Police Stop!
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Police Stop! were a series of police video programmes made originally for video from 1993 onwards and were later broadcast on Sky One. They were presented and narrated by Graham Cole who is best known as PC Tony Stamp in the Thames Television police drama, The Bill. The series focused mainly on road based crime and mostly consisted of footage from cameras mounted in police cars and helicopters, with occasional material from road-side or hand-held cameras.
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[edit] VHS Releases
The original Police Stop video was released in 1993 and, after receiving much publicity from The Sun, was very successful. This was followed by Police Stop 2, Police Stop 3 (both 1994) and Police Stop 4 (1995). Worst of Police Stop (1994) was a compilation of the first three, and a further release entitled Police Stop America was also released in 1994, featuring American only footage.
The first video included an introduction by a traffic officer of the Metropolitan Police and had obtained the co-operation of several UK police forces, who contributed most of the material. Later videos increasingly included clips from elsewhere, primarily the United States and mainland Europe.
Each video included several long car chases, interspersed with groups of shorter clips relating to a common theme such as unroadworthy vehicles or dangerous overtaking manoeuvres. Occasionally, a "humorous" clip was shown; the most famous example, used by a number of similar television programmes since, shows a moped rider transporting a long plank of wood balanced across the back of his machine.
All five videos were exempt from classification.
[edit] Sky One
From Police Stop 5 onwards, the programme was aired on Sky One and were never released on video. From this point onwards, the series continued to use more clips from non-UK sources. The series was transmitted on Sky One up until Police Stop 11, which was an all American special in 2002.
[edit] Related videos
The same production company also made the following videos, which were not exempt from classification:
- Riot Police (1994, certificate 15) - this included graphic footage of riots, including the Poll Tax riot of 1990-03-31 in Trafalgar Square, London.
- Caught in the Act (1996, certificate 18) - a compilation of footage from closed-circuit television cameras.
[edit] See also
- Police, Camera, Action!, a police video programme shown on ITV1 with a similar format
- Road Wars, a police programme on Sky One and a possible replacement for Police Stop
