History Series / TheSweeney

Gene Hunt of ''Series/{{Life on Mars|2006}}'' and ''Series/AshesToAshes'' is a fairly obvious ShoutOut to Jack Regan and his ilk. (One is tempted to call him an AffectionateParody, but he'd call one a poof for saying so. He'd call one a poof for saying "one" instead of "him" anyway.) Gerry Standing, Dennis Waterman's character in ''Series/NewTricks'', is another AffectionateParody of what the characters from ''The Sweeney'' (George in particular) might look like thirty-odd years down the track.

A classic British CopShow from the 1970s featuring CowboyCop Inspector Jack Regan (John Thaw) and his sidekick Sergeant George Carter (Dennis Waterman) of the [[UsefulNotes/ScotlandYard Metropolitan Police]] Flying Squad (Rhyming slang: "SweeneyTodd" = "Flying Squad", hence the title), an elite detective unit able to be stationed at any location where an armed robbery is likely.

* BigDamnMovie: The 1977 movie featured a complex espionage plot with an attempt to assassinate a foreign ambassador. However they seemed to realise this was silly, so in the second spinoff they went stuck to foiling ''particularly nasty'' bank robberies- this ended up DarkerAndEdgier with a higher body count than the whole TV run combined.

** [[spoiler: the only times the guns are used on people, however, are [[ChekhovsGun on wounded crew members]] and to escape the Sweeney [[DrivenToSuicide the only way out they could.]]]]

* SpecialGuest: Creator/MorecambeAndWise. (John Thaw and Dennis Waterman found it hard to keep a straight face around them; they also did a spoof of ''The Sweeney'' on their sketch programme.)

-->"Hold it right there, squire. You are privileged to be looking down the barrels of a gold-plated Purdey shotgun. Now as a bank manager, you'll appreciate that any man capable of cutting a gun like that in half wouldn't think twice about cutting you in half." [[spoiler: the only times the guns are used on people, however are [[ChekhovsGun on wounded crew members]] and to escape the Sweeney [[DrivenToSuicide the only way out they could.]]]]

* BigDamnMovie: The 1977 movie featured a complex espionage plot with an attempt to assassinate a foreign ambassador. However they seemed to realise this was silly, so in the second spinoff they went stuck to foiling ''particularly nasty'' bank robberies.
* BloodSplatteredInnocents: Jack Regan suffers this in the 1978 movie when an armed robber evades capture by putting a sawn-off shotgun in his mouth. And it's not just blood either. Regan realistically freaks out and frantically scrubs his face clean.

* TheMovie: Two theatrically released films were made between seasons, both made by the same cast and crew as the television show and both DarkerAndEdgier (the second film has a higher body count than the whole TV run combined)

-->"Hold it right there, squire. You are privileged to be looking down the barrels of a gold-plated Purdey shotgun. Now as a bank manager, you'll appreciate that any man capable of cutting a gun like that in half wouldn't think twice about cutting you in half."

* {{Oireland}}: The series gains a touch of the Oirish in an episode involving TheTroubles.

The characters were rough, hard-drinking and, by modern standards, highly sexist. Regan, while over forty, greying and divorced, was successful with women as [[AmanIsNotAVirgin part of his macho image]] (although his sex life became a plot point sometimes). Carter was married and a bit more stable and reliable than his "Guv'nor". In fact, Regan's "Guv'nor", Superintendent Haskins, felt Carter should be reassigned because Regan was a bad influence on him.

British television cop shows had been undergoing a steady evolution from the light-hearted ''Series/DixonOfDockGreen'' to the relatively gritty ''Series/ZCars''. ''The Sweeney'' took this to the next level, with an unprecedented level of violence, cynicism, and bad language (albeit that it was still PG-rated; "bastard" was as bad as it got)[[note]] thery were allowed one "fucking", though. It was used to [[PrecisionFStrike effect]].[[/note]]. There was at least one car chase, fist fight or gunfight per episode. Unlike most British policemen, Regan and Carter were often armed, but the squad frequently took down criminal gangs in brutal hand-to-hand battles fought with pick-axe handles, iron bars, fists and boots. Unlike the almost-contemporary ''Series/StarskyAndHutch'' the violent action did not have a ''Film/JamesBond''-movie feel to it, being instead down-and-dirty, and sometimes quite shocking. Gunfire was seldom [[OnlyAFleshWound non-lethal]] and people who got hurt stayed hurt. If a car crashed and burned, the people inside didn't climb out as in ''Series/TheATeam'', either!

