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British television drama series The Sweeney focuses on two officers of the Flying Squad, the Metropolitan Police's armed robbery and violent crime unit. Slang for "Flying Squad" is Sweeney Todd, which is the name of the show. It was shot entirely on 16mm film by Euston Films, a Thames Television production unit dedicated to motion picture production. As of the early 1980s, it was rebroadcast on ITV between January 2 and December 28 in the 9-10pm weekday time period. They were portrayed by Dennis Waterman (Det Sgt. George Carter), who was played by John Thaw (Det Sgt. Jack Regan). Sweeney! and Sweeney 2 inspired two theatrically released feature films in the UK because of its success. This was the time period when the real-life Flying Squad was at its lowest point. At some point in the late 1970s, the Flying Squad was exposed as a corrupt police force with too many ties to organized crime. Convicted of five charges of corruption and sentenced to eight years in prison in July1977, Detective Chief Superintendent Kenneth Drury was the real-life commander of the Flying Squad. Operation Countryman, an internal probe, was then undertaken in an effort to rid the company of any further malfeasance. Twelve more cops were found guilty, while numerous others were forced to quit.