''Police Interceptors'' is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

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 Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

and

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

and

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

. The current series follows the work of Nottinghamshire Police's

Roads A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

and

Armed Armed (May, 1941–1964) was an American Thoroughbred gelding race horse who was the American Horse of the Year in 1947 and Champion Older Male Horse in both 1946 and 1947. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in ...

policing unit, as well as their dog unit. The documentary has been broadcast by Channel 5 since the first episode on 9 May 2008. The show is produced by the same producers of the former Sky series '' Road Wars''.

History

The first 3 series follows a police ANPR Intercept Team (now known as the Territorial Support Team) in

. Series 1 began on 9 May 2008 on Channel 5 (as Five) and ran for six weeks with an additional compilation episode. Series 2 began at 8pm on 10 October 2008 on Channel 5 and ran for twelve weeks with two additional compilation episodes. Series 3 began on 7 June 2010 on Five for 15 episodes.The Interceptors are back
Essex Police The 4th series began on 13 June 2011 on Channel 5 and rode with

Police's Road Crime Unit for 8 weeks and returned in January 2012, this time following

Police's Road Policing Unit.Primetime series follows road crime officers
South Yorkshire Police Series 5, consisting of 10 episodes, began on 28 January 2013 and followed the

Cumbria Constabulary Cumbria Constabulary is the territorial police force in England covering Cumbria. As of September 2017, the force had 1,108 police officers, 535 police staff, 93 police community support officers, and 86 special constables. The force serves a p ...

's Roads Policing Unit. Series 6, 7 and 8 all consist of 10 episodes and followed the work of Lincolnshire Police's Road Policing, and Special Operations Units. Series 9. 10 and 11 are based around the work of the collaborative

Durham Constabulary Durham Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing ceremonial county of County Durham in North East England. The force’s area is bordered by Cumbria Constabulary to the west, Cleveland Police to the south east, Nor ...

and

Cleveland Police Cleveland Police is the territorial police force responsible for the policing area corresponding to the former county of Cleveland in Northern England. As of September 2017, the force had 1,274 police officers, 278 police staff, 124 police com ...

's Specialist Operations Units. Series 12 follows the work of the

Cheshire Police Cheshire Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the English unitary authorities of Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, Borough of Halton and Borough of Warrington. The force is responsible for policing an are ...

Roads Policing Unit. Series 13 & 14 saw the Durham and Cleveland Special Operations Unit return as hosts in September 2017. Series 14 again follows the

and

's Specialist Operations Units and began broadcasting on channel 5 on 30 April 2018. ''Police Interceptors'' returned for its 15th, 16th and 17th series in late 2018, March 2019 and October 2019 respectively, this time following a new police force,

West Yorkshire Police West Yorkshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire, England. It is the fourth largest territorial police force in England and Wales by number of officers. History West Yor ...

's Roads Policing Unit (RPU), as well as other Specialist Operations Units. Series 18 is the current series and returned to observe the work of West Yorkshire Police RPUs on 12 October 2020.

Interceptor team

The series features the following police officers from across the UK involved in high-speed car chases following car thieves in stolen vehicles, speeding and drunken drivers. They use the latest high-speed

police cars A police car (also called a police cruiser, police interceptor, patrol car, area car, cop car, prowl car, squad car, radio car, or radio motor patrol) is a ground vehicle used by police and law enforcement for transportation during patrols a ...

to follow and hunt down

boy racer Boy racer is a term given to a young person who drives in a fast and aggressive manner; it has become a broader term (often pejorative) for participants in modern custom car culture who tune and modify cars with street racing-style afterma ...

s presenting a danger to the public. The Interceptors also use the latest number-plate reading technology ( ANPR) to detect drivers without

car insurance Vehicle insurance (also known as car insurance, motor insurance, or auto insurance) is insurance for cars, trucks, motorcycles, and other road vehicles. Its primary use is to provide financial protection against physical damage or bodily injury r ...

, often resulting in an argument with the driver and the disclosure of other

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...

s. The chases are often interspersed with light-hearted incidents involving the team's food breaks, harmless drunks and practical jokes in the incident room. The show often identifies officers by humorous nicknames and on-screen graphics feature data on their years in service, likes and dislikes. Most incidents are tracked down by uniform officers from the Interceptor team but plain clothes and

undercover police To go "undercover" (that is, to go on an undercover operation) is to avoid detection by the object of one's observation, and especially to disguise one's own identity (or use an assumed identity) for the purposes of gaining the trust of an indi ...

have also featured in the series.

Episodes

''Ultimate Police Interceptors''

On 8 August 2011, a new show started entitled ''Ultimate Police Interceptors'', a compilation of the best bits from episodes of the previous series.Ultimate Police Interceptors
Channel 5 Series 1 Series 2 Series 3 Series 4

Compilation shows

The Essex series included ''Best of Police Interceptors'' showing highlights of the chases and incidents from the previous programmes. At the end of series 4, ''Ultimate Police Interceptors'' contained highlights from previous shows with updates on the fate of the criminals since the series' first airing.

''Police Interceptors: Special Edition''

A spin-off to series 2, ''Police Interceptors: Special Edition'',Police Interceptors: Special Edition
Channel 5 was presented by

Natalie Pinkham Natalie Jane Pinkham (born 20 September 1977) is a British television presenter and Formula One pit lane reporter for Sky Sports F1, having held the same post for BBC Radio 5 Live in 2011. She is also known for hosting '' Police Interceptors Spe ...

and Chris Barnes on Fiver (now 5Star) in 2011. This was a follow-up show to the main edition featuring highlights from the chases, interviews with members of the Essex team and the presenters participating in "hands-on" reconstructions and police training exercises. Presenters also took part in incident

simulation A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of Conceptual model, models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or proc ...

s, like driving a car while a

stinger A stinger (or sting) is a sharp organ found in various animals (typically insects and other arthropods) capable of injecting venom, usually by piercing the epidermis of another animal. An insect sting is complicated by its introduction of v ...

is deployed to puncture the car's tyres.

History

Interceptor team

Episodes

''Ultimate Police Interceptors''

Compilation shows

''Police Interceptors: Special Edition''

See also

References

External links