Police Stop!

Police Stop! is a series of real-life police video programmes, which were made originally for video from 1993 onwards and were later originally broadcast on Sky1. The series has recently been repeated on Men and Motors in 2007, and more recently in 2008 on ITV4. Police Stop! was 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.

§VHS Releases & TV Screenings

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 Inspector David Rowland, 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. 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.

§Episode list

§Re-screenings

Police Stop! was regularly repeated on Cable and Satellite Channel Men and Motors. The channel initially inaccurately reported that Alastair Stewart hosted the programme. He instead presented the similarly formatted Police Camera Action! - although interestingly, the pilot episode of that series did indeed air under the title of "Police Stop!". Re-screenings of episodes 1 to 10 have now been commissioned for sister-station ITV4 and are being broadcast every week, the channel has yet to screen the Worst of Police Stop!, Police Stop! America and Police Stop! 11.

§New Zealand Series

A New Zealand version of Police Stop was made in several series between 1996 and 1998, airing on New Zealand's TV3 and presented by the well-known Australian race car driver Peter Brock (died 2006 in a motorsport accident).

The series format was similar to the overseas versions, utilizing footage from the UK and American versions - with additional New Zealand content, and Peter Brock's presentations.

Later series were renamed Police Stop - Caught in the Act, which in addition to car chase footage, also showed New Zealand filmed scenes of security camera footage, often in stores or public areas. In 1997 and 1998 series, footage also extended to Brock himself alongside the New Zealand Police in action, showing general lines of police work.

A special episode of Police Stop was screened in 2006 a week after Brock's death as a tribute, this was repeat screening of an episode from the final 1998 series.

§Related videos

The same production company (Labyrinth Media) also made the following videos, which were not exempt from classification:

• Riot Police (1994, certificate 15) - this included graphic footage of riots, including the riot of 31 March 1990 in Trafalgar Square, London.
• Real Life Rescues (1994, certificate PG) - selection of real-life emergencies and emergency services attending scenes of accidents.

§See also

• Police Camera Action! - a similar police video programme shown on ITV1 with a similar format.
• Road Wars - widely recognised as the replacement of Police Stop! Also produced by Bill Rudgard.
• Brit Cops - police reality show currently showing on Sky.
• Police Interceptors - show about traffic cops broadcast on Channel 5.
• Traffic Cops - also called Car Wars and Motorway Cops. BBC TV series with a similar format.
• Sky Cops - series about helicopter police on BBC One.
• Street Crime UK - TV show on Bravo documenting police work in the UK.

§External links

• Police Stop! at the Internet Movie Database