Plot

A Flying Squad officer is led a merry dance by gangsters from a London pub and, although he survives a brutal beating, he subsequently dies. Enter John Thaw's vengeful and unconventional copper Jack Regan.

This one-off TV play became the pilot episode of the British police series 'The Sweeney', and introduced the tough detective Jack Regan, whose hard, unconventional methods of detection bring him more trouble from his bosses than from criminals.—D.Giddings <darren.giddings@newcastle.ac.uk>

When a member of Scotland Yard's elite Flying Squad is found having been brutally attacked in the Thames near the London docklands, fellow Squad member Jack Regan investigates. The officer - who soon dies - had been on the trail of local gangs, and Regan goes out on a limb and breaks rules in his desperation to learn the truth.—canndyman

Detective Sergeant Cowley, a member of the Flying Squad, is brutally assaulted and left fighting for his life. His boss, Detective Inspector Jack Regan, is determined to find the culprits but is forced off the case: it being a gangland crime, the Serious Crimes team is on it. Regan is determined to carry out his own, unauthorised investigation but needs a tough assistant who knows the area and the likely thugs involved as well as, like Regan, not being afraid to use some rough, underhanded methods to get information. Enter Detective Sergeant George Carter.—grantss