Police Camera Action!
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| Police Camera Action! | |
|---|---|
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| Genre | Reality |
| Starring | Alastair Stewart (Presenter and Narrator) |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Optomen Television and ITV Productions |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ITV1 |
| Original run | 1994 – 2002 |
Police Camera Action! is a police video programme presented by Alastair Stewart and made by Optomen Television between 1994 and 2002 for Carlton Television which is broadcast on ITV1. Each episode had 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 2002 the presenter Alastair Stewart's contract to present Police Camera Action! was ended due to a drink-driving conviction in Winchester, Hampshire and this delayed transmission of some unaired episodes until January 17, 2006.
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 (2002-2002)
- 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 this 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. Currently the book is out of print.
- 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.[citation needed]
[edit] UK Episode Guide
[edit] Episode guide
List of episodes and year of production Courtesy of producion company Optomen television
Programmes are 26 minutes long except where stated.
SERIES 1
POLICE STOP
DANGER DRIVERS AHEAD
POLICE, CAMERA, ACTION!
POLICE, CAMERA, ACTION! 95
SAFETY LAST
HELICOPS
INTERNATIONAL
TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED
THE LIVER RUN
DRIVEN TO DISTRACTION
INTERNATIONAL PATROL
UNFIT TO DRIVE
EUROCOPS
ROAD TO NOWHERE
THE MAN WHO SHOT OJ PROGRAMME 1
THE MAN WHO SHOT OJ PROGRAMME 2
SERIES 2
ON YOUR BIKE
OUT OF CONTROL
ENOUGH’S ENOUGH
THE WILD SIDE
A LORRY LOAD OF TROUBLE
DON’T LOOK BACK IN ANGER
WHEN DID YOU LAST SEE YOUR MOTOR?
COAT HANGER MAN
RUST BUCKETS
CAPTURED
THE UNPROTECTED
SPEED
ON THE BUSES
LEARNING THE HARD WAY
SERIES 3
WHAT DRIVES YOU MAD
IN THE DRIVING SEAT
BACK TO BASICS
STAYING SAFE
NOWHERE TO HIDE
MONSTER DRIVERS
BRAT PACK
ON THE EDGE
CRASH TEST RACERS
THE HIGHWAY OF TOMORROW
ROUND THE BEND
DANGER AHEAD
ROGUES ROADSHOW
TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT
FAIR COP
SMASH & GRAB
THE FORDS
GETTING THEIR MAN
RACE
SERIES 4
LIFE IN THE FAST LANE
MOTORWAY MANNERS
DIVERSION AHEAD!
UNDER THE INFLUENCE
THE CITY LIMITS
NICKED!
[edit] International syndication
Optomen Television had set of masters of the programme made up(48x26m) The episodes are different from the UK series.
- 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".