A [[Film/TheSweeney movie adaptation of the show]] has been released in 2012.

* {{Homage}}: London band ''{{Squeeze}}'' homaged this show in the song ''Cool for Cats'';

British television cop shows had been undergoing a steady evolution from the light-hearted ''Series/DixonOfDockGreen'' to the relatively gritty ''Series/ZCars''. ''The Sweeney'' took this to the next level, with an unprecedented level of violence, cynicism, and bad language (albeit that it was still PG-rated; "bastard" was as bad as it got). There was at least one car chase, fist fight or gunfight per episode. Unlike most British policemen, Regan and Carter were often armed, but the squad frequently took down criminal gangs in brutal hand-to-hand battles fought with pick-axe handles, iron bars, fists and boots. Unlike the almost-contemporary ''Series/StarskyAndHutch'' the violent action did not have a ''Film/JamesBond''-movie feel to it, being instead down-and-dirty, and sometimes quite shocking. Gunfire was seldom [[OnlyAFleshWound non-lethal]] and people who got hurt stayed hurt. If a car crashed and burned, the people inside didn't climb out as in ''Series/TheATeam'', either!

* {{Homage}}: London band ''{{Squeeze}}'' homaged this show in the song ''cool for Cats'';

-->It's funny how their missus' always look the bleeding same!

* SpecialGuest: MorecambeAndWise. (John Thaw and Dennis Waterman found it hard to keep a straight face around them; they also did a spoof of ''The Sweeney'' on their sketch programme.)

* ItsPersonal: Regan at the climax of the first movie. After seeing the only witness of the killings [[spoiler:(who he'd shagged earlier)]] murdered, Regan is told by a government official the BigBad would be assassinated by his own hitmen upon being arrested. What does Regan do next?

* TheMovie: Two theatrically released films were made between seasons, both made by the same cast and crew as the television show and both DarkerAndEdgier (the second film has a higher body count than the whole TV run combined)

* HeyItsThatGuy[=/=]RetroactiveRecognition: frequently.
** Creator/BrianBlessed played the villain in the first episode. Managed to avoid being a {{Large Ham}} for once, delivering a menacing portrayal of a vicious gangster who "May have had elocution lessons, but is still as rough as the inside of a coal-bucket."
** Christopher Ellison ([[Series/{{TheBill}} DI Frank Burnside]]), Andrew Paul ([[Series/{{TheBill}} PC Dave Quinnan]]) and Billy Murray ([[Series/{{TheBill}} Don Beech]]) have prominent roles in episodes.
** [[Series/BlakesSeven Steven Pacey]] appears in one episode. Briefly.
** Creator/JohnHurt and [[{{Minder}} George Cole]] appear together in one episode.
** Lynda Bellingham (now of ''Loose Women'') is another famous guest star who appeared in an episode, and also the first movie.
** Alf Garnett. [[DisguisedInDrag In drag]], no less.

A movie adaptation of the show has been released in 2012. And it brought in £4 million in the British box office.

