until mid 1990s it was the Sweeney, the Professionals etc (OK these are way old but were widely repeated in the 1980s and 1990s on cable/satellite channels in mainland UK; although even their former producing networks stayed clear of repeating some episodes as there was this ongoing argument that these “macho” programmes actually encouraged young lads both criminals and cops alike to be more violent, sexist and drive like twats.
Was never that much into American ones other than Miami Vice during its time but they always came across as “foreign”; more so even than European police who were “like ours but carried guns always”.
maybe its a generation thing as UK and European cops never wore “American” uniform back then.
By the late 1990s the ITV channels especially Carlton and Granada (based around London, Midlands and NW England put on loads of “true crime/reality TV documentaries about the Police”; which my generation watched avidly as radio scanners also still worked then and by comparing the “real” stuff with things “from telly” they actually gave away a shit ton of all their operational tactics on them.
They all had different names but one was actually called “Crimes, Fires and Accidents”. And of course Crimewatch; often it was indeed to see if “anyone I knew was on it”. Happened about 2-3 times in the space of 10 years (wasn’t for anything really bad like murder or violence; mostly planned thieving against high value targets. Still crime of course; but not as bad as these folk could have got interested in.
I wonder if its a gender thing to some extent; I’ve know loads of young women who watch these American TV-shows but are unnerved and creeped out by even TV news reporting of crimes which is heavily managed/censored in the UK compared to other countries (I’ve seen footage of riots and strong Police responses from the national TV of DK and NL which has genuinely shook me up a bit)
