'Coppers', comprising interviews with, and behind the scenes footage of, a number of ordinary police officers is a fascinating and entertaining documentary series, albeit one that will confirm, rather than challenge, your prejudices. We see how different sorts of police all resemble (in some way) the people they're policing - the traffic cops are petrol-heads, the riot squad like a ruck, and so on. But one also sees the astonishing number of idiots the police have to deal with - drunken, drug-addicted or just plain stupid, the quantity of people arrested for swearing repeatedly at the police having been told explicitly that if they do so again, arrest is exactly what will happen, is mind boggling. In the main, the series reassures - mostly, the police don't come across as monsters, although the final episode (about the policing of fascist/ant-fascist protests) leaves one thinking that something is wrong on all sides, the law included. Overall, a must-watch programme, and (mostly) a reminder of what a difficult job being a copper must be.
