The BEST episodes of The Sweeney season 1
Every episode of The Sweeney season 1, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of The Sweeney season 1!
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 - 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.
#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 - 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.
#4 - 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.
#5 - 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.
#6 - The Placer
Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 2/13/1975
Jack Regan goes undercover as a lorry driver to trap a ring of hijackers.
#7 - 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.
#8 - 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.
#9 - Jigsaw
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 1/30/1975
Regan knows that Eddie Boys is involved in a factory robbery, but he seems to have a cast-iron alibi. Worse still, Regan is accused of police harassment.
#10 - Contact Breaker
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 3/20/1975
Danny Keever is on weekend release from his prison sentence, at the same time a firm of robbers break into a bank vault, the hallmarks of the robbery and the statement of a witness seem to fit up Danny Keever but Regan & Carter believe is the victim of a set up, and set about to prove Keever's innocence against the wishes of Haskins, who has an old score to settle with Keever.
#11 - 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.
#12 - Stoppo Driver
Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 3/6/1975
Bill, the regular Sweeney driver is off so Regan & Carter get recently transfered Sweeney driver Cooney (played by Billy Murray). His hot shot driving during a car chase leads to a key member of a gang being killed in a car crash. The gang need a new driver and decide that they can influence Cooney by snatching his newly married wife and holding her to ransome. Cooney decided to forget Police help and get his wife back by doing what he is told and driving as the group getaway driver, but Regan & Carter soon suspect that something is wrong.
#13 - Cover Story
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/20/1975
There's romance between Regan and a crime journalist, but when she is implicated in a major crime, her innocence comes into question.