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The characters were rough, hard-drinking and, by modern standards, highly sexist. Regan, while over forty, greying and divorced, was successful with women as [[A Man Is Not a Virgin|part of his macho image]] (although his sex life became a plot point sometimes). Carter was married and a bit more stable and reliable than his "Guv'nor". In fact, Regan's "Guv'nor", Superintendent Haskins, felt Carter should be reassigned because Regan was a bad influence on him.
British television cop shows had been undergoing a steady evolution from the light-hearted ''Dixon of Dock Green'' to the relatively gritty ''Z Cars''. ''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). 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 brutal hand-to-hand battles fought with pick-axe handles, iron bars, fists and boots. Unlike the almost-contemporary ''[[Starsky and Hutch (TV series)|Starsky and Hutch]]'' the violent action did not have a ''[[James Bond (
Detective work was mainly a matter of asking informants, many of whom lived in fear, or of following people, or simply "knowing the manor" so well that the heroes could just ''guess'' who was the most likely suspect. Not much ''[[Sherlock Holmes]]'' or ''Hercule [[Poirot]]'' stuff happened, but it was often quite close to ''[[Truth in Television|real]]'' police work.
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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 ''[[The Professionals]]'' and the BBC's relatively unpopular ''[[Target]]''.
Reportedly getting the Hollywood film treatment some time soon.{{when}}
=== There were fewer obvious tropes in this series than in some cop shows, since it tried hard to avoid being corny, but some that occurred were: ===▼
{{tropelist}}
▲
* [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking]]: 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.
* [[Bang Bang BANG]]
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** The aforementioned Brian Blessed.
** Viewers of ''[[The Bill]]'' will say this when they see Christopher Ellison (aka DI Frank Burnside) and Andrew Paul (PC Dave Quinnan) pop up.
** [[Blake's
** John Hurt and [[Minder|George Cole]] appear together in one episode.
** Lynda Bellingham (now of ''Loose Women'') is another famous guest star who appeared in an episode.
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* [[Perp Sweating]]: Lots of sweating, along with plenty of punching, kicking, and banging against walls.
* [[Rabid Cop]]: Regan on a bad day.
* [[Six Is Nine]]: The "6 with a screw missing turns into a 9" gag is used in a scene where a very respectable family are eating dinner when armed policemen crash into their home, and are just as surprised as they are because they were expecting to meet armed criminals. After the mistake is cleared up, the officers leave with apologies and the family calmly return to their meal. Moments later, a crash is heard in the distance, and the father comments that it sounds as though they've found number 9.
* [[Special Guest]]: Morecambe and Wise. (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.)
* [[Theme Song Assonance]]: the sWEEney, the sWEEney, dadadadadaaaaa, dadadada!
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[[Category:Cop Show]]
[[Category:The Sweeney]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sweeney, The}}
[[Category:TV Series]]
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