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The Sweeney is a British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London. The programme's title derives from Sweeney Todd, which is Cockney rhyming slang for 'Flying Squad'.
The programme was made entirely on film by Thames Television's film division, Euston Films. It originally aired on ITV between 1975 and 1978, starring John Thaw as Detective Inspector Jack Regan, and Dennis Waterman as Detective Sergeant George Carter. Such was its popularity in the UK that it 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), who contributed several episodes and wrote the second film. It was born from a one-off drama, entitled Regan, which Ian Kennedy Martin wrote for Thames Television's Armchair Cinema series of one-offs in 1974.
From the very beginning, the show was seen as having series potential. After Regan scored highly in the ratings, work began on the development of the series proper. Ian Kennedy Martin's ideas for the series were for it to be partially studio-based, with more dialogue and less action; but producer Ted Childs disagreed with this, and Ian Kennedy Martin reluctantly parted company with the project. In the event it was shot almost entirely on location and entirely on film (which gave it a startling degree of realism), and had a heavy bias toward action sequences.
The writers were given strict guidelines to follow: "Each show will have an overall screen time (minus titles) of 48mins 40secs. Each film will open with a teaser of up to 3 minutes, which will be followed by the opening titles. The story will be played across three acts, each being no more than 19 minutes and no less than 8 minutes in length. Regan will appear in every episode, Carter in approximately 10 out of 13 episodes. In addition to these main characters, scripts should be based around three major speaking parts, with up to ten minor speaking parts."
The Sweeney was the first really modern police-based series on British television. Previously, most dramas featuring the police had shied away from showing 'coppers' as fallible human beings. The police in The Sweeney were a million miles away from those of the BBC's cosy world of Dixon of Dock Green, or even from the BBC's slightly more realistic Z Cars. They were brutal and violent in dealing with London's hardened criminals, and prone to cutting corners and bending laws. The series showed a somewhat more realistic side of the police which often had a disregard for authority, rules and the 'system', as long it got the job done. Until The Sweeney this had been a subject largely whitewashed by British television.
It was a fast-paced edge-of-your-seat action series, depicting the Squad's relentless battle against armed robbery; but it nevertheless included a substantial degree of humour.
For the time, it had a high degree of graphic on-screen violence and the episodes had a high number of on-screen deaths.
Series 01
Series 02
Series 03
Series 04
Shut It! The Music Of The Sweeney (1975)
UK compilation for one of Britain’s best-loved 70s cop showsthat spawned two films. Named after the lead character’s infamous expletive, ‘Shut It!’ is the first release to commemorate music from ‘The Sweeney’. Includes Harry South’s memorable opening & closing themes & Dennis King’s equally timeless movie theme, along with funky incidental music from various music libraries & some which was written especially for the series.
Linkovi pregledani 03.11.2010
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