Oh FFS ITV, get real

[Father Ted]

I dont suppose anyone else had the misfortune to sit through the all new Police Camera Action last night on ITV4 did they?I only watched it because my mother in law was round and it meant listening to her otherwise. What a load of self rightious bollox. It was "angled" at people driving like twats doing irreperable harm to the Earth, not so much the Merc driver doing a ton down the A23 might run over some innocent little puppy, no now this driver is spawn of satan because at this speed he is belching out 80billion times more CO2 than someone driving at 70MPH and that affects YOU and is killing the planet - the whole fugging programme was like that.ITV - if you think for one moment anyone is convinced that the uninsured unlicenced, banned from driving Rover driver was running away from the police because his car was "dangerously polouting" just because his CHG let go some 5 minutes into the chase, then you serously need your bollox wiring to the HT side of a Morris Marina Coil.Utter w@nkers. Really spoled my night that did.

[r.welfare]

I do not watch it anymore. The presenting duo of Alastair Stewart and Bloke Once On Top Gear is crud IMHO.

 

Far better, if you have freeview, to watch Road Wars on Sky Three. They have finally stopped repeating series 1-3 ad infinitum and have got series 4 on, this month. Apparently Sky One is up to Series 6, which is to be the last one, but plenty still to come for us plebs who don't have/want cable. Obv. I'm biased because it's based locally, but still it's more entertaining than PCA.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I quite like those programmes, though I only like it when some panhead being chased on video by the DFRs crashes into a roundabout without his seatbelt on and you see him getting thrown about inside his car like a 'Pinball Wizard' job LOL! must be like getting battered to hell by Mike Tyson. I presume they would not show it if the driver was seriously maimed so these goons are just getting minor(ish) cosmetic injuries for my entertainment which I am OK with.

[Ross_K]

I've said it before - that Alastair Stewart is an absolute wanker of the highest order. He has to be the most self-righteous twunt on telly.Although (Ex) Sheriff John Bunnell must come a close second when it comes to these cop chase shows:

Oh wait a minute, this is the real John Bunnell: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15HQMK23amAThat New Zealand cop show (Motorway Cops??) on Men And Motors is funny in comparison. They seem very laid back compared to their northern hemisphere colleagues.

[Guest greenvanman]

That New Zealand cop show (Motorway Cops??) on Men And Motors is funny in comparison. They seem very laid back compared to their northern hemisphere colleagues.

I got stopped just outside Oamaru for having no brake lights on my old Sunny (turned out to be water ingress into the fuse box, the only thing that happened to it in 17000 kms) and the cop just said to drive it back to where we were staying with a foot resting on the brake pedal and get it fixed in the morning! That scenario + UK Plod = 3 points for sure.

[Spottedlaurel]

I didn’t watch that episode of Police Camel Action but have seen a previous one in the new format, it was pretty grim. All we want to see are people doing thing crazy things in cars, not get given a sermon. I’m sometimes amazed by how small the fines or sentences are (without wanting to sound too Daily Mail about it).I concur that Road Wars is definitely better – if nothing else it shows that while our Police aren’t exactly up there with Harry Hill and Paul Merton in the humour stakes, they’re generally fairly calm and better than in the USA who just seem completely insane. Sometimes though I then get drawn into watching Street Wars, which is kind of depressing.Wonder if they’ll extend the “Wars†franchise into lanes or perhaps footpaths? Scenes of rural angst or speeding mobility scooters, that kind of thing.

[RedSparrow]

It is pretty dire i must say.This newest series was contriversial as Alistair Stewart has been banned for drink driving I believe, yet they still let him present it, preaching about safe driving!

[MrRegieRitmo]

It is pretty dire i must say.This newest series was contriversial as Alistair Stewart has been banned for drink driving I believe, yet they still let him present it, preaching about safe driving!

Yes he drunk drove & crashed - what a hypocrite!

[Cavcraft]

I'm watching an old one right now on Channel Letsrepeatprogrammesforverandadaybecausewearemingebags on Sky. Alistair Stewart is, indeed, a twat. And a patronising twat at that. In fact when I see him now he always reminds of Alan Partridge in the episode where he shows himself in his fat days.Now Roadwars on the other hand is effing brilliant. I love all the 'nuggets', 'muppets', 'donuts' and 'oiks' and long to see the day where there isn't one chav in a Vauxhall (usually a Cavalier) being pulled over and getting gobby.

[retrogeezer]

Traffic Cops is good too......Alistair Stewart was always a twunt...even before the DD ban.Whatever happened to Police Stop eh??

[RedSparrow]

Traffic cops and Road wars are ok. I have to watch them when my flatmate is out cos of the shame!That new one 'Police interceptors' is ok too.

