Police Camera Action!
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| Police Camera Action! | |
|---|---|
| Image:Pca-logo9798.jpg Logo from 1997/1998 series | |
| Format | Documentary |
| Presented by | Alastair Stewart (1994 - ) Adrian Simpson (2007 - ) |
| No. of series | 5 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Optomen Television, ITV Productions |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ITV |
| Picture format | 4:3 (1994-2002) 16:9 (2007-) |
| Original run | 1994 – 2007 |
Police Camera Action! is a police video programme presented by Alastair Stewart and Adrian Simpson made by Optomen Television for Carlton Television which is broadcast on ITV. Each episode has a subtitle relating to the type of police video footage such as "Safety Last" or "Driven to Distraction". It typically features police footage and occasional media footage relating to bad driving and road crime. However, this has not always been so, with special episodes "The Liver Run" (featuring the Metropolitan Police) and "The Man Who Shot OJ", focusing on the work of helicopter cameraman and pilot Bob Tur in Los Angeles. This episode also looked at the controversies behind the O.J. Simpson trial. In later seasons of the show, footage from Bob Tur and the Los Angeles News Service would feature more prominently in certain episodes.
In 2003 the presenter Alastair Stewart's contract to present Police Camera Action! was ended due to a drink-driving conviction in Winchester, Hampshire. This delayed transmission of some unaired episodes until January 17, 2006 [1]. However, Alastair returned to introduce the series from a studio on Monday September 24, 2007, joined by Adrian Simpson, who reported from location and provided voice-overs to the clips. A week before the new series began, there was a special 'Best of Police Camera Action!' edition, presented by Stewart himself. The show looked back at the best bits of the show's 13 year history.
Currently rescreenings of Police Camera Action! are made on ITV4. The rescreenings are of:
- Season 1 (1994-1996)
- Season 2 (1997-1998)
- Season 3 (1999-2000)
- Season 4 (2001-2002)
- Season 5 (2007)
The first episode broadcast in 1994 was known as Police Stop!, which was also the name of a similar police programme available initially on VHS video and later on Sky One. In recent rescreenings of this episode on Men & Motors it is renamed Police Camera Action!, with the subtitle of "Danger! Drivers Ahead" in line with the other episodes of the series.
A spin off book of the series was released in 1996 by Ebury Press, which was written by Peter Gillbe with a foreword by Alastair Stewart and which featured police footage of bad driving.
Many of the video clips shown on Police Camera Action! never had an accompanying sound-track, and were dubbed with standard recordings of traffic noise more reminiscent of American cities than British motorways. When the same clip was used in the Police Stop! videos, background music was played in conjunction with a commentary as can be seen regularly as both series are currently being shown.[citation needed]
Contents |
[edit] Episode guide
List of episodes courtesy of production company Optomen Television and the episode guide on the British Film Industry site. Names in brackets are titles of songs used at the end of that particular episode. This stopped after Ultimate Pursuits where the normal opening theme is used on the closing credits.
Programmes are 30 minutes long (including advertisements) except where stated.
[edit] Series 1
- POLICE STOP renamed DANGER! DRIVERS AHEAD for some satellite repeats - First broadcast: 07/09/1994 (Words of Love by The Mamas & the Papas)
- POLICE, CAMERA, ACTION! - First broadcast: 20/12/1994 (Theme from Star Trek by Alexander Courage)
- POLICE, CAMERA, ACTION! '95 - First broadcast: 17/04/1995
- SAFETY LAST - First broadcast: 04/10/1995 (Let's Talk About Sex by Salt-n-Pepa)
- INTERNATIONAL - First broadcast: 11/10/1995
- HELICOPS - First broadcast: 19/10/1995
- TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED - First broadcast: 25/10/1995 (Hold Me Close by David Essex)
- DRIVEN TO DISTRACTION! - First broadcast: 15/04/1996
- THE LIVER RUN - First broadcast: 22/04/1996 - Alastair Stewart narrates the show along with two police constables that drove the route as the Metropolitan Police Service helps to transport a liver for organ transplanting in the 1980's. Two Rover SD1 patrol cars must make their way from Junction 7 on the M11 motorway near London Stansted Airport at 11:56 AM to a hospital in Central London by 12:30 PM; essentially covering 27 miles in 33 minutes.
Along the way, the MPS SD1's must navigate through lunch time traffic and congestion in London while racing the clock. A newly established command center at Scotland Yard and numerous police units along the route (including City of London Police solo bike officers) help assist in the run. The route takes them from the M11 through central London, including runs past Trafalgar Square, Constitution Hill, and Buckingham Palace.
- INTERNATIONAL PATROL - First broadcast: 29/04/1996 (High Hopes by Frank Sinatra) - Alastair Stewart introduces the show. A man is being tested for drink-driving behind. The following clips are shown: a man in Texas is so drunk he can hardly stand up: the South Carolina Highway Patrol then stop a pick-up driver for drink-driving. We find out he is called Jimmy. He appears to be inebriated and presumably high.
The show then focuses on motorcycle riding, with Alastair watching California Highway Patrol motorcyclists in training sessions. The country that is discussed in this sequence is Denmark: an unroadworthy motorcycle is pulled over, a group of Hells Angels then get arrested.
Alastair then moves on to poor driving, looking at problems in Poland, Germany and Denmark.
In Part 2, he moves on to look at search and rescue missions in California, in the Los Angeles National Park. A man is rescued from a cliff-face. He also looks at how drug dealers are captured, with the problems of cannabis and cocaine being smuggled in, especially from Colombia.
