Flying Squad. They broke every rule in the book. Their often drunken, womanising characters would ignore the regulations and their commanding officer in persuit of an arrest. They didn't always get their man, they did make mistakes but they showed determination and commitment to the job. The show's violence often drew criticism, it became a regular part of the show, as did the ...  Read the complete review

The Sweeney was ahead of its time as far as I was concerned. The things I loved, and still do enjoying the re-runs, about it most were: That the villians often got away, or perhaps it was just that the Flying Squad didn't always get to them on time. Regan and Carter were, despite being the worst dressed law enforcement officers ever, cool, calculating, and clever. Thaw and Waterman always seemed to me to be having a fantastic time being whizzed round grubby parts of London looking for Blaggers, Swindlers, and Gangsters, being driven round by their monosyllabic ( probably not in Equity ) driver. Haskins the Boss, his shiny dome ...  Read the complete review