Talk:Police Camera Action!

/Archive 1

Disputed statement
In the current article is this statement:
 * Many of the video clips shown on Police Camera Action! never had an accompanying sound-track, and were dubbed with standard recordings of traffic noise more reminiscent of American cities than British motorways. When the same clip was used in the Police Stop! videos, background music was played in conjunction with a commentary.

Has anyone got any reliable sources to back this up?? --sunstar nettalk 23:24, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

Episode guide from programme producers added in response to suggestions. This was originally added last year but was deleted.

(Nesw 18:20, 23 February 2007 (UTC))

It is common practice in TV to dub over poor sound, and plenty of the footage received from police forces doesn't have sound. It is unlikely they used American soundtracks, as they would have tended to take the sound from other pursuits, generally British. A new series of PCA is being made at the moment (30 part, to be "topped" by Alastair Stewart, presented by Adrian Simpson and narrated by someone else). Cmojo 10:52, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

It stands to reason that a lot of the soundtracks were dubbed with sound effects, as it's unlikely that the Police cars had microphones fitted inside or outside, other than the one the Police Officer uses to speak to the control room. Therefore, clangs, scrapes, slides, crashes, other cars tooting their horn and even the actual Police car's siren is unlikely to have been picked-up on the tape. I can offer no evidence one way or the other, suffice to say that perhaps all mention of this 'fact' should be removed from the article as it's not really important enough. No-one says anything when shows like Top Gear do the same thing to embellish their features. It's just TV. Certainly the 'American' bit should be removed, or at least re-worded to say that the soundtracks were dubbed to be "reminiscent of movie soundtracks" or such-like. User: Jaydash 22:18, 20 September 2007


 * I would argue that the sound effects are clearly dubbed, especially when they're clearly audible on helicopter shots alone with no police cars in shot. However having said that, depending on the quality of the equipment the police uses, it's possible that sirens were picked up and recorded during exchanges to the control room, but later added to pad it out.  Having said that, American patrol footage going back many years with speech has been clearly audible even outside the vehicle on programme formats similar to PCA so it is entirely possible that British police cars had microphones inside the car as well.  British police tend, I've noticed, give chase and conduct an instant arrest so you don't find many examples of a verbal exchange happening outside a police car unless the squad car is being followed by somebody filming for Road Wars for example so professional microphones are then used.  At the end of the day, we'll probably never know for sure.  Its just common TV trickery to make a professional programme look good. NKTP 19:50, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Episode list & episode details
There should be a List of Police Camera Action! episodes but since I don't have much detail on them, can anyone else create it for me??

It needs to be divided into season order, e.g.


 * Series 1 (1994)
 * Series 2 (1995)
 * Series 3 (1996)
 * Series 4 (1997)
 * Series 5 (1998)
 * Series 6 (1999)
 * Series 7 (2000)
 * Series 8 (2002)
 * Series 9 (2007-08)

Maybe even individual episode pages if more detail can be found on them. There isn't many sources, and not many reliable sources to get information on the episodes.

The article could do with a re-write, but I'm not really sure how to expand it further.

All advice is appreciated. Thanks, --Solumeiras talk 21:57, 20 September 2007 (UTC)


 * The most common way for episode lists is either to use tables (e.g. List of Married... with Children episodes) or the Episode list template (e.g. List of Lost episodes). Look for reliable sources on google. For the start, the homepage of the channel of this program or imdb.com is also good. Possibilities for further sections are "Production" (Conception, Format, Marketing, ...) and "Reception" (Ratings, Critical reviews, Awards, International reception, ...). Just try to expand the article one by one; it doesn't matter if it's not perfect in a week or even a month. The most important thing is to always cite where you got the info from. A short but sourced article is much better than a long article full of Original research. – sgeureka t•c 12:12, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Episodes
From the article:


 * POLICE STOP - first broadcast: 9/7/1994 (renamed Danger! Drivers Ahead on repeats on Men & Motors)


 * POLICE, CAMERA, ACTION! - first broadcast: 12/20/1994


 *  POLICE, CAMERA, ACTION! 95 - first broadcast: 4/17/1995 


 * SAFETY LAST - first broadcast: 10/4/1995

Was there ever such an episode in 1995?? I haven't seen many recent repeats of this when ITV4 were re-airing it, or presumably they haven't got the broadcast rights to it yet.

