THEFTS

Such is the greatness of The Sweeney that its influence is still present 30 years on, as TV & music routinely thieve its imagery and style. Here's who's nicked off with what...

Harry Hill...

In Harry Hill's Channel 4 show circa 1997, he introduced the audience each week to his little son, Alan Hill, who for little reason came on to The Sweeney theme tune. Many other TV theme tunes were used throughout the show (such as CrossRoads) for comic effect.

After previously lampooning The Professionals, March '97 saw Nissan turning to Regan & Carter for help, as they based the entire campaign for their new Almera car on The Sweeney. The Regan character was played by that guy from Stella Street. Nissan credited Thames for the copyright, and declared that the ad was based on The Sweeney. It was in really small print at the bottom of the big ad hoardings, and at the bottom-left of the screen for the first 5 seconds of the main 40 second TV ad, and read exactly thus: Licensed from Pearson Television Int Ltd. All rights reserved. Based on The Sweeney (c) Thames Television Ltd 1975. Pearson Television being the company who bought Thames Television, and who are now part of Freemantle. *Nit-Pick Corner* - the Carter character drives the car, yet Regan & Carter weren't ever allowed to drive the cars themselves, they always had to have a driver to do it for them. There were three versions of the ads: a 60 second cinema ad, a 40 second main TV ad, and a 10 second compacted version which went on about finance details. There were also big ad hoardings pasted up and down the country. You can see the 60 second ad on the TV-Ark website. Just scroll down to 'Nissan Almera'.

Brookside...

Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine...

Cheeky rascals Carter didn't actually steal their name from The Sweeney (it's one of the member's surname), but they did use this happy coincidence to great effect during their 1994 punk-pop reign.

	The video for their 'Glam Rock Cops' single featured the band driving around London in a big 70s car at night; performing on a typical East-End pub stage; and Jim Bob (the singer) in a police interview room, awaiting 'questioning'. The band were neatly dressed in suitable period costume throughout.
	This was all intercut with various clips from the Sweeney 2 film of George Carter going about his business.
	On the 12" vinyl release of Glam Rock Cops there was a remixed version by The Grid titled 'Regan And Carter Mix'. This was just a themed title The Grid gave though, the mix didn't actually include any Sweeney samples.

The Sweeney (the band)...

There was once a band called The Sweeney.

They were together at the tail end of the 90s, hailed from Essex, and gladly admited stealing their name from the TV programme. They are big fans of the show, and apparently started gigs by saying "We're The Sweeney - get yer trousers on, you're nicked!"

Their music style was apparently 'guitar pop'. They had a few singles out, and an album called 'Pop Gun' (Rotator Records, Cat No RRAD 107) which occasionally turns up on eBay.

The Comic Strip Presents...

Twice in one lifetime. In the second comic strip series (1984) we were treated to The Bullshitters, a fantastic parody based more on The Professionals but included Sweeney related jokes too.

In the 1993 The Comic Strip had another go, with Detectives On The Edge Of A Nervous Breakdown. This was a parody of the genre as a whole, with a detective from each generation tracking down a villain - Jim Broadbent played a Regan character.

The Detectives...

Jasper Carrot and Robert Powel starred in a spoof series which originated as sketches in one of Jasper Carrot's BBC monologue shows. The theme tune sounded vaguely familiar, and the title sequence was comparable, but that's about as far as it went.

Flying Squad...

In 1989 Thames made a fly-on-the-wall series called "Flying Squad" which aimed to show that the London crimebusters weren't like the characters in The Sweeney. This still from the series shows the Flying Squad officers at work, though they look like they're about to go off on a blag themselves... The copper in the back furthest away from the camera resembles a heavyweight Jack Regan - is this a coincidence...?