[Guest]

I enjoy these sorts of shows, here's my personal rundown.....Road Wars has a lot of merit and I tend to watch it quite often, mainly for the throaty V6 growl from the unmarked Omega. Not sure why they interrupt it with clips from quite old police chases (one involved a Kia Pride with rear whitewalls intact!), but the Shiter in me doesn't mind. Nice way to waste an hour!Street Wars is thoroughly depressing though, not a bad show in itself, but the content is somewhat grim, morons being bottled outside clubs etc. Makes me want to drive the Galant into a bus queue.Any John Bunnell show is fantastic, World's Wildest/Scariest Police Videos/Chases and the likes - I like to imagine that he speaks the same way in the show as he does in everyday life and makes constant references to "barreling over intersections" and "police cruisers" at the dinner table. The content in these tends to be impressive long drawn out mass murderer car chases across LA rather than pulling someone over in Sidcup for not indicating off a roundabout.That NZ based one is a bit bonkers, tends to be stuff like sheep on the road. I remember one where they pulled someone over for having no licence/insurance or something and it basically concluded in them telling him he had to apply for the stuff and letting him drive away. Bonkers.A show which is rarely mentioned in this country despite being shown regularly on some of the more obscure satellite channels is Cops - US-based thing which has been running since the 80s. Well worth a watch as you're not sure what you're going to get, often it's just the police going round and solving some domestic dispute or other humdrum things but sometimes you get lucky and end up with something genuinely thrilling. I remember one where the lone cop pulled over and aimed a shotgun on 5-6 gang members with handguns, luckily they obeyed him! Crazy.

[MrRegieRitmo]

Whatever happened to Police Stop eh??

I'm sure I saw that in the listings just recently! What happens in that one?I do like seeing any of these that are old or show old footage though because it's great looking out for shite or quite often it's actually being driven in the old footage! When did these programmes begin? Very early 90s? We watched one recently which was full of old footage, think the programme was from about 94, I don't remember Mr Stewart saying anything unless he keeps quiet apart from at the beginning & end? So it may not have been PCA, but then I wasn't really paying that much attention apart from looking for shite, there seems to be so many of these shows. The main thing I remember was my girlfriend forcing me to change channel the very instant the police voice-over said "It looks like they're taunting us with a dog they're threatening to throw out of the car!" (they obviously didn't)

[Simon M]

I do like seeing any of these that are old or show old footage though because it's great looking out for shite or quite often it's actually being driven in the old footage! When did these programmes begin? Very early 90s?

Sounds about right - when the first Police Stop video came out, WH Smith in Basingstoke put a telly in their window with it on a continuous loop, and a massive crowd built up outside.....this kind of thing was a real novelty in those days!

[Cavcraft]

Street Wars is living proof that if you push a camera under the nose of a lot of today's youth then they'll act the tough guy because they think it's clever. I always wonder if one day they'll wake up and realise the rest of the country think they are wankers.We're becoming far too Americanised in Britain these days, look at the kind of utter pondlife that appear on such shite as Jeremy Vile and you'll get the drift.

[r.welfare]

The thing about Police Stop is it appears very pedestrian, and that bloke from The Bill talks....very....slowly....which is annoying. Great for tat spottage though.Road Wars on in 2 mins, BTW.

[MrRegieRitmo]

I enjoy these sorts of shows, here's my personal rundown.....Road Wars has a lot of merit and I tend to watch it quite often, mainly for the throaty V6 growl from the unmarked Omega. Not sure why they interrupt it with clips from quite old police chases (one involved a Kia Pride with rear whitewalls intact!), but the Shiter in me doesn't mind. Nice way to waste an hour!Street Wars is thoroughly depressing though, not a bad show in itself, but the content is somewhat grim, morons being bottled outside clubs etc. Makes me want to drive the Galant into a bus queue.Any John Bunnell show is fantastic, World's Wildest/Scariest Police Videos/Chases and the likes - I like to imagine that he speaks the same way in the show as he does in everyday life and makes constant references to "barreling over intersections" and "police cruisers" at the dinner table. The content in these tends to be impressive long drawn out mass murderer car chases across LA rather than pulling someone over in Sidcup for not indicating off a roundabout.That NZ based one is a bit bonkers, tends to be stuff like sheep on the road. I remember one where they pulled someone over for having no licence/insurance or something and it basically concluded in them telling him he had to apply for the stuff and letting him drive away. Bonkers.A show which is rarely mentioned in this country despite being shown regularly on some of the more obscure satellite channels is Cops - US-based thing which has been running since the 80s. Well worth a watch as you're not sure what you're going to get, often it's just the police going round and solving some domestic dispute or other humdrum things but sometimes you get lucky and end up with something genuinely thrilling. I remember one where the lone cop pulled over and aimed a shotgun on 5-6 gang members with handguns, luckily they obeyed him! Crazy.