I am going to create an episode list, feel free to help out. --Solumeiras talk 20:39, 9 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Well, originally the article listed the first four episodes as:


 * POLICE STOP


 * DANGER! DRIVERS AHEAD


 * POLICE, CAMERA, ACTION!


 * POLICE, CAMERA, ACTION! 95

However, the first episode has been renamed Police Camera Action! with the title Danger! Drivers Ahead for repeats on Men & Motors so you could consider it a pilot episode. The following two episodes with no titles are at the very bottom of the episode guide at the British Film Industry site and they're usually right so it's probably likely that there was an unnamed episode in 1995. Either those two episodes didn't have titles or they're not known. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.153.106.120 (talk) 08:49, 11 October 2007 (UTC)


 * I don't remember an episode called Police, Camera, Action! 95 but i'm pretty sure there is more than one episode with no name. I need a full episode list but i've looked around and can't find one. Does anyone know a reliable source? - Linczone  Talk  18:28, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

Images
Should I create the logos for the series in Paint Shop Pro and upload them as GFDL/public domain to avoid using fair use images?? Thanks, --Solumeiras talk 13:32, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

2007 series
Does anyone know all 30 episodes?? I know from Adrian Simpson's profile on an agent's site here it says that he's in "He’s currently filming a new 30 part series of Police, Camera, Action for ITV4."

- RDF Management

I've listed 29 episodes, does anyone know all the episode titles for the 2007 series??

References and sources for these are incredibly hard to find. Thanks, --Solumeiras talk 11:23, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

response: IN ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION, all thirty episodes of the 2007/08 series have now been listed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.144.199.142 (talk) 10:54, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

I've noticed a couple of episodes in Series 5 are called Safety Last and Helicops which were the names of earlier episodes. Have these been mixed up with this new list or new programmes under the same name? JM62: they are the same name but different episodes. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.153.109.143 (talk) 14:06, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

Regarding 1995 "Mystery" episode
Having followed this show from the start I don't remember there being 2 Un-named episodes, although I don't remember the Pilot (now named "Danger! Drivers Ahead") episode ever airing as "Police Stop". Wasn't the show called "Police, Camera Action!" - and the episode sub-name "Poilce Stop"?.

I think that the BFI has got it's wires crossed. I think that the "Danger! Drivers Ahead/Police Stop" episode was the original pilot episode. I think for consistancy; BFI list it as "Police, Camera, Action!". The second "Police, Camera, Action!" seemingly an un-named episode is the edition where Alastair Stewart is getting pulled over in a red Honda Car, at the start. Later on in this episode, he states "in our last episode" - then features a police video-clip that was on the "Danger! Drivers Ahead" (now named as) episode, which would make me think that they were the first two. Further than that I don't recall another "un-named" episode as it were. As far as i'm aware the next episode after that was "Safety First".

I think that in the original confusion of people thinking that 4 "early episodes" were made is a mistake. i.e thinking...


 * POLICE STOP
 * DANGER! DRIVERS AHEAD
 * POLICE, CAMERA, ACTION!
 * POLICE, CAMERA, ACTION! 95

When in fact it probably only was...


 * DANGER! DRIVERS AHEAD
 * POLICE, CAMERA, ACTION!

Also noting something, watching the "Police, Camera, Action!" un-named episode, that was stated was first shown on 20/12/94, in fact has video clips on it filmed after that date (early '95). So that would also tally up in saying that there only was one un-named episode and that was the PCA '95.

So the listing should read...


 * POLICE STOP renamed DANGER! DRIVERS AHEAD for some satellite repeats - First broadcast: 20/12/1994 (Words of Love by The Mamas & the Papas)


 * POLICE, CAMERA, ACTION! '95 - First broadcast: 17/04/1995 (Theme from Star Trek by Alexander Courage)


 * SAFETY LAST - First broadcast: 04/10/1995 (Let's Talk About Sex by Salt-n-Pepa)

...and so on.

