''Police Camera Action!'' is a police video programme made by
Optomen Television
Optomen is an Independence, independent television production company, with Optomen Television Ltd. for the United Kingdom and Optomen Productions Inc. (launched in 2002) for the United States.
Broadcasting United Kingdom and the United States
...
, originally broadcast on
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
with repeats airing on
ITV4
ITV4 is a Television in the United Kingdom, British free-to-air television channel which was launched on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc, and is part of the ITV (TV network), ITV network. The channel h ...
. It was originally commissioned through
Carlton Television
Carlton Television (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties from 9.25am every Monday to 5.15pm every Friday. The company is now managed with London Weekend Televi ...
.
It was presented by
Alastair Stewart
Alastair James Stewart Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 22 June 1952) is an English former journalist and newscaster. Formerly presenting for ITV News, he joined GB News as a presenter in 2021. He has won the Royal Television Society's New ...
from 1994 until 2002, until his second
drink-driving
Drunk driving (or drink-driving in British English) is the act of driving under the influence of alcohol. A small increase in the blood alcohol content increases the relative risk of a motor vehicle crash.
In the United States, alcohol is invo ...
conviction led to a temporary suspension, before he resumed his role with
Adrian Simpson
Adrian James Simpson, (born 24 April 1971) is an English television presenter, currently presenting on Sky News on the overnight programme.
Simpson was born Carshalton, Surrey, he started his television career as a presenter on the BBC's ''Top ...
from 2007 until its cancellation three years later. In 2010, the final series of the programme was presented by
Gethin Jones
Gethin Clifford Jones (born 12 February 1978) is a Welsh television presenter. He was an active rugby union player while at Manchester Metropolitan University and, after graduation, he began his television career on Welsh language channel S4C a ...
.
History
The first episode broadcast on 7 September 1994 was known as ''Police Stop!'', which was also the name of
a similar police programme available initially on VHS video and later on
Sky1
Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...
. To this date, it is the only episode not to be repeated on
Men & Motors
Men & Motors was a men's lifestyle television channel in the UK. It was the last remaining station operated by the former Granada Sky Broadcasting joint venture, set up by Granada Television (now part of ITV plc) and satellite broadcaster Briti ...
or
ITV4
ITV4 is a Television in the United Kingdom, British free-to-air television channel which was launched on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc, and is part of the ITV (TV network), ITV network. The channel h ...
. A spin-off book of the series was released in 1996 by
Ebury Press
Ebury Publishing is a division of Penguin Random House, and is a publisher of general non-fiction books in the UK. Ebury was founded in 1961 as a division of Nat Mags and was originally located on Ebury Street in London. It was sold to Century ...
, which was written by Peter Gillbe with a foreword by Alastair Stewart and which featured police footage of bad driving. The book had some footage
still
A still is an apparatus used to distill liquid mixtures by heating to selectively boil and then cooling to condense the vapor. A still uses the same concepts as a basic distillation apparatus, but on a much larger scale. Stills have been used ...
s which were not shown on the TV episodes.
In 2003, the programme was suspended due to Stewart's second drink-driving conviction when he was found to have crashed into a telegraph pole whilst three times over the legal limit. This delayed transmission of some unaired episodes until 17 January 2006. The programme resumed with Stewart introducing the series from a studio on 24 September 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 'Ultimate Pursuits/Best of Police Camera Action!' edition, presented by Stewart.
The last ever series was aired from 29 July to 18 August 2010, presented by
Gethin Jones
Gethin Clifford Jones (born 12 February 1978) is a Welsh television presenter. He was an active rugby union player while at Manchester Metropolitan University and, after graduation, he began his television career on Welsh language channel S4C a ...
.
Format
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
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...
undertaking an
organ transplant
Organ transplantation is a medical procedure in which an organ is removed from one body and placed in the body of a recipient, to replace a damaged or missing organ. The donor and recipient may be at the same location, or organs may be transpo ...
escort)
UK Emergency Vehicles > Information > The Liver Run
UK Emergency Vehicles Created 8 May 2007, Accessed 6 June 2011 and "The Man Who Shot OJ", focusing on the work of helicopter camera operator
A camera operator, or depending on the context cameraman or camerawoman, is a professional operator of a film camera or video camera as part of a film crew. The term "cameraman" does not imply that a male is performing the task.
In filmmaking ...
and pilot
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...
Zoey Tur
Hanna Zoey Tur (formerly Robert Albert Tur; born June 8, 1960) is an American broadcast reporterNew Yorker Magazine-August 1, 1994. and commercial pilot who created Los Angeles News Service with fellow reporter and then-wife Marika Gerrard.
...
in Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. This episode also looked at the controversies behind the O. J. Simpson trial
In law, a trial is a coming together of Party (law), parties to a :wikt:dispute, dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence (law), evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to Adjudication, adjudicate claims or d ...
. In later series of the show, footage from Tur and their Los Angeles News Service would feature more prominently in certain episodes.
Episodes
See also
*''Police Stop!
''Police Stop!'' is a British television documentary series, narrated and presented by Graham Cole, best known for his role as PC Tony Stamp in the Thames Television drama series ''The Bill'', that was first developed in 1993 as a Direct-to-vi ...
'' – programme released on VHS and later broadcast on Sky1
Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...
with a similar format.
*'' Road Wars'' – seen as the replacement to ''Police Stop!'' and runs to a similar format to the more recent ''Police, Camera, Action!'' episodes.
*'' Street Law'' – also known as ''Street Wars''. Broadcast on Sky1
Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...
, Sky2
Sky Replay is a British pay television channel operated by Sky as a sister channel to Sky Max and Sky Witness. The current channel began broadcasting (as Sky One Mix) in December 2002. The 'Sky 2' name and format had earlier been used for a sim ...
, and Pick TV
Pick (formerly Sky 3 and Pick TV) is a British free-to-air television channel, owned by Sky UK.
History
Sky Three launched on 31st October 2005. It was essentially a barker channel for Sky's main entertainment channel Sky One and its other s ...
.
*''Police Interceptors
''Police Interceptors'' is a British factual programme that profiles the work of elite police units from across the UK. There have to date been 21 series to fate following police units from Essex, South Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Cumbria, Lincolns ...
'' – programme following traffic police in Essex and South Yorkshire. Broadcast on Channel 5.
*''Traffic Cops
''Traffic Cops'' is a British documentary series broadcast on Channel 5 (and formerly on BBC One) which follows Roads Policing Units from various UK police forces. It has consistently been one of the most watched factual series on UK televisi ...
'' – sometimes broadcast as ''Motorway Cops'' or ''Car Wars''. BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
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