The series was created by writer Ian Kennedy Martin, brother of the better-known Troy Kennedy Martin who contributed several episodes and wrote the second film. The programme was born out of a one-off drama, called Regan, which Ian Kennedy Martin had written for Thames Television's Armchair Cinema series of one-offs in 1974. From the very beginning, the show was seen as having series potential. After it scored highly in the ratings, work began on the development of the series proper. Ian Kennedy Martin's ideas for the series were for it to be partially studio-based, with more dialogue and less action; producer Ted Childs disagreed with this and Ian Kennedy Martin reluctantly parted company with the project.

Writers were brought in and given quite strict guidelines to follow: "Each show will have an overall screen time (minus titles) of 48mins 40secs. Each film will open with a teaser of up to 3 minutes, which will be followed by the opening titles. The story will be played across three acts, each being no more than 19 minutes and no less than 8 minutes in length. Regan will appear in every episode, Carter in approximately 10 out of 13 episodes. In addition to these main characters, scripts should be based around three major speaking parts, with up to ten minor speaking parts".

• The Sweeney - Unofficial Website
• NostalgiaCentral
• British Film Institute Screen Online
• Encyclopedia of Television

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