Purple Drives Off with Channel 5 Commission
31 May 2022
Purple Production has secured an extended, second run of its hit Channel 5 factual series Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders.
Going back on the road with Cheshire Police, the new 20x60 order, will once again use UGC content alongside eyewitness footage from the police patrol cars to reveal some of Britain’s most serious driving offenders.
The series will continue to look at how Cheshire Police’s roads and crime unit is disrupting criminality on the road network and making the county a hostile environment for offenders.
With over 40 million vehicles now on Britain’s roads, it comes with a human cost. In 2019, deaths and serious injuries were a staggering 27,500. With 3 million dashcams now in our vehicles the evidence of how many of those drivers are flouting the law is easier than ever to document.
The Manchester-based Objective Media Group label’s debut series went out in September last year, attracting an average 1.5 million viewers with an 8% share, exceeding the slot average by 22% and the primetime average by 48%. Bringing viewers to Channel 5, the programme more than doubled its lead-in’s audience, whilst social clips such as the 150MPH speeder saw over 1.3 million views, making it one of the most viewed clips on Channel 5’s YouTube and over 10.3 million views on Channel 5’s Facebook page.
Commissioning Editor, Unscripted, Channel 5 & P+ Daniel Pearl said: “The Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders made a real impression with Channel 5 audiences. The new series will bring more drama and jaw dropping footage to our screens, showing the real story of Britain’s roads.”
Purple’s Pam Cavannagh and Dympna Jackson said: “‘We were incredibly proud of the series success in September, and it was clearly something that the Channel 5 audience engaged with. The team at Cheshire work tirelessly to make the roads safer, we’re thrilled to have a series which will shine a light on their hard work and show the reality of some of the UK’s worst drivers.”
The documentary was commissioned by Daniel Pearl for Channel 5. The executive producers are Pam Cavannagh and Dympna Jackson. All3Media International will distribute the series.
