The Sweeney

The Sweeney is a 1970s 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. Starring John Thaw as Detective Inspector Jack Regan and Dennis Waterman as his partner, Detective Sergeant George Carter. The programme's title derives from 'Sweeney Todd', which is Cockney rhyming slang for "Flying Squad". Produced by Thames Television subsidiary Euston Films for broadcast on the ITV network. It began as a television film Regan written by Ian Kennedy Martin, brother of Troy Kennedy Martin, who wrote several episodes and also the second film. Such was its popularity in the UK that it spawned two feature film spin-offs, Sweeney! and Sweeney 2. In the early 90s repeats aired on UK GOLD but repeats currently air on ITV4