FAQ

The Sweeney is based on the British television series Regan (1975) (1975-1978), created by British television scriptwriter Ian Kennedy Martin. The screenplay for the film was written by British screenwriters Nick Love and John Hodge.

The Sweeney derives from "Sweeney Todd", which is Cockney rhyming slang for "Flying Squad" - the branch of London's Metropolitan Police that features in the film which specializes in investigating armed robbery and ambushing suspects in the act of serious crime.

It is a Webley .38, an incorrect reference to the original Sweeney series where it was the standard sidearm of the Flying Squad (it should have been a Smith & Wesson Model 10 or Model 36). In prison Ray Winstone's character improvises a weapon by wrapping 2 batteries in a sock, a reference to his earlier role in the film Scum (1979). A possible further reference to the the series the villains often drove Jaguars and the Sweeney drove the Ford Granada, these being replaced and brought up to date by the top of the range Focus.

Presumably it is. He can only stand up at the end because the other leg is unbroken. By the time Regan has been reinstated, it has healed but he may have re-injured his arm, which is why it's in a sling.

It shows that Allen is in league with the Serbian gang. Allen and the Serbs were going to rob the Trafalgar Square bank but realised that the Flying Squad were watching it too. So they stage the jewellery robbery to distract the Flying Squad, killing the girl who is their insider in the bank in order to remove a possible witness and raising funds to stage the much larger bank robbery. The Serb henchman Carter tortures mentions the word Pegasus in relation to the Serb's escape route so when Carter learns that this is the name of Allen's boat he realises they were working together the whole time.