Jack Regan is a hard edged detective in the Flying Squad of London's Metropolitan Police (called 'the Sweeney' from the Cockney rhyming slang 'Sweeney Todd' = 'Flying Squad'). He pursues villains by methods which are underhanded and often illegal themselves, frequently violent and more often than not successful. Jack Regan is a hard edged detective in the Flying Squad of London's Metropolitan Police. He pursues villains by methods which are underhanded and often illegal themselves, frequently violent and more often than not successful. Ian and Troy Kennedy-Martin were the brothers who revolutionised crime drama on British TV in the 1970s. While Troy was a far more political animal, Ian concentrated on commercial TV.<br/><br/>However, that doesn't make The Sweeney any less authentic. In fact, many ex-Flying Squad officers have commented on its authenticity, helped by the fact that the producers used to pay real policeman in used fivers as 'technical advisors'.<br/><br/>The Sweeney represents Scotland Yard's first proper attempt to stem the rise of violent robberies following the oil crisis and economic slump of the 1970s. It represents the time before the Police And Criminal Evidence Acts changed the face of policing for ever in Britain - a far more free-wheeling, corruption laden time.<br/><br/>Policing is shown as hard, tedious work where moral dilemmas must be confronted all the time and there are no sudden leaps in detection, just stress and danger.<br/><br/>Particularly impressive in the Sweeney are the number of times that firearms are used - this was really true in the Flying Squad - even back in the good old days… THE SWEENEY is a television series I remember very well from my childhood , and is rightfully regarded as one of the greatest shows to have come out of Britain , and I enjoyed rewatching the show on cable TV a couple of years ago . One thing I did notice during the daily repeats was that the show`s episodes fall between " Comedic " episodes and " violent " episodes. For example a comedic episode revolved around a gangland boss living in Spain trying to get his dog back from his home in London only to have his righthand man bring the wrong dog over ! Cut to right hand man leaving Gatwick airport heavily bandaged and in a wheelchair .<br/><br/>Many of the violent episodes also featured a healthy dose of humour. For instance a big butch heavy would be getting interrogated by Jack Regan: " Listen slag we know you done the robbery , you`re going down for fifteen years son . Got that slag ? " To which the big butch heavy would reply " I don`t know what you mean Mister Regan ? " in the most effeminate tones imaginable ! It`s also entertaining to watch scenes where the villain is deliberately played in a completely wooden manner while his victim deliberately goes OTT. But having said that many of the episodes are violent , most notably the episode NIGHTMARE that involves a man being shot in the guts and then has him slowly bleed to death , and later a cold blooded execution. Tarantino couldn`t have made this episode more bloody.<br/><br/>Perhaps we should judge the episodes on how memorable they are in which case I`ll recount the repeat I saw where two middle aged parents recieve a telephone call late at night from a man who has kidnapped their son and they have to listen as the son is tortured . I hadn`t seen this episode for over 20 years but seeing that opening scene reminded me of the plot. !!!!SPOILER !!!!! Their son hasn`t been kidnapped at all , it`s just a scam to rip off his rich parents. The penny drops when the kidnapper phoning from a public call box hands the son the phone who starts screaming down the line to his parents
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