A big week for BBC Surrey

Every Saturday morning I present a breakfast show on BBC Surrey, my local station. I've made good friends among colleagues and the station's contributors and audience, who use BBC Surrey as the community resource it should be.

Last night many of those friends were in one room at the South Lodge Hotel near Horsham to celebrate some of the outstanding people who dedicate themselves to making the world a better place.

I hosted a table with two nominees, one of whom was a 17 year old called Zoe Giles. Zoe spent two years tackling council bureaucrats who were trying to close her local youth centre down. Thanks to her efforts the centre was eventually given a guaranteed future.

PC Gaynor Grout

The other nominee was PC Gaynor Grout, a woman who has given her entire working life to community policing and appears to be, in the eyes of her colleagues and the people she serves, a very effective police officer.

It was a good evening - catching up with colleagues and hearing some wonderful stories of courage, bravery, kindness and generosity of human spirit.

Some of the same people who were working late into the night last night were up early this morning to attend the formal switch-on of BBC Surrey's first DAB digital transmitter at Epsom Downs racecourse.

l-r Mark Carter, Sara David, Sir Paul Beresford MP

This has been a long time coming. Digital roll-out was hit by the financial crisis, and a significant amount of reorganising was required before it could get going again. For someone who lives in North Surrey, where the FM signal can be very ropey, I am confident DAB will bring many thousands more listeners to BBC Surrey, and it finally means I can get a decent signal in my house!

If you live in Surrey or North East Hampshire, give BBC Surrey a try. The presenting team are particularly strong at the moment and the station seems to have more journalistic ambition than ever.

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Copyright for all photos: BBC Surrey

Thieves and Thugs - preview

Thought these might whet your appetite for tonight. Don't forget, Thieves and Thugs: Caught on Camera is on air at 9pm, Channel 5. It usually goes up during the programme on Demand 5. And then of course it's repeated again at 10pm on C5+1. Let me know what you think of it.

A drug deal, from a CCTV operator's perspective.

 The shot below shows what happened when two people took exception to a CCTV camera being erected in their neighbourhood. They're using an angle grinder to cut it down.

The final moments of a CCTV camera

 The still below is the endgame of a long police motorway chase involving a drug courier. The man jettisoned his cocaine en route, but the camera on the police helicopter picked it up and the drugs were recovered.

The mugging below was a particularly nasty one, but thanks to the quality of the CCTV image, two of the muggers were convicted.

And the man below was arrested after a CCTV operator noticed he was walking along holding a knife. The operator tracked the man on camera whilst staying on the radio to guide the police towards him.

There are some really good stories in tonight's episode. I hope you enjoy it.

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Thieves and Thugs: Caught on Camera

This Wednesday 11 Dec at 9pm, Thieves and Thugs: Caught on Camera (Episode 5) will go out on Channel 5.

I recorded the voiceover last week and I think it's my favourite so far. There is some superb storytelling by the editors, and many of the crimes we feature have ended in convictions. 

There is also a moment which will provoke a very strong reaction if it is kept in the final edit. There isn't much that can be changed after a VO session, but it is so controversial, it may not be deemed suitable for broadcast.

Episode 4 - Car Crime UK: Caught on Camera - went out last week and did very well. Despite being up against I'm a Celebrity… we got our biggest audience of the series by some distance and our highest share. 

On Demand 5 the programme became the second most watched show on the channel. It was kept off the top spot by The Bible. Perhaps trying to beat the Greatest Story Ever Told was always going to be a non-starter.

You can watch all the programmes in the series so far on Demand 5 here.

UPDATE: I'm told the controversial moment in Wednesday's prog is definitely staying. But that's all I'm telling you. You'll know what I'm talking about when you see it.

Car Crime UK: Caught on Camera - tonight

This new programme will be broadcast on Channel 5 at 9pm on Wed 4 Dec, and then repeated on C5+1 at, you guessed it, 10pm.

The theme tonight, as the title suggests, is cars, and we have some astonishing footage (high speed chases and level crossing near-misses) and absorbing stories to tell.

Every week for the next three Wednesdays will have a different theme.

We didn't do any press shots for tonight's episode, so here are some stills from the programme:

Please watch it if you can, and if you can't, please help spread the word by linking to this blog post.

A criminal, helpfully providing evidence.

I'll be tweeting during tonight's programme from 9pm using the usual #caughtoncamera hashtag.

If you want to catch any of the first three episodes of the Caught on Camera strand, you can find them on Demand 5, here.

Car Crime UK: Caught on Camera

Really pleased to let you know the final three episodes of this series of Channel 5's Caught on Camera strand have been brought forward to run in the three weeks leading up to Christmas. Episode 4 will air at 9pm on Wednesday 4 Dec with the title "Car Crime UK: Caught on Camera".

To be slotted into the pre-Christmas schedules at 9pm is a real vote of confidence by the channel. I've seen the final cut of episode 4, and I can promise you there is some seriously thrilling stuff in there.

If you haven't yet seen any of the first three episodes of Criminals: Caught on Camera, they are still available on Demand 5. My favourite is episode 1, everyone else I've spoken to seems to prefer episode 2 and episode 3 got the highest figures. I guess that means there's something for everyone.

Give them a go if you haven't already. It should whet your appetite for 4 Dec!

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Criminals: Caught on Camera - thanks

Just a quick note to say that's it for Criminals: Caught on Camera until the new year.

A few weeks before the first episode went out the decision was taken to split the series in two, with the first three episodes going out as they did (on 18, 25 Oct and 1 Nov), with the remaining three going out some time in 2014, possibly January.

It was a fascinating experience making Criminals... and the positive response from all quarters has been very encouraging. If you watched, or helped spread the word in any way, I am grateful.

A decision on a second series is unlikely to be made until the second part of the first series has gone out and the viewing data crunched.

In the meantime I am talking to various parties about a number of other exciting projects, and I hope to be able to tell you about the ones that come off soon.

Nick

PS All three initial episodes of Criminals: Caught on Camera are available on the excellent Demand 5 platform and should remain so for some time.

Second Criminals... episode tonight - C5, 8pm

Thoroughly enjoyed doing The Wright Stuff this morning. Now for my third hour on Channel 5 today:

What does this episode focus on, you ask? Here's what the Radio Times says:

If I get out of this voiceover session in good time, I will be home to live tweet it. If you'd like to join the fun, the hashtag is #caughtoncamera.

And don't forget if you miss it at 8pm, it's repeated at 9pm on C5+1. And then it'll be up on Demand 5.

Thanks to everyone who has watched and enjoyed Episode 1. I hope you told your friends and I hope you'll like tonight's episode just as much.

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