 British police series which revolutionised the genre on UK television in the mid 1970s. Jack Regan (see also  Regan  (1974)) played by John Thaw 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 themselves, frequently violent and more often than not successful. The series was made on film a preserves a gritty realism inherited from such films as  Get Carter  (1971)