----

!!The 2012 film adaptation provides examples of:
* BottomlessMagazines: Averted in a few scenes, where characters are shown reloading or running out of ammo right when it matters most, but played straight with the bad guys' assault rifles, which never seem to run out despite firing dozens of rounds each.
* ConcealmentEqualsCover: Played utterly straight. Numerous completely non bullet-proof objects are shown to stop bullets, including the action movie standard of a car door, but also leather armchairs and various sections of a yacht that wouldn't stop an air rifle, never mind a military assault rifle.
* IAintGotTimeToBleed: After being stabbed in the thigh with a flick-knife, [[spoiler:Regan]] pulls the knife out and carries on chasing the bad guy. His only acknowledgement of this fairly serious and potentially debilitating injury is to wince in pain after jumping from a yacht onto the pier, and after that it's completely forgotten about.
* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: In the extended on-foot chase scene after the bank robbery, hundreds of rounds are fired but only two people get hit - one while standing still and at point-blank range, and the other's lying down and barely conscious. Justified in that, other than those two shots, almost every shot is fired either as covering fire, a snap/blind shot from behind cover, or while running; the aiming involved is necessarily minimal.
* ImprobableAimingSkills: As the above suggests, this is nicely averted. The only successful shots all occur at an entirely believable range, on a target that is either stationary or at least slow-moving, and the shooter has the time and opportunity to aim their shot properly. There is one slight exception, but it's justified by being the one shot in an entire clip that actually hits a target, and [[spoiler:even then it only inflicts a flesh wound]], so is down more to luck and probability than any improbable skills.
* KarmaHoudini: YMMV on how much he deserves it, but by the end of the film [[spoiler:Regan]] has got away with nothing worse than a bit of personal embarrassment and a brief beating (that he seems to be almost fully recovered from by the next day), despite having [[spoiler:destroyed someone's marriage by having an affair with their wife, assaulted a colleague for no justifiable reason, caused the death of one of his subordinates (who's also the love of his life) as well as several civilian bystanders through his recklessness and disregard for orders, assaulted two apparently innocent men and later mutilated one of them, stolen police evidence, and generally broken every single police guideline and procedure in order to get the job done]].
* OnlyAFleshWound: When storming the mini-cab office, [[spoiler:George]] deliberately shoots several mooks in the leg, presumably with the intention of inflicting a non-lethal wound that will still stop them. Possibly justified in that while he's not actively trying to kill them, he's probably not that bothered about them dying from the wounds.
* ShortRangeLongRangeWeapon: Averted pretty well - shoot-outs are generally at a reasonable range with combatants dozens of yards from each other, and all ducking behind cover at every opportunity.
* ShutUpHannibal: DC George Carter gets a pretty good one in against [[spoiler:DCI Jack Regan, his superior]]. Midway through an attempted coercion, he slaps [[spoiler:Jack]] across the face and points out that he (George) has got where he has through his own hard work, and that it's not just [[spoiler:Jack]] who's hurting from [[spoiler:the loss of his colleague, DC Nancy Lewis]]. [[spoiler:Jack]] is, for perhaps the first and only time in the movie, left suitably humbled and speechless.
* {{Determinator}}: Both of the main heroes take their fair share of physical trauma and keep on truckin', but Regan takes the prize for being in ''two'' car crashes, getting the snot kicked out of him by half a dozen very angry men, getting ''stabbed in the leg'', and shrugging it all off like it's no big thing
* UnexplainedRecovery:
** [[spoiler:Regan]] is shown having four or five convicts going to town on him and very definitely putting the boot in. The next day, he's walking around with nothing worse than a couple of small bruises. Partially justified in that the wardens pull the convicts off of him after a minute or two, and also in that [[spoiler:Regan]] is an experienced dirty fighter and no doubt knows how to roll with a blow.
** The later [[spoiler:stabbed leg]] is less justified, considering he's immediately up and running, and then in a 10 minute car chase as the driver, all apparently with no ill effect or [[spoiler:debilitating level of blood loss]].

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/The_Sweeney_TV_7060.jpg
%%[[caption-width:250:some caption text]]

Blatantly parodied in ''{{The Invisibles}}'', where Jack and George of Division X are Carter and Regan to the life. [[LampshadeHanging Explained]] by saying that the invisibles created their cover identities from old '70s cop shows. Their boss Mr Crowley is a {{shout out}} to George Cowley of ''Series/TheProfessionals'', another British police drama of the time. (Their fellow agent Mister Six, meanwhile, is a {{shout out}} to Jason King of ''Series/{{Department S}}''.)

