Criminal Testimonies

Why are there so many cops shows with the cop always winning and the crooks always being portrayed as thick, useless morons that crack and confess to all by the end of the show.

It's so boring. Why do you think they don't commission more programs of crime from the other side of the fence? Do you think it is because:

they really think that the viewers want to see the cops win

no-one is interested in the complex issues of crime

the institution is afraid to glamourise crime

it's too controversial to deal with criminals

If that is the case then why were block busting films like the Italian Job, Buster, The Great Train Robbery, Entrapment and Catch Me if You Can such a huge success?

I'd like to see more criminal stories on the television discussing what it feels like to be on the wrong side of the law, the ups and the downs, how people end up there etc and do the police always play by the rules or are there stories of corruption out there to be discussed.

Am I alone in wanting to see this sort of thing on main stream telly or does everyone think Big Brother and the likes are the way forward?

Interesting idea, would make a change.

Although why do most dramas on TV need to be police related anyway, why not something different

Totally agree Johnny, there should be more of a variety of programs. The editing commissioners always seem to get stuck on one particular thing like:

Let's do all reality shows for the next three years till everyone is bored to death of them and go on to DIY programs for the next three.

Variety is the spice of life and there's room for everything.

Seriously I know quite a few crims and have discussed their situations in detail. Some of them are incredibly funny and I can appreciate why they got sucked into it others are down right heart breaking. There's a mass of material.

I've been a victim of crime and I asked the question 'why me', the police couldn't tell me but having spoken to offenders I found that it de-monsterised them. I found that I had a better understanding of what that world is all about.

I'd like to see something fresh and new on the telly. I can't spend all my life on line watching one minute youtube clips. lol

They're also not allowed to glamourise (although that word isn't used) crime: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv/ifi/codes/bcode/crime/ - quite rightly, in my opinion. I still prefer to see criminals get their come-uppance

David

Probably because detective novels are so popular in the UK, and our detective TV series do well abroad too ( Midsomer Murders, The Bill, Taggart et al).

Then again, a lot of crime novels are written from a criminal point of view...

I believe that if viewers were given both options they could make their own minds up.

There are publishers that produce novels and autobiographies of convicted criminals that are hugely popular.

To say that you like to see criminals get their comeupance is such a closed minded attitude, in my opinion. It's like saying cancer is horrible let's just slag it off and not bother to find a cure for it.

Just the title 'criminals' is such a generalisation, there is a vast difference between a murderer making a profit out of causing misery and a single mum who couldn't afford the tv license, did a bit of shoplifting, found an unsuitalbe boyfriend and ended up so deep in a world of crime that she couldn't see a way out.

Or a bloke who's so far in debt and didn't want his family to know about it so he blew a safe at night when the bank was closed.

The tabloids just spurt hate at many people who find themselves in difficult circumstances and make bad choices when their back is against the wall.

From what I've heard from some convicts the world of crime is a hateful and hurtful place that they didn't want to go to. Surely images of such stories would deter younger people attracted to that world and would inform society in general.

Or maybe the viewer would just find it fascinating to see a true and balanced view of the criminal justice system. I don't think that the British public are stupid and I don't think they should have this sort of thing witheld from.

You make an interesting point, but the comparison to cancer is from an incorrect viewpoint.

The numbers of police dramas where the police 'win' over the criminals is all about good triumphing over evil, the comparison with cancer would be people recovering and beating it.

Hustle is probably the highest profile 'crime' programme, that certainly glorifies the actions [i'm guessing the regulation quoted above is inherited from the ITC and so doesn't apply to the BBC]. More recently the BBC have also launched "Thieves Like Us" although it certainly doesn't succeed in making the point that crime is funny.

I haven't seen theives like us but I did see some of Hustle and I thought it was babyish and patronising.

The link provided above was very helpful but I don't understand how they got The Real Hustle past the showing people how to break the law or was that a BBC thing. Why aren't the Beeb subject to the ofcom thing?

I didn't mean to make comments about cancer in a derogatory way but I do feel that crime is like a cancer of society and media and government reaction to it is certainly like a cancer.

The police are not always good and criminals are not always evil. If I shot someone in the head seven times at point blank I'd be locked up for murder but for the police it's a question of health and safety.

People think that it's only a few bad apples that spoil the barrel. I disagree, I've seen evidence that it goes on a lot. It's human nature, you give some people tremendous power over others and it will corrupt on a frequent basis.

Apart from anything else it would make for great educational entertainment.