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 - 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.
#2 - 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.
#3 - 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!
#4 - 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.
#5 - 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.
#6 - 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.
#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 - Nightmare
Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/5/1978
Regan's girlfriend's nightmare has come true when he becomes a target.
#9 - 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.
#10 - 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.
#11 - 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.
#12 - 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.
#13 - 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.
#14 - Pay Off
Season 3 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/29/1976
Carter's girlfriend asks him to find a missing villain, who turns up dead.
#15 - Down To You, Brother
Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/22/1976
Regan is fitted up by an ex-con in an attempt to get his daughter's criminal boyfriend out of the picture.
#16 - 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.
#17 - 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.
#18 - Ringer
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/2/1975
Regan's girlfriend's motor is nicked. Unfortunately it contains most of the evidence from Regan's current surveillance of gangster Frankie Kemble, and it doesn't take long for the evidence to find its way into the hands of Kemble.
#19 - 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.
#20 - 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.
#21 - Selected Target
Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/6/1976
Two prison cell mates plan a robbery together whilst inside and then stage a fight and kidnapping when they are released to keep the Sweeney off their trail. The Sweeney tail Kibber believing he has killed Oates but have no proof. Kibber gets away and The Sweeney release Oates has blackmailed a London bank when it is too late.
#22 - Jackpot
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/9/1975
A robbery is foiled in a well planned swoop by the Flying Squad. The villains are arrested and most of the cash recovered, except for one bag containing £35,000. No one seems to be talking, so Regan must resort to old fashioned detective work to find the missing loot.
#23 - Big Brother
Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 9/22/1975
Regan loses his patience with a thug he is questioning about a wages snatch. Soon the press are sniffing round for a police brutality story and the suspect's gangster brother puts out a contract on Regan.
#24 - 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.
#25 - 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.