History Series / TheSweeney

* BankRobbery: "Thou Shalt Not Kill" sees the Flying Squad deal with a robbery at the university branch of the National Mercian bank.

* {{Blackmail}}: In "Money, Money, Money", a retired criminal friend of Regan and Carter is blackmailed and extorted by a criminal out of money he won on the pools in exchange for not revealing telling about a job he pulled years ago.

* CelebrityParadox: In "Messenger of the Gods", Carter interviews a woman who gets distracted by a horror film she watched starring Creator/ChristopherLee. Perhaps she was talking about ''Film/ScarsOfDracula'', which starred Dennis Waterman.

* TheInformant: Several one-off characters whose portrayals ranged from "contemptible but necessary" to actually fairly sympathetic. Of course, one of the show's central themes was that the cops and the cons were NotSoDifferent.

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

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 [[GoodOldFisticuffs brutal hand-to-hand battles]] fought with [[ImprovisedWeapon 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 [[EveryCarIsAPinto crashed and burned]], the people inside didn't climb out as in ''Series/TheATeam'', either!

* SequelEpisode: Season two's "Golden Fleece" and "Trojan Bus" featured a pair of Australian villains, Colin [=MacGruder=] and Ray Stackpole.

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: The pilot movie Regan ended with Regan beating a confession out of a suspect for the murder of an undercover police man....and then threatening to do him for not paying his car tax.

* FromCamouflageToCriminal: "Taste of Fear" features a gang of ex-soldiers carrying out armed robberies.

* IHaveYourWife: "Soppo Driver" sees a Flying Squad driver blackmailed into being a getaway driver for a gang when they kidnap his new wife.

* SpecialGuest: Most notably 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.)
** Amongst those who made guest appearances were Creator/BrianBlessed, Creator/WarrenClarke, Creator/JohnRhysDavies, Creator/JulianGlover, Creator/IanHendry, Creator/JohnHurt, Creator/PatrickTroughton, Creator/PeterVaughan and Creator/RichardWilson.

Gene Hunt of ''Series/{{Life on Mars|2006}}'' and ''Series/AshesToAshes2008'' 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.

* {{Oireland}}: A young Lyndy Brill played the daughter of an Irish terrorist involved in UsefulNotes/TheTroubles. Her Oirish accent would make a real Irish teenage girl cringe.

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

* ArmedBlag: A common source of plots (unsurprisingly, since armed robberies were what the Flying Squad specialised in in real life).

* BangBangBang

* CowboyCop: Regan on a ''good'' day. Carter and pretty much everyone else on the squad.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: The second episode, Jackpot, has a captured bank robber interrogated for the whereabouts of a missing take. [[spoiler: he pulled the heist to fund a kidney transplant for his daughter abroad, and the villains aren't keen to honour his share after his arrest and imprisonment.]]

* FingertipDrugAnalysis
* GoodCopBadCop: degenerating into Bad Cop, Worse Cop and even Bad Cop, Rabid Cop.
* {{Homage}}: London band ''Music/{{Squeeze}}'' homaged this show in the song ''Cool for Cats'';
--> The Sweeney's doing ninety 'cos they've got the word to go;
-->They get a gang of villains in a shed up at Heathrow;
-->They're counting out the fivers, when the handcuffs lock again;
-->In and out of Wandsworth with the numbers on their names'
-->It's funny how their missus always looks the bleeding same!
-->And meanwhile at the station, there's a couple of likely lads;
-->Who swear like how's your father, and they're very cool for cats...
** Squeeze performed the song on a Thames TV show, where the verse was accompanied by back-projected footage of one of the show's car chases.

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

* ReadingYourRights: What rights?

* SmokingIsCool: As modelled by both the leads.

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 ''Series/{{Target}}''.

** Amongst those who made guest appearances were Creator/BrianBlessed, Creator/WarrenClarke, Creator/JohnRhysDavies, Creator/JulianGlover, Creator/IanHendry, Creator/JohnHurt, Creator/PatrickTroughton, Creator/PeterVaughn and Creator/RichardWilson.

* DisguisedInDrag: In one episode a character played by Warren Mitchell (better known for ''Series/TillDeathUsDoPart'') escapes from villains by dressing up in his girlfriend's clothes and a wig. Regan and Carter turn up. "Ooh Mr Wardle, you do look nice!"

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: "Theatre/SweeneyTodd" = "Flying Squad", hence the title), an elite detective unit able to be stationed at any location where an armed robbery is likely.

* SpecialGuest: Most notably 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.) Several other people [[RetroactiveRecognition who became famous after the series ended]] had smaller parts.