He also deals with the problem of unsafe loads, particularly in Denmark where heavy goods vehicles are at risk due to narrow roads. The episode ends with Frank Sinatra's "High Hopes" single.
- UNFIT TO DRIVE - First broadcast: 21/10/1996
- EURO-COPS - First broadcast: 28/10/1996 (Show Me the Way to Go Home by Irving King)
- THE MAN WHO SHOT OJ PROGRAMME 1 - First broadcast: 02/12/1996
- THE MAN WHO SHOT OJ PROGRAMME 2 - First broadcast: 09/12/1996
- ROAD TO NOWHERE - First broadcast: 07/01/1997
[edit] Series 2
- ON YOUR BIKE - First broadcast: 29/04/1997
- OUT OF CONTROL - First broadcast: 23/09/1997
- DON'T LOOK BACK IN ANGER (60 minutes) - First broadcast: 12/11/1997
- WHEN DID YOU LAST SEE YOUR MOTOR? - First broadcast: 30/12/1997 (Hippy Hippy Shake by The Swinging Blue Jeans)
- THE WILD SIDE - First broadcast: 06/01/1998 (Walking in the Air by Aled Jones)
- ENOUGH'S ENOUGH - First broadcast: 13/01/1998
- A LORRY LOAD OF TROUBLE - First broadcast: 20/01/1998
- COAT HANGER MAN - First broadcast: 22/10/1998
- RUST BUCKETS - First broadcast: 05/11/1998 (Dizzy by Vic Reeves and The Wonder Stuff) - The episode also looked at the dangers of driving in the Scottish Highlands, and introduced the work of the Northern Constabulary for the first time on this show.
- CAPTURED - First broadcast: 12/11/1998 (Fire by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown)
- THE UNPROTECTED - First broadcast: 19/11/1998 (Leader of the Pack by The Shangri-Las)
- SPEED - First broadcast: 26/11/1998
- ON THE BUSES - first broadcast: 06/01/1999
- LEARNING ON THE HARD WAY (60 minutes) - first broadcast: 19/01/1999
[edit] Series 3
(Other transmission dates include 17/07/2000, 24/07/2000, 31/07/2000, 07/08/2000, 15/05/2001 and 07/01/2002)
- WHAT DRIVES YOU MAD - First broadcast: 10/01/2000
- IN THE DRIVING SEAT - First broadcast: 24/01/2000
- ON THE EDGE - First broadcast: 07/02/2000 (Turn Around by Phats & Small)
- BACK TO BASICS - First broadcast: 14/02/2000
- STAYING SAFE - First broadcast: 21/02/2000
- NOWHERE TO HIDE - First broadcast: 28/02/2000
- MONSTER DRIVERS - First broadcast: 03/07/2000 (Stayin' Alive by The Bee Gees)
- BRAT PACK - First broadcast: 10/07/2000 (I Fought the Law by The Clash)
- CRASH TEST RACERS
- HIGHWAY OF TOMORROW
- ROUND THE BEND (Stuck in the Middle With You by Stealers Wheel)
- DANGER AHEAD
- ROGUES ROADSHOW
- TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT (Come Fly with Me by Frank Sinatra)
- A FAIR COP (Stop by The Spice Girls)
- SMASH & GRAB (Doctor Who Theme Music by Peter Howell)
- THE FORDS / FORD
- GETTING THEIR MAN - First broadcast: 02/05/2003 (The Stripper by Joe Loss and His Orchestra)
- RACE
[edit] Series 4
- LIFE IN THE FAST LANE (The Ugly Duckling by Danny Kaye)
- MOTORWAY MANNERS (Puppy Love by The Osmonds)
- DIVERSION AHEAD!
- UNDER THE INFLUENCE
- CITY LIMITS
- NICKED!
[edit] Series 5
(Dates marked * are ITV4 transmissions)
- ULTIMATE PURSUITS - First broadcast: 20/09/2007 (the Back to the Future theme by Alan Silvestri)
- SPEED DATING - First broadcast: 24/09/2007
- WITHOUT DUE CARE - First broadcast: 01/10/2007
- MONSTER TRUCKS - First broadcast: 08/10/2007
- STOP THIEF! - First broadcast: 18/10/2007
- STREET ILLEGAL - First broadcast: 25/10/2007
- TECHNOCOPS - First broadcast: 01/11/2007
- JACKED AND CLONED - First broadcast: 08/11/2007
- SPEED FREAKS - First broadcast: 18/12/2007
- RURAL ROADS - First broadcast: 05/01/2008*
- SEARCH AND RESCUE - First broadcast: 05/01/2008*
- THE OFF-ROADERS - First broadcast: 08/01/2008*
- CAUGHT ON CAMERA - First broadcast: 09/01/2008*
- INEXPERIENCED DRIVERS - First broadcast: 10/01/2008*
- UNROADWORTHY VEHICLES - First broadcast: 11/01/2008*
- THE CRUSHERS - Yet To Be Shown On ITV1
[edit] International syndication
Optomen Television had set of masters of the programme made up(48x26 m) The episodes are different from the UK series in order to remove references to UK law and terminology.
- New Zealand - TV 2
- Sweden - TV4 AB (1998-2003)
- United States of America - TLC
- Ireland - TG4
- Canada - TLC
The Irish version was shown on an Irish language television station, so it was dubbed in to Irish, had replaced presenter inserts, some (very small) amount of footage from Irish police chases spliced in, and was renamed to "Garda, Camera, Gafa".
[edit] See also
- Road Wars
- Street Law (also known as Street Wars)
- Traffic Cops (also known as Car Wars)
- Police Stop!fi:Police Camera Action!
sv:Police, Camera, Action!
