Talk:The Sweeney

Carter's provenance
It's true that in the Sweeney pilot (or at least the first episode), Regan makes reference Carter being from the Peckham area in South London. In later episodes, though, this was altered to give the impression that he was from Fulham. Anyone know why? -  at 13:42, 28 June 2006


 * It seems he was from Peckham but lived with his wife in Fulham, where she worked in a school. Valenciano (talk) 10:26, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

Regan and the Stripper
In The Television Crimebusters Omnibus (1994), Peter Haining mentions an episode called "Regan and the Stripper", however I can find no mention of it in the article. Maybe it aired under a different name or it could be Haining talking complete rubbish as usual. Anybody know more of this? Colin4C (talk) 18:20, 25 March 2008 (UTC)


 * No such episode or any with a plot substantially involving a stripper. He does visit a strip club to meet informant Joey Stickley in 'Supersnout' and it's unclear what his ex-girlfriend Iris Longs job is in 'Night out' but they don't seem to fit the description. Valenciano (talk) 10:26, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Thanks for that. My information is that there is a Sweeney novel called either Regan and the Stripper or Regan and the Bent Stripper published in 1977, by Joe Balham. I assumed as per Haining that it was adapted from a Sweeney episode, though am not surprised that Haining has lived down to his usual standards of inaccuracy in this. Colin4C (talk) 10:38, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
 * There is indeed Regan and the Bent Stripper but most of the books have nothing to do with the series so I doubt it's based on an actual episode. Valenciano (talk) 11:28, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Thanks again. Perhaps we should mention these books in the article? Colin4C (talk) 11:32, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Done. If you need any more info, best place to ask is here where someone will know. Valenciano (talk) 12:28, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

Extreme POV
Is it just me, or does the run-down of each series seem to be extremely POV - containing a user(s) own personal favourites? There are no citations, and just seems to very much be a matter of opinion. I didn't want to edit / remove it before hearing other's thoughts. Jay Firestorm (talk) 13:44, 27 November 2009 (UTC)


 * Over a year later... and still feel the same. Each season gives run-downs of "highlights". Highlights in whose opinion?? Can't believe I'm not the only one who feels this. Jay Firestorm (talk) 16:39, 31 January 2011 (UTC)


 * Jump in and fix it. > Best O Fortuna (talk) 23:35, 26 December 2011 (UTC)

I agree it's far too opinionated - and whoever wrote this needs to go back and watch BBC's 'Dixon of Dock Green' again (some episodes are out on DVD) as it was far from a 'cosy' world depicted in that show...!

Surely not!
The article states that for the remake "Ray Winstone's name confirmed for the role of George Carter, and Ewan McGregor and Daniel Craig being sourced as keen possibilities for the lead role of Jack Regan". This seems barmy, for Carter to be 14 years older than Regan. Surely Winstone would be Regan and McGregor or Craig would be Carter? DavidFarmbrough (talk) 12:58, 26 August 2010 (UTC)


 * Look for a better, more credible source, than Wikipedia. > Best O Fortuna (talk) 23:35, 26 December 2011 (UTC)

ITV editing re runs?
I watched a re run of "Abduction" on ITV 4 (20th Jan 2011) & a scene appears to have been censored - the friend of Suzy's (Reagans daughter who has been kidnapped) is describing the last time he saw her - the dialogue was cut & for a few seconds a box appeared on the sceen stating that changes had been made for legal reasons.

& there was a short cut in the dialogue later on in the episode.

Is there a specific reason for this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.39.116.155 (talk) 11:23, 22 January 2011 (UTC)

Dunno about this particular case, but re-runs of the show are heavily edited anyway, for language, violence, and to make time for the third advert break. Same goes for 'Minder' and 'The Professionals'. Jay Firestorm (talk) 16:38, 31 January 2011 (UTC)


 * Most of these type of shows in the 1970s initially went out after the 9.00 PM watershed, after-which a certain amount of violence and bad language was allowed in TV programmes, it being considered that most responsible parents would have their children put to bed by this time - this being long before most UK school children had TVs in their bedrooms. Hence, when re-shown in e.g., the afternoon, many had to have scenes edited or removed to make them acceptable for the 'pre-watershed' schedule. Usually it was just to remove bad language (swearing) or occasionally, nudity, although violent scenes were also sometimes cut. As Jay mentions above, also to make room for the adverts, there being much longer and more frequent add breaks nowadays compared to when the programmes were originally aired - approx eight minutes of adverts per-hour on ITV then - at 15min, 30 min, 45 min and on the hour, all of around two minutes each break, so even more editing is necessary for showing them on TV today. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.112.81.24 (talk) 20:55, 3 February 2011 (UTC)

Diagnosis - Murder?
Are you sure ?

