Road Wars (TV series)
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| Road Wars | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre | Reality |
| Creator(s) | Bill Rudgard, Steve Warr |
| Narrated by | Lee Boardman |
| Country of origin |  United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 4 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Raw Cut TV |
| Running time | 45 mins approx. |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Sky One |
| Picture format | PAL (576i) |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original run | 2003 / 2004 – Present |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Street Wars, Street Law |
| Links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
Road Wars is a reality television programme produced by Raw Cut TV for British Sky Broadcasting and broadcast on Sky One, Sky Two and Sky Three as well as being distributed worldwide. Beginning in 2003 the programme has followed the fourteen members of the Thames Valley Police's Roads Policing Proactive Unit (road crime unit - known within the force as "Tango Vultures" - taken from their TV callsign prefix and the joke that they swoop to steal arrests from other officers) while they carried out their duties.
The Thames Valley Police unit operates high-specification, unmarked Vauxhall Omegas (now being replaced by unmarked Vauxhall Vectras) and is tasked with taking a proactive role in fighting crime especially targeted towards street robbers and burglars, but also undertaking general traffic policing (the officers are drawn from standard Roads Policing teams). The footage from this team is combined with video footage from police forces around the world (though largely UK and United States forces).
The programme has documented the changing tactics of criminals, perhaps most importantly their increasing violence and recklessness, and the response of the UK police forces. The programme has the approval of the Association of Chief Police Officers. [1]
There have been three series of Road Wars with a fourth series currently being broadcast from Oct 2006 on Sky One at 9pm Fridays. Four special episodes have been shown including two American episodes, broadcast in 2005, where British police from the series travel to the USA to see the difference in police and criminal behaviour and two Christmas specials shown in 2003 and 2004.
As at November 2006, Road Wars cameras continue to follow the work of Thames Valley's Roads Policing Proactive Unit for series 5.
[edit] Other Countries
The Road Wars series has also been sold to these television networks and Television stations:
- RTL Holland
- TV3 in New Zealand
- Seven Network in Australia
- TV Network in Russia
