The Sweeney (2012 film) based on 11 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". The Sweeney (2012 film) The Sweeney is a 2012 British action drama film, inspired by the 1970s "The Sweeney", the British television police drama of the same name, but set in contemporary London. Directed and written by Nick Love, and co-written by John Hodge, it is based on the characters created by Ian Kennedy Martin. It stars Ray Winstone as Jack Regan, Plan B (credited as Ben Drew) as George Carter, and Damian Lewis as Frank Haskins, with Allen Leech and Hayley Atwell. The story focuses on two members of the
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in serialized Victorian popular fiction, known as "penny dreadfuls". A story called "The String of Pearls" was published in a weekly magazine during the winter of 1846-47. Set in 1785, the story featured as its principal villain a certain Sweeney Todd and included all the plot elements that were used by Sondheim and others ever since. The murderous barber’s story proved instantly popular – it was turned into a play before the ending had even been revealed in print. An expanded edition appeared in 1850, an American version in 1852, a new play in 1865. By the 1870s, Sweeney Todd