Road Wars (TV series)

Road Wars
Format	Reality
Created by	Bill Rudgard; Steve Warr
Narrated by	Claire Goose (Current); Lee Boardman (Series 1-7)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
No. of series	8
No. of episodes	88
Production
Producer(s)	Raw Cut TV
Running time	50-60 mins including adverts mins approx.
Broadcast
Original channel	Sky1; Sky1 HD
Picture format	PAL (576i), HD (1080i)
Audio format	Stereo, Dolby Digital
Original run	26 July 2003 – 25 January 2011 (Facebook Group Announcement)
Chronology
Related shows	Street Wars; Police Interceptors
External links
	Website

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For the book, see Road Wars (novel).

Road Wars is a reality television programme created by Raw Cut TV for British Sky Broadcasting and broadcast on Sky1, Sky2 and Pick TV, and also worldwide. Series 1-7 was narrated by Lee Boardman^[1] who played villain Jez Quigley in ITV soap Coronation Street. The latest series was narrated by Claire Goose who played Inspector Rachel Weston in ITV1 police drama The Bill.

Road Wars is unlike other previous police programmes on Sky in that it followed the work of officers rather than simply playing police video clips. 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 also features some Police videos from America. The programme has the approval of the Association of Chief Police Officers.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Thames Valley Police

For series 1-6, the programme followed the fourteen members of the Thames Valley Police's roads policing proactive unit (Road Crime Unit) - known as "Tango Victor". They are also said to be known to fellow officers as "Tango Vulture", taken from their callsign prefix TV (Tango Victor) and the joke that they swoop to steal arrests from other officers while they carried out their duties.

Some of the officers involved in Road Wars are listed below. As a specialist unit, officers tended to appear in a couple of series, or just for one series, as either the camera just didn't happen to follow them during the time they were filming for the series, or that the officer's tenure had come up (which is after 3 years of being in the team, as it is a specialised unit) and they had left the team.

[edit] Officers

PC Jim Lovell (series 1 and 2)
PC Mark Carrington (series 1 and 2)
PC Tony Sams (series 1)
PC Pete Lomas (series 1)
PC Grant Thomas (series 1 and a quick appearance in series 3, and in series 4 as a desk sergeant)
PC Dave Morgan (series 1, 2 and 3)
PC Derek Ingram (series 1, 2, 3 and in two episodes in series 6)
PC Andy Samuels (series 1, 2 and 3 - quick appearance in an ep in series 4 as well)
PC Chris Piggott (series 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5)
PC Mark Thornley (Series 4)
PC Ian Hugherton (Hughy) (Series 4)
PC Simon Hills (series 4, 5 and 6}
PC Martin York (Yorkie) (series 4 and 5)
PC James Dixon (Dixie) (series 4, 5 and 6)
PC Charlie Etheridge (series 4, 5 and 6)
PC Chris Ruff (Ruffy) (series 4 and 5)
PC Roma Bolsover (series 4, 5 and 6 although appeared in the early series in the background)
PC Ronnie Welsh (series 4 and 5)
PC Pete Lloyd (series 4, 5 and 6)
PC Jim Mahoney (series 4 and 5)
PC Iestyn Llewellyn - with Boris the dog (series 4 and 5)
PC Rosie Vosser (series 4, 5, and a cameo in season 6)
PC Darren Staley (Daz) (series 4, 5 and 6)
PC Dan Ruffle (series 6)
PC Conrad Lee (series 1 and 6, although he appeared in series 4 as a bike cop)
PC Kevin Murphy (series 6)
PC Michelle Ryan (Mish) (series 6)
PC Chris Waller (Quick appearance in series 4, regular in series 6)
PC Andy Burden (Flipper) (Series 6)
PC Jason Evans (Series 6)
PC Wayne Mills (Millsy) (Series 6)
PC Anna McShane (series 6)
PC Tony Griffiths (Griff) (series 6)
PC Tom French (Frenchy) (Series 6)
PC Anna Mcshane (Series 6)
PC Dave Black (Series 6)
PC Helen Lacey - with Bonnie the dog (series 5)
PC Tristan Newsome - with Bella the dog (series 6)
PC Brian Avery - with Jake the dog (series 6)
PC Barry Logan- with Matt the dog
Sergeant John Kendall (Series 3-6)

