Helicopter Heroes

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Helicopter Heroes
Also known as Helicopter Heroes Down Under
Genre Documentary
Factual
Presented by Richard Hammond (series 1)
Rav Wilding (series 2–7)
Narrated by Joe Crawley ("Down Under" series)
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
No. of series 6 (normal)
1 ("Down Under")
No. of episodes 110 (normal)
10 ("Down Under")
Production
Executive producer(s) Carla-Maria Lawson
Ian Cundall
Producer(s) Andy Joynson
Matt Richards (assistant)
Laura Blair (assistant)
Location(s) Yorkshire, England, UK
Running time 30–45 mins
Broadcast
Original channel BBC One
Picture format 16:9
Original run 3 September 2007 (2007-09-03) – present
Chronology
Related shows Sky Cops (2006, 2008)
External links
Website

Helicopter Heroes is a British daytime television series, following the lifesaving work of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. The first episode aired on 3 September 2007. In 2012–13 the team also produced a 10 part series called Helicopter Heroes Down Under, featuring the work of British medics working in Australia.

History

First screened on BBC One in 2007, its first presenter was Top Gear's Richard Hammond. He agreed to front the show to thank the Yorkshire Air Ambulance crew which flew him to hospital in after his near-fatal jet engine powered car crash, at Elvington airfield near York, in September 2006.

Very high audience appreciation ratings (AIs) led the BBC to re-commission the show and it has been in production ever since. Several series have been repeated in a primetime slot in slightly shortened form (30 minutes).

Since series 2 (2008), it has been fronted by ex-cop and former Crimewatch presenter Rav Wilding. Series 6 was broadcast in Autumn 2012, with a further ten episodes scheduled for May 2013. A series of Helicopter Heroes Down Under was shown in April 2013 on BBC Two, narrated by Joe Crawley.

The Crew

The crew of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance service operation are:[1]

Pilots

  • Cpt Steve Cobb (Chief Pilot)
  • Cpt Andy Lister
  • Cpt Tim Taylor
  • Cpt Chris Attrill
  • Cpt Ian Mousette

Doctors

  • Dr Jez Pinnnell (Medical Advisor)
  • Dr Ben Wyatt
  • Dr Andy Pountney
  • Dr Johnny Ball

Paramedics

  • Sammy Wills
  • Tony Wilkes
  • Pete Vallance
  • Darren Axe
  • Lee Davison
  • Al Day
  • Darrel Cullen
  • John Baxter
  • Paul Kilner
  • Graham Pemberton
  • Andy Armitage
  • Dave Appleby
  • Matt Syrat
  • Leon Baranowski
  • Sam Burgess

Dispatchers

  • David Gardner
  • Chris Solomons

Down Under crew

Pilots

  • Mike DeWinton (Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service Chief Pilot - Newcastle base)
  • John Legge (CareFlight Crewman)
  • Tony Wood (Westpac Lifesaver Helicopter Chief Crewman - Sydney base)

Doctors

  • Dr James Milligan
  • Dr Sarah Coombes
  • Dr Sarah McNeilly
  • Dr David Anderson
  • Dr Hilary Eason

Filming

Unusually, Helicopter Heroes is entirely edited in a hangar at Leeds Bradford Airport and shot by a small team from BBC English Regions using Sony EX3 and PMW200 HD cameras. Helicopter Heroes was among the first producer-shot observational documentary commissioned by the BBC HD Channel. They have flown more than 2,000 missions in the Yorkshire Air Ambulance's two MD900 Explorer helicopters.

Helicopter Heroes is well known for its dramatic air to air footage, its extensive use of aerial pictures of the Yorkshire countryside and bodycameras.

The programme captured dramatic footage of the aftermath of the Cumbria shootings during Summer 2010. The team also filmed what is thought to be the first footage of a patient - air ambulance dispatcher Chris Solomons - actually suffering a heart attack, going into cardiac arrest and being revived with CPR and a defibrillator. This is now widely used around the world as a training aid for police, firefighters, air ambulance crews and paramedics.

The "Down Under" series was filmed in Australia during early 2013.

Transmissions

Series Start date End date Episodes
1 3 September 2007 14 September 2007 10
2 25 August 2008 19 September 2008 20
3 5 October 2009 30 October 2009 20
4 6 September 2010 1 October 2010 20
5 12 September 2011 7 October 2011 20
6 1 October 2012 26 October 2012 20
20 May 2013 31 May 2013 10
Down Under 1 April 2013 16 April 2013 10
7 9 December 2013 20 December 2013 10
Spring 2014 Spring 2014 10

Future

The 7th series of Helicopter Heroes, with the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, is now in production for transmission in the Autumn of 2013 and the Spring of 2014.[citation needed] The series will contain 30 episodes in total.

International broadcasts

Helicopter Heroes has aired in Australia (series 1–2 on LifeStyle Channel), New Zealand and Scandinavia.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Yorkshire Air Ambulance Service Crew

External links

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