The BEST episodes of The Sweeney
Every episode of The Sweeney ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of The Sweeney!
The Sweeney was one of the finest British police series of the mid 1970s. 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 underhand, often illegal, frequently violent, and more often than not, successful.
#1 - Thou Shalt Not Kill
Season 2 - Episode 13 - Aired 11/24/1975
The day before the start of a new term, the university branch of the National Mercian bank is robbed. Regan and his squad arrive and catch or shoot most of the gang but known killer Hands and simple side-kick Monks are still inside with the manager and two women hostages. Haskins' hesitancy in ordering the police marksmen to fire on the robbers leads to a car chase and fatalities, causing Regan to round on his boss.
#2 - Trojan Bus
Season 2 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/3/1975
Australian villains Colin MacGruder and Ray Stackpole return to London and steal a bus, posing as its crew. They rob an art dealer travelling on the bus of a Goya painting, which they plan to sell to a buyer in Amsterdam. Regan tracks them down by leaning on their accomplice, the dealer's female assistant, leading to a river chase and a shoot-out, making it the end of the line for the boys from Down Under.
#3 - Taste Of Fear
Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/4/1976
A detective with a very good past joins the Sweeney, in time to investigate a violent burglary by a group of ex soldiers. But is the new recruit up to it? Jack Regan thinks not but nobody seems to share his view, believing he has a vendetta.
#4 - Country Boy
Season 2 - Episode 12 - Aired 11/17/1975
A London gang have got the Metropolitan police and Sweeney running in all directions to answer alarm bells ringing at banks and shops all over London, whilst the gang are using this distraction for robbing a location with no alarms. The Sweeney have no clues, so Haskins brings in a telecommunications expert from Bristol CID to assist Regan & Carter. Jack is against it but soon discovers that DS Keel is the help he needs when the gang are rumbled and finally caught.
#5 - Pay Off
Season 3 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/29/1976
Carter's girlfriend asks him to find a missing villain, who turns up dead.
#6 - Queen's Pawn
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 1/23/1975
After a high-powered lawyer gets three petty thugs off on a murder charge, Regan is authorized to use whatever means necessary to bring the hoodlums in.
#7 - Bad Apple
Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/11/1976
A group of CID detectives are accepting bribes from criminals but when one is sent down, he soon grasses up the police officers involved. Regan & Carter go undercover to investigate the operation and to stop the officers involved.
#8 - Tomorrow Man
Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 9/27/1976
Regan has to do battle with a brilliant computer expert bent on revenge to ensure the safe shipment of a consignment of gold bullion.
#9 - One Of Your Own
Season 4 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/9/1978
Jimmy Fleet and a friend con two businessmen into handing over some valuable diamonds. They are caught, but only after Jimmy managed to hide the diamonds. Patsy Kearney, a criminal who specialises in thieving off thieves, becomes interested, as do the Sweeney. Sergeant Carter gets to do some time in prison in an attempt to gain Jimmy's confidence. There is an interesting addition of extra humour in this episode provided by Jenny, a barmaid who is especially attracted to policemen, particularly when they are in uniform!
#10 - Golden Boy
Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 2/27/1975
A gang of thieves lead by Max Deller (Dudley Sutton) need a way of shipping stolen gold out of the country for resale. Deller leans on a former prison cell mate who is now using another identity to go straight as the managing director of a very successful sporting equipment company, who to protect his safe future has to assist with the plan to ship the gold out as exercise weights.
#11 - Sweet Smell Of Succession
Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/8/1976
Regan gets involved in gangland warfare following the death of one of London's leading villains.
#12 - Bait
Season 4 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/19/1978
Lyn Hurst is injured in a road accident but, in the ambulance, she produces a gun, forces the vehicle to stop and escapes. Regan and Carter discover she was part of a gang behind the wages theft at the Local Education Authority.
#13 - Feet Of Clay
Season 4 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/2/1978
Regan is asked to help a criminal from his past who's son has been kidnapped.
#14 - The Bigger They Are
Season 4 - Episode 8 - Aired 10/26/1978
A wealthy entrepreneur is being blackmailed over activities he performed whilst stationed as a soldier in Malaya. He seeks assistance from two other former soldiers who had been involved, one of whom is now a senior police officer, the other now a security company owner/manager. The policeman attempts to stop Inspector Regan from investigating. The security company man hires mercenaries to persuade the blackmailers to desist.
#15 - Poppy
Season 2 - Episode 8 - Aired 10/20/1975
Violent criminal Vic Labbett returns to England to recover the proceeds of an earlier robbery. He intends to exchange the cash for diamonds, and return to exile abroad.
#16 - Nightmare
Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/5/1978
Regan's girlfriend's nightmare has come true when he becomes a target.
#17 - Thin Ice
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/16/1975
Regan lures Bishop, a prize crook, back into the country using the villain's favourite dog as bait.
#18 - Night Out
Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 2/6/1975
The squad tries to pinpoint a radio transmitter which is being used to coordinate the movements of bank robbers.
#19 - Stay Lucky, Eh?
Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired 10/27/1975
Two young villains, Tyson and Jenner, working for gang boss Tony Kirby, are relieved of the spoils of their robbery by a mysterious gun-man, who shoots Jenner in the leg. Nobody knows who he is until Regan has a word with Jenner's disgruntled father-in-law, which leads to a shoot-out in a theatre. At the same time Regan is made a tempting offer to go into private security work.
#20 - The Placer
Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 2/13/1975
Jack Regan goes undercover as a lorry driver to trap a ring of hijackers.
#21 - Big Spender
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 3/13/1975
The Smith brothers are a notorious gang of gangsters who carry out violent hijack's and robberies but always seem to keep themselves clear when the Sweeney come investigating, so Regan & Carter are set about the finally break them. The investigation reveals they are bribing the manager of a busy central London car park who is defrauding his firm by issuing fake parking tickets. The Smiths decide to move in and take their cut of his greed, but it doesnt take The Sweeney long to move in.
#22 - Abduction
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 3/27/1975
Jack Regan's tip off of a robbery lead him to close to the action, so the gang planning the robbery kidnap Jack's daughter to use as a hostage, to keep Regan off the scent of the action until they make a getaway. Regan wants his daughter back so takes it in his own hands to track down his daughter and to prevent the robbery, going against his ex wife, the orders of his bosses and the detective investigating the kidnap.
#23 - Messenger Of The Gods
Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/7/1978
Regan and Carter have a suspect in mind for the theft of a consignment of mercury, but he has an alibi.
#24 - Lady Luck
Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/13/1976
Regan knows the identity of a robber, but has a difficult time proving his guilt.
#25 - In From The Cold
Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/13/1976
Regan whilst on a routine operation spots Billy Medhurst, who had been part of a gang that carried out a robbery in which a former Sweeney officer, Eddie Jackson was shot and left permantly disabled. Regan blames himself for the accident and decided to get Medhurst put away, but is the past clouding his judgement and destroying the case?