Gene Hunt of ''Series/LifeOnMars2006'' and ''AshesToAshes'' is a fairly obvious ShoutOut to Jack Regan and his ilk. (One is tempted to call him an AffectionateParody, but he'd call one a poof for saying so. He'd call one a poof for saying "one" instead of "him" anyway.) Gerry Standing, Dennis Waterman's character in ''NewTricks'', is another AffectionateParody of what the characters from ''TheSweeney'' (George in particular) might look like thirty-odd years down the track.

The show was recorded entirely with film, and the production had a heavy reliance on location shooting, both of which were very unusual features at the time. Although it was extremely popular, a combination of high production costs and creator burnout meant that it only lasted for four series. Nonetheless it was very influential, directly inspiring ITV's successful ''Series/TheProfessionals'' and the BBC's relatively unpopular ''{{Target}}''.

** BrianBlessed played the villain in the first episode. Managed to avoid being a {{Large Ham}} for once, delivering a menacing portrayal of a vicious gangster who "May have had elocution lessons, but is still as rough as the inside of a coal-bucket."

** John Hurt and [[{{Minder}} George Cole]] appear together in one episode.

* SpecialGuest: Morecambe and Wise. (John Thaw and Dennis Waterman found it hard to keep a straight face around them; they also did a spoof of ''The Sweeney'' on their sketch programme.)

* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: In the extended on-foot chase scene after the bank robbery, hundreds of rounds are fired but only two people get hit - one while standing still and at point-blank range, and the other's lying down and barely conscious.
** Justified in that, other than those two shots, almost every shot is fired either as covering fire, a snap/blind shot from behind cover, or while running; the aiming involved is necessarily minimal.

* TheDeterminator: Both of the main heroes take their fair share of physical trauma and keep on truckin', but Regan takes the prize for being in ''two'' car crashes, getting the snot kicked out of him by half a dozen very angry men, getting ''stabbed in the leg'', and shrugging it all off like it's no big thing
* UnexplainedRecovery: [[spoiler:Regan]] is shown having four or five convicts going to town on him and very definitely putting the boot in. The next day, he's walking around with nothing worse than a couple of small bruises.
** Partially justified in that the wardens pull the convicts off of him after a minute or two, and also in that [[spoiler:Regan]] is an experienced dirty fighter and no doubt knows how to roll with a blow.

** Christopher Ellison ([[{{TheBill}} DI Frank Burnside]]), Andrew Paul ([[{{TheBill}} PC Dave Quinnan]]) and Billy Murray ([[{{TheBill}} Don Beech]]) have prominent roles in episodes.

* TheDeterminator: Both of the main heroes take their fair share of physical trauma and keep on truckin', but Regan takes the prize for being in ''two'' car crashes, getting the snot kicked out of him by half a dozen very angry men, getting ''stabbed in the leg'', and shrugging it all off like it's no big thing

* ShutUpHannibal: DC George Carter gets a pretty good one in against [[spoiler:DCI Jack Regan, his superior]]. Midway through an attempted coercion, he slaps [[spoiler:Jack]] across the face and points out that he (George) has got where he has through his own hard work, and that it's not just [[spoiler:Jack]] who's hurting from [[spoiler:the loss of his colleague, DC Nancy Lewis]]. [[spoiler:Jack]] is, for perhaps the first and only time in the movie, left suitably humbled and speechless.

* ShutUpHannibal: DC George Carter gets a pretty good one in against [[spoiler:DCI Jack Regan, his superior]]. Midway through an attempted coercion, he slaps [[spoiler:Jack]] across the face and points out that he (George) has got where he has through his own hard work, and that it's not just [[spoiler:Jack]] who's hurting from [[spoiler:the loss of his colleague, DC Nancy Lewis]].

!!This TV series provides examples of:

----

Reportedly getting the Hollywood film treatment some time soon.

A classic British CopShow from the 1970s featuring CowboyCop Inspector Jack Regan (John Thaw) and his sidekick Sergeant George Carter (Dennis Waterman) of the [[ScotlandYard Metropolitan Police]] Flying Squad (Rhyming slang: "SweeneyTodd" = "Flying Squad", hence the title), an elite detective unit able to be stationed at any location where an armed robbery is likely.