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| Road Wars | |
|---|---|
 Series 6 titlecard | |
| Created by | Bill Rudgard Steve Warr |
| Narrated by | Lee Boardman (2003–09) Claire Goose (2009–2010) |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 8 |
| No. of episodes | 96 |
| Production | |
| Producer | Raw Cut TV |
| Running time | 50–60 minutes (inc. adverts) |
| Production company | Raw Cut Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | Sky1 |
| Release | 26 July 2003 (2003-07-26) – 24 January 2010 (2010-01-24) |
| Related | |
| Street Wars Police Interceptors | |
Road Wars is a British policereality television programme created by Raw Cut TV forBritish Sky Broadcasting and broadcast onSky1 from 26 July 2003 to 24 January 2010. From Series 1 the show was narrated by actorLee Boardman.[1] The 2nd half of series 7 was narrated by actressClaire Goose.[2]
As of 2023, the show has repeats onSky Showcase,Sky Replay,Sky Mix,Sky Witness andSky Crime.[citation needed]
Road Wars followed the work of police officers, documenting the changing tactics of criminals and the response of the UK police forces. For six seasons the show followed officers in theThames Valley, but moved toDevon andCornwall for the last series in 2009. The programme also features some police videos both in the UK and US.
Lee Boardman narrated the show until the second half of series 7, employing a light-hearted and pun-intended approach. At theopening narration Boardman says "In Road Wars, the unexpected is always just around the corner".
The title music was composed by Nainita Desai and Malcolm Laws. Other music was made by the series' co-creator Bill Rudgard. In series 1 the title card consisted of 'ROAD WARS' in reddot-matrix form. A new title card was made for series 3, which was slightly edited with yellow accents for series 6. The first two series had six episodes, series 3 and 4 had eight episodes each, and series 5 and 6 had 20 episodes each.
For series 7 as the show moved to another police force, a new title card and new music was composed. Boardman left his position as narrator and the last 8 episodes were narrated byClaire Goose.
For series 1–6, the programme followed the fourteen members of theThames 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.
The footage from this team is combined with video footage from police forces around the world (though largely UK and US forces).
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.
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TheThames Valley Police unit operates high-specification, unmarked 3.2L V6Vauxhall Omegas (B2 model), replaced in later series by unmarked 2.8L Turbo V6 Police SpecialVauxhall Vectras. The unit 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).
In October 2008 Thames Valley Police pulled out from the show after concerns on how its officers are depicted.[3] From Series 7, the show moved on to follow the Road Crime Unit and the front line Dog Squad ofDevon and Cornwall Police. The Road Crime Unit operates markedBMW3 Series along with unmarked 2.5LFord Focus STs.
There have been eight series of Road Wars. Four special episodes have been shown including two American episodes (known asRoad Wars USA), which aired in 2005, where British police from the series travel to the U.S. to see the difference in police andcriminal behaviour and twoChristmas specials shown in 2003 and 2004. Three compilation editions entitled "Ultimate Road Wars", featuring action from the first six series, first aired onSky1 on 11 November, 13 November and 1 December 2008.
| Series | Episodes | First aired | Last aired | Police force |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | 26 July 2003 | 30 August 2003 | Thames Valley Police |
| 2 | 6 | 21 June 2004 | 26 July 2004 | |
| 3 | 8 | 3 March 2005 | 21 April 2005 | |
| 4 | 8 | 5 October 2006 | 23 November 2006 | |
| 5 | 20 | 8 May 2007 | 18 September 2007 | |
| 6 | 20 | 29 July 2008 | 9 December 2008 | |
| 7 | 20 | 17 February 2009 | 30 June 2009 | Devon & Cornwall Police |
| 8 | 8 | 30 November 2009 | 24 January 2010 |
In a special two part series calledRoad Wars USA, Andy Samuels[4] and Chris Piggott spent a couple of months attached to a Gang Unit inCicero, Illinois, near Chicago, to note how law enforcement is practised in the United States.
On 5 December 2017, an on-duty policeman PC James Dixon, who appeared in the show was killed in a motorcycle collision along with a 91-year old woman on the A4 road inWargrave, Berkshire. He was 39 years old.
The Road Wars series has also been sold to thesetelevision networks andstations:
| Country | Channel |
|---|---|
 Netherlands1 | RTL 7 |
 New Zealand | TV3 and CI |
 Australia | Seven Network and CI |
 Russia | TV Network |
 United States | Fox Reality |
 Sweden | TV4 Fakta andTV4 Sport |
 Finland | MTV3 Fakta inFinland |
 Estonia | TV6 |
 Denmark | Canal 9 |
 Latvia | TV5 Riga |
 Belgium | 2BE |
Notes: