The Sweeney

The Sweeney (1975)

98 mistakes

(5 votes)

I Want the Man - S2-E11

Character mistake: When the Flying squad officer is driving the white van in front off the green security van, he says on the radio that the suspect car driving in front of the green van is a blue Ford Zephyr - the blue car is actually a Ford Zodiac.

Faces - S2-E2

Continuity mistake: In the first scene of part three, the outside shots show the squad car driving over a bridge over the river Thames. As soon as the shots are inside the car they are driving past a sports ground.

Faces - S2-E2

Continuity mistake: During the car chase the Jag spins round, the Sweeney's Ford Granada is behind it, then next shot the squad's blue Ford Cortina is behind it. Then at the crossroads the blue Cortina is driving towards the Jag from the other direction.

Chalk and Cheese - S2-E1

Revealing mistake: After robbing the DeCourceys Tommy Garret takes the keys from their Rolls Royce and throws them into the trees, but he actually doesn't throw anything at all.

Cover Story - S1-E8

Continuity mistake: In the final scene when Regan and Carter are being chased by the police car they take a left hand corner past a building with two red doors. There are no cars parked outside, but when the police car passes there is a blue Datsun parked there.

Hearts and Minds - S4-E11

Continuity mistake: When the squad car is on its way to Sussex to investigate the camper van, it is escorted by a police motorcyclist, but when the squad car arrives at the scene the police motorcyclist is already there and standing next to his bike.

Hearts and Minds - S4-E11

Continuity mistake: As soon as the camper van is lifted out of the lake, Carter gets inside it and it is dry, despite the doors being open when it was in the water, and water pouring out of it while the crane was lifting it out of the lake.

Supersnout - S2-E3

Character mistake: When Stickley is on the phone to Regan he tells him that the robbers will be in a Bedford van but they are in a Ford Transit van.

Bait - S4-E7

Continuity mistake: When the camera is looking out the window of the flat being used for surveillance, Lennie and Tolman drive past the parked Sweeney silver Ford Granada, a red Peugeot, a blue Peugeot estate, an empty space, then a white Hillman Superminx. The camera then changes to inside the car - Lennie and Tolman pass the Granada and the two Peugeots a second time but there is a brown Ford Cortina parked where the white Hillman Superminx was. Lennie and Tolman drive round the block and drive past a second time, you see the brown Cortina, but when Lennie parks the car in the empty space next to the blue Peugeot estate, the white superminx is back where the brown Ford Cortina was.

Bait - S4-E7

Continuity mistake: When Tolman and Lennie first drive past Joan's flat, the Sweeney's silver Ford Granada is parked right up against the Mini parked behind it. When they drive past a second time there is a gap between the Granada and the Mini.

Bait - S4-E7

Visible crew/equipment: When Tolman first arrives at the country house in the Ford Zodiac you can see the camera lights reflected in the window when he opens the driver's door.

Nightmare - S4-E5

Continuity mistake: The blue van turns right by a pub with a large car park - when the squad car takes the same turning a few moments later more cars have appeared in the car park.

Hard Men - S4-E2

Revealing mistake: When Freeth, Carter and Regan raid the flat, Freeth breaks the door down - the door starts to fall before Freeth hits it.

Drag Act - S4-E3

Continuity mistake: Julie Kingdom and Mike Seton are on the motorbike riding in the country lane. Julie drops the map, they stop further on down the lane, but when Julie gets off the bike to pick the map up, it is in the lane right behind them.

Loving Arms - S3-E11

Continuity mistake: When the squad car pulls up outside Blakeney's garage, in the shots outside the car there is a large space between the red mini parked behind, but in the shots inside the squad car the red mini is parked directly behind.

Trivia: The blue Ford Cortina squad car seen in series 1 and 2 has the reg number NHK 296M. Sometimes it is fitted with a false number DLO 97M on the front (as has been noted as a mistake). The programme makers had been supplied with two cars from Ford, this Cortina and a Consul GT. The Cortina was fitted with this false plate to make the squad look like it had more cars, and only one number plate (the white front one) was made up to keep costs down, as the Sweeney had a small budget. In the series 3 episode "Pay Off" DLO 97M is on a white Cortina, in series three the same Triumph 2000 is seen with number plates TPA 931N and UUV 931N - again it is the same car with different number plates.

eric 64

More trivia for The Sweeney

Hit and Run - S2-E5

Question: Towards the end of this episode the squad car has to double park so Regan can use a phone box, as Regan gets out of the car a van has to drive round the squad car and the driver sounds the horn, Regan gesticulates and shouts "up yours" at the van driver. I wonder if this was scripted or was a random moment and John Thaw was ad-libbing?

eric 64

Answer: Scripted.

More questions & answers from The Sweeney

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.