Previously, most dramas featuring the police had shied away from showing them as fallible. The police in "The Sweeney" are brutal and violent in dealing with London's hardened criminals, and prone to cutting corners and bending laws. The series shows a somewhat more realistic side of the police, often depicting a disregard for authority, rules and the "system", so long as it gets the job done. Until "The Sweeney", this had been a subject largely ignored by British television. The series' own awareness of breaking new ground is evident in episodes such as "Trojan Bus", from the second series, in which Regan briefly whistles the theme-tune to "Dixon of Dock Green" after a particularly elementary piece of detective work.