In the section see also, don't you think its a far stretch from British cop driven shows like The Professionals to US Medical murder shows ? — Preceding unsigned comment added by VinDibs (talk • contribs) 19:40, 24 April 2012 (UTC)
 * A peculiarity of Diagnosis Murder was that it often referenced older TV shows. Lee Goldberg and William Rabkin, who co-wrote the episode 'Obsession' featuring the Carter Sweeney character, had been co-producers on She-Wolf of London, which filmed in England in 1990 at a time when The Sweeney was still receiving prime-time repeats on ITV. Although The Sweeney was seldom seen in the US except when a New York PBS station did a season of Thames TV shows (and even then The Sweeney required a special introduction to explain all the slang), John Thaw had become well known in the US for Inspector Morse, which might have led US TV professionals to take an interest in his earlier work.


 * Incidentally, the episode cast-list does not include any such character as Regan Sweeney. It does, however, include a Lewis Sweeney, and Sgt Lewis was Inspector Morse's sidekick just as Sgt Carter was Inspector Regan's, so the writers do seem to have been giving a nod to John Thaw. The episode also features a character called Neil Burnside, obviously named after the Roy Marsden character in The Sandbaggers, which had gained a cult following on PBS in the early Nineties. The Sandbaggers was originally an ITV hit at the same time (late 1978) as the final series of The Sweeney. So it's not a stretch to suggest that the Diagnosis Murder writer-producers would allude to British thriller shows of that date. It would just be an in-joke, and it wouldn't matter whether the audience picked it up or not. Khamba Tendal (talk) 12:03, 16 February 2020 (UTC)

Overseas distribution
Was there very much?

It aired here in Canada in the 1970s. 99.247.1.157 (talk) 17:24, 1 March 2014 (UTC)

Special Branch/George Carter
I am wondering if The Sweeney was intended to be a revamp of Special Branch, series 5-8 under a different name? In Columbo, Old Fashioned Murder (1976) there is a character, Sgt. George Carter, played by Mike Lally. Middle More Rider (talk) 12:22, 25 December 2019 (UTC)
 * The Sweeney was developed by Euston Films as a more realistic replacement for Special Branch. Although Special Branch was a top-rated show, even a friendly newspaper critic (I forget which) said it was 'a fairy tale'. Troy Kennedy Martin, who would later write episodes for The Sweeney, unkindly summarised Special Branch as 'Patrick Mower, gun in hand, finding missing pearls in the more exotic parts of Kensington.' (Robert Fairclough and Mike Kenwood, Sweeney! The Official Companion, Reynolds and Hearn, Richmond, 2002, ISBN 1 903111 43 9, p.37.) Ian Kennedy Martin (Troy's younger brother, of course) said, 'They had this odd situation where it was number one in the ratings and everybody at Euston [Films] hated it. They thought it was absolute drivel, these two guys in perfect suits running around pretending to be Special Branch officers. It was also politically sensitive. The Home Office had been saying, "Look, we don't want the real stories about the Special Branch."' (Fairclough & Kenwood, p.57.) The real work of the Met Special Branch as the executive arm of MI5 was far too touchy for a TV drama to go into.
 * George Markstein as head of script development at Thames TV (Euston's parent firm) approached Ian Kennedy Martin. 'Asked to think about a replacement show by Markstein, Kennedy Martin pitched a script entitled The Outcasts, using the Flying Squad as the basis for a new police series... Kennedy Martin spent time unoffically researching his idea at Scotland Yard, and the characterisation of Detective Inspector Jack Regan, the main character, was inspired by an "uncorrupted cop" whom he knew at the time.' (Fairclough & Kenwood, ibid.) At this point Robert Mark, who had founded the anti-corruption unit A10, had become Commissioner of the Met and corruption in the Met CID was a big public issue. (Fascinating clip from a period doc by the great Michael Cockerell, with some modern update inserts featuring more recent Commissioner Sir John, now Lord Stevens, here:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfMyTtUHlGc .) A10, which would put the head of the Flying Squad, Commander Ken Drury, in jail in 1977 (requiring The Sweeney to refer to corruption in some of its later episodes) has become legendary and is the obvious inspiration behind 'AC-12' in the current BBC drama Line Of Duty. Kennedy Martin's hero was a tough old-school copper who didn't like the corruptocrats but wasn't too keen on Mark's carbolic moral hygiene either. The Haskins character was conceived as one of Mark's men, according to Sweeney producer Ted Childs: 'Haskins was put in as part of the new order... Here was an in-house company mandarin who was in there struggling vainly to control what was going on.' (Fairclough & Kenwood, ibid.) According to Childs, Kennedy Martin's original script for the pilot was titled McClean, after the main character, to underline his resistance to corruption. (op. cit. p.58.) The pilot, intended for Thames's Armchair Cinema strand, was later retitled Regan. According to Tom Clegg, who directed it, 'What was unusual in those days was that they had agreed to make a series while we were doing the pilot... The series wasn't contingent on the success of the pilot.' (ibid.) Childs and Clegg wanted the energy and cine-verite realism of The French Connection transposed to the British criminal milieu of Get Carter, but in London instead of Newcastle. (op. cit. pp.36-7) So that's how they did that, and that became The Sweeney. Khamba Tendal (talk) 19:11, 14 February 2020 (UTC)

Thanks,an interesting read. Middle More Rider (talk) 01:22, 3 March 2020 (UTC)