There was one that is based somewhere else, might be Traffic Cops, infact 99% sure it is. Normally based with Thames Valley Police but for at least one series came down to my neck of the woods with Hampshire Police mainly patrolling the Portsmouth area so that was interesting to see. Also I'm sure it also had it's own American spin off, that wasn't called Cops, I'm sure it was the same series as Traffic Cops but they based it in the US as well. You'll notice a trend of every other clip being an officer stooped at the side of the road at somebody's window trying to talk to the perpetrator / person in distress & just about manages to dive out of the way as an out of control car/SUV/Peterbilt/ aircraft carrier / flying saucer careers into the parked car! It's happens with alarming / almost boring regularity!There's a recent one on one of the Sky channels, I mean proper Sky like Sky 1 or 3 about Police Interceptors, think it might be called err Interceptors!? Basically it's about Essex Police I think & the pairs of guys that go chasing crims in their sooper dooper police Mitsubishi EVOs & Subaru Imprezas!

[Milford Cubicle]

Isn't Traffic Cops based in Humberside, hence all the Proton cop-car spottage, or am I thinking of another one?

[MrRegieRitmo]

The thing about Police Stop is it appears very pedestrian, and that bloke from The Bill talks....very....slowly....which is annoying. Great for tat spottage though.

That's it then! It was Police Stop we were watching with all the old footage last week because I definitely remember now that it was presented by the Bill bloke who's name I can't remember, character wise or real!

[pompei]

Yup, it's the Humberside force, and the Hull and Grimsby low-life

[HillmanImp]

I remember Viz once did a strip called 'Police, Parking, Action' where they would criticize people for parking badly etc, mimicking Alister Stewarts OTT coverage of someone doing 95 mph on a clear motorway...'Now look at this driver, parking with one WHEEL ON THE KERB! Its this kind of irresponsible behavior that risks lives and strains the resources of our boys in blue'. 'And this driver has parked on DOUBLE YELLOW LINES! IN THE RUSH HOUR! whilst he goes to get some food from the takeaway. Not only has he caused great inconvenience to the public but he appears to be drunk as he weaves back to his car.....oh wait, that's me. I though i recognised that number plate.'

[Richard]

Alistair Stewart had a DD conviction long before he was ever on Police Camera Action. He admitted to it on the show when he was preaching about other people's drink driving. He said he'd learned his lesson, but evidently not.

[STUNO]

what a suprise...that NZ cop show has been shown in UK. We get Clarkson about 4 years old occasionally,5th gear about the same. Best I saw was a show using Thames Valley Police, seen here a year or two ago. Otherwise our Tv seem to think car type shows are antisocial and we see nothing much. Bunnell has been on though. As I write I looked at the tv and saw a demolition derby ! oh well...

[mk2_craig]

Isn't Traffic Cops based in Humberside, hence all the Proton cop-car spottage, or am I thinking of another one?

Presumably something to do with the fact that the boat from Malaysia docks there and most cars get no further than the local dealer, unsold for yonks till Hull Plod is made an offer they can't refuse on a job lot. Not quite a match for the old 4x4 Sapphire Cosworths!

[MrRegieRitmo]

Assuming we're not talking about Lotus powered Satrias here!?

[Milford Cubicle]

Impians and Personas! Is the Satria Lotus-powered? I thought they just re-hashed the suspension on the GTi or something.

[r.welfare]

Reg, the previous series of Traffic Cops deffo featured Hampshire Constab. I know this, 'cos the PC with the restored Volvo 244 Hampshire patrol car was on it quite a bit. It's only in the last year or so they've focussed on Humberside.I haven't caught the "Interceptors" show on C5 much, mainly because I am usually out when it is on on a Friday night. The one episode I saw seemed pretty interesting tho.NZ Cop Show thing (can't remember the name) was on some random Sky channel a few years back when I was in Guernsey (and hence had Sat TV to allay the boredom of that Godforesaken island), haven't seen it for ages.Apologies for the rambling post. I have spent all day on a narrowboat on the Thames between Walton and Runnymede, mainly drinking a lot.

[Mike D]

The traffic cops Humberside thing has featured the wife of the bloke i bought my disastra estate on, and also a guy i work with that a pissed bloke in a shogun trashed a line of cars in.Go Lincolnshire!

[gtd2000]

Isn't Traffic Cops based in Humberside, hence all the Proton cop-car spottage, or am I thinking of another one?

Presumably something to do with the fact that the boat from Malaysia docks there and most cars get no further than the local dealer, unsold for yonks till Hull Plod is made an offer they can't refuse on a job lot. Not quite a match for the old 4x4 Sapphire Cosworths!

I'll tell you - My Persona 1.3 "Si" (pov spec with AC, alloys & spoiler no less!!!) could outrun a Cossie any day.... mpg wise anyway...

[mk2_craig]

NZ Cop Show thing (can't remember the name) was on some random Sky channel a few years back when I was in Guernsey (and hence had Sat TV to allay the boredom of that Godforesaken island), haven't seen it for ages.

Bloody hell They have telly in Guernsey?