Sorry for the long-winded explanation, hope you understand it all - and it may have cleared some things up!

--88.108.7.192 (talk) 01:59, 25 January 2008 (UTC)

Optomen
Today. I have take it on myself to email Optomen Television who produce the show, to see if they will send me a full index of all episodes of Police, Camera, Action! so we can clear this 1995 episode up ASAP. --88.108.50.63 (talk) 00:01, 26 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Any news on the development?? and as regards the 1995 episode, there are 4 - 5 extra stills from the series which appear in the book (and I assume these are from an episode that hasn't been aired on ITV4 for a while.

The footage concerned is:
 * from 4 February 1992 (92-02-04) of a pick-up truck overtaking a cyclist
 * from 27 August 1993 (93-08-27) of a pedestrian and a VW Beetle
 * from 24 October 1992 (92-10-24), of a Volkswagen Golf and Peugeot 405 driver passing A-Z map books between cars, one car towing a trailer.

This is why I think there is a "missing" episode, as none of those three pieces of footage (which occur in the 1996 book that accompanies the show) appear in the episode "Danger! Drivers Ahead", Police, Camera, Action!", "Safety Last" or "Tales of the Unexpected".

Hopefully this explains why I think there is a missing episode, but if I'm wrong, I stand corrected. Thanks, --Solumeiras (talk) 11:48, 31 January 2008 (UTC)


 * I am the above person, BTW (with the IP Address) I have now registered with Wikipedia.


 * Good idea, didn't think of looking in the book... may take a look...


 * No news from Optomen, will let you know when I hear something.


 * BTW do you like the new PCA wikipedia page took me ages to make! --PoliceCameraActionFan (talk) 01:00, 1 February 2008 (UTC)


 * Follow up... have looked in the book and see what you mean - but I never even remember that episode ever being aired - possibly an un screened episode for some reason or another? --PoliceCameraActionFan (talk) 01:13, 1 February 2008 (UTC)


 * There's someone (IP Address User) that keeps changing the episode list adding the "Police, Camera, Action! '95" back in - as far as we're aware there was never such episode. Although this Monday (11th Feb) - on ITV4 at 9am there is an episode called of PCA called "Police, Camera, Action?" - so this could be the missing episode finally getting aired (if it exists) or the other un-named episode that is getting another re-screening. --PoliceCameraActionFan (talk) 21:04, 9 February 2008 (UTC)


 * Right I think i've got it. Originally the Pilot was broadcast in Early 1994 as a Pilot Episode. It was then re-shown on 20/12/94 and was re-badged as Police, Camera, Action! for a repeat on ITV(1), hence on the BFI database - it has no name (because it was only given a sub-heading for the recent repeats). The second un-named episode was show in 95' was never called PCA 95' but Just Police, Camera, Action as was a single episode shows in April ahead of the July airings of Safety Last etc.

So that should explain things. The pictures in the book I believe are from the International Patrol episodes. --PoliceCameraActionFan (talk) 13:52, 11 February 2008 (UTC)


 * Bit of BREAKING NEWS! I have just seen the Police, Camera, Action! Episode with no-name (the only epsiode there is I now believe). This is the episode where Alastair opens the show saying "with the increasing number of police video cars on the roads today, bad driving will be caught on camera". When he gets out of his car (red Honda); there is a clip of him walking towards the police car - and they use a clip of him talking to the dashboard police car camera which has a date stamp of 11/11/94 in the right hand corner. This means that this episode HAS to be Police, Camera, Action! 95'. As there is no way it could broadcast any earlier than December 94' (and the episode that was screened in December 1994 was the Danger! Drivers Ahead episode). There is virtually no way they could of put an episode together in less than 20 days. So this has to be the episode we badge as "Police, Camera, Action! '95". AT LAST! We've cleared this up - thanks to a clip of Alastair Stewart on a Police Video Camera! --PoliceCameraActionFan (talk) 14:24, 15 February 2008 (UTC)