Representation GapFill

The Sweeney undoubtedly took the television crime genre into more gritty and realistic territory. However, many of the show's the representations of people, places and things appear to be incredibly  ridiculousdatedbiasedrelevant. The cast of The Sweeney is overwhelmingly  famousmaleelderlymiddle class with each character speaking in either  EssaxonBristolianGeordieEstuary English or with a cockney accent. Furthermore, the cast is entirely white, failing to acknowledge London's growing  populationcapitalismliberalismmulticulturalism throughout the 1970s. This was a trend of many British television shows back in the 1970s. After all, it wasn't until 2010 that a black actor was cast as the protagonist of a crime drama (  Noel ClarkeIdris ElbaNaomie HarrisChiwetel Ejiofor in Luther). The Sweeney makes further use of stereotypes in its representation of teenagers as misguided criminals (the representation of the teenager on British television was still fairly two-dimensional at the time) and criminals as street wise, organised gangsters. The representation of women is incredibly old-fashioned. Jack Regan's girlfriend,  RoseJennyJessieEdi, is the only principal female character and is represented as being stereotypically passive. She is introduced at the beginning of the episode lying in bed. The audience is never allowed to identify with her as the camera never focuses on her face, but rather on Regan as he prepares to leave the house. Jenny is later harassed and threatened by Kemble's men. The pair of criminals  attackpersonifyempowerobjectify her when they comment on her air stewardess uniform and exchange the dialogue: 'Pretty isn't she?' 'Darling'. Following this scene Jenny has to be comforted by Regan, put to bed by him and watched over by another police officer. Regan's dominance in this romantic relationship is demonstrated in the final shot in which he is sitting in an armchair with Jenny lying at his feet. The two remaining women with speaking parts are a wife and a mother of men involved in the central plot. In this respect, the female characters are only important because of their relationships with male characters and could be said to lack  agencystrengthloveintelligence. Compared to Luther, the representations of good vs evil and right vs wrong are a lot more simplistic. Regan mistakenly leaves his car unlocked at the beginning of the episode (leading to the episode's main narrative  conclusiondisruptionarcconflict) and consistently refuses to follow police procedure. However, his partner George Carter always supports him and the pair are represented as having the moral high ground. The men in the flying squad are never shown to discuss their  superiorswitnessesfeelingswives or their personal relationships and remain completely preoccupied with the solving of the central crime.