[edit] Regular teams

Pat and Carl (Series 1-3)
Rob and Abbo (Series 1-2)
Chris and Andy (Series 1-3)
Pete and Tony (Series 1)
Conrad and Dave (Series 1)
Ruffy and Charlie (Series 4-5)
Charlie and Mish (Series 6)
Simon and Chris (series 3-5)
Mark and Hughy (Series 4)
Simon and Conrad (Series 6)
Yorkie and Dixie (Series 4-5)
Kev and Dixie (Series 6)
Waller and Flipper (Series 6)
Griff and Anna (Series 6)
Daz and Rosie (Series 4-5)
Matt and Dan (Series 4-5)
Ronnie and Roma (Series 4-5)
Frenchy and Roma (Series 6)
Lloydy and Millsy (Series 6)
Anna and Dave (Series 6)

[edit] Vehicles

The Thames Valley Police unit operates high-specification, unmarked 3.2L V6 Vauxhall Omegas (now being replaced by unmarked 2.8L Turbo V6 Police Special 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 normal 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).

[edit] Devon & Cornwall Police

From Series 7, the series moved on to follow the Road Crime Unit and the front line Dog Squad of Devon and Cornwall Police. The Road Crime Unit operates marked BMW 3 Series along with unmarked 2.5L Ford Focus ST. The officers involved are:

Detective Sergeant Jim Anderton
Detective Constable Chris Davidson
Detective Constable Ian 'Taff' Jones
Motor Patrol Constable Mark Moore
Motor Patrol Constable Giles Bedson
Detective Constable Roger Hocking
Motor Patrol Constable Mike Brown
PC Darryl Drew - with police dog Murphy
PC Steve Cruwys - with police dog Razor
PC Lee Crampton - with police dog Sharp
PC Colin Harper - with police dog Raven
PC Gareth Rees - with police dog Finn

[edit] Other releases

There have been eight series of Road Wars. Four special episodes have been shown including two American episodes (known as Road Wars USA), which aired in 2005, where British police from the series travel to the U.S. to see the difference in police and criminal behaviour and two Christmas specials shown in 2003 and 2004. Three compilation editions entitled "Ultimate Road Wars", featuring action from the first six series, first aired on Sky1 on 11 November, 13 November and 1 December 2008.

Series 1 - 6 episodes, first shown from 26 July 2003
Series 2 - 6 episodes, first shown from 21 June 2004
Series 3 - 8 episodes, first shown from 3 March 2005
Series 4 - 8 episodes, first shown from October 2006
Series 5 - 20 episodes, first shown from 8 May 2007
Series 6 - 20 episodes, 3 March - 29 July 2008
Series 7 - First 12 episodes, first shown from 17 February 2009 narrated by Lee Boardman
Series 7 - Remaining 8 episodes, first shown from 23 November 2009 - narrated by Claire Goose

[edit] Special

In a special two part series called Road Wars USA, Andy Samuels^[2] and Chris Piggott spent a couple of months attached to a Gang Unit in Cicero, Chicago, USA, to note how law enforcement is practised in the United States.

According to the officers:

UK police want to work with the communities they police; USA police just want to uphold the law.
UK police focus too much on providing a customer service; USA police focus too much on being aggressive.
UK police most commonly use the voice as their tool of trade; USA police most commonly use guns (including automatic firearms) as their tool of trade.

[edit] Other countries

The Road Wars series has also been sold to these television networks and Television stations:

CI in Australia and New Zealand

[edit] Similar programmes

Street Law (also known as Street Wars)
Police Interceptors a show following police in Essex and South Yorkshire, and made by the same producers as Road Wars.
Traffic Cops, (sometimes listed as Motorway Cops and Car Wars) a similar programme shown on BBC One.
Brit Cops, similar police documentary on Sky Livingit.
Police Stop!, a show from the 90's showing footage from police car dashboard cameras, with occasional presenter links.
Police Camera Action!, a similar programme on ITV.
Street Crime UK, a similar programme shown on Bravo.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

^ "Road Wars: Lee Boardman". Sky One. Sky One. http://www.skyone.co.uk/roadwars/meet_boardman.htm. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
^ http://www.road-wars.co.uk/interviews/TVP/interviewandy1.html

[Sky_One-0] "Road Wars: Lee Boardman". Sky One. Sky One. http://www.skyone.co.uk/roadwars/meet_boardman.htm. Retrieved 2 May 2010.

[1] ttp://www.road-wars.co.uk/interviews/TVP/interviewandy1.html

[1]

[2]

Road Wars (TV series)

Contents

[edit] Thames Valley Police

[edit] Officers

[edit] Regular teams

[edit] Vehicles

[edit] Devon & Cornwall Police

[edit] Other releases

[edit] Special

[edit] Other countries

[edit] Similar programmes

[edit] External links

[edit] References

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