BBC's Sleazy Crime Porn

BBC1's CCTV: You are Being Watched (8/5/07) was advertised as a "documentary on the history of CCTV". It consisted, in fact, mostly of CCTV footage of contemporary crimes – an orgy of extreme violence, damage to property, theft, drug dealing and binge drinking – a "nation caught on camera in the grip of crime and disorder", as the hyperbolic voice-over commented at one point.

A particularly brutal CCTV clip showed a thug viciously kicking and stamping on the head of an injured man. This clip was shown no less than six times by the "documentary" (and, as if to intensify the experience, an uptempo music soundtrack was added to much of the violence throughout the programme).

Documentary? History?

So where was the promised "documentary on the history of CCTV"? We timed the various segments: in total, the hour-long programme contained approximately 7 minutes on the history of CCTV and a further 5 minutes on contemporary CCTV issues (that's being generous – some of this was merely voice-over to alarming CCTV footage). Approximately 50 minutes were given to CCTV footage of crimes being committed, together with shocked reactions from victims, police and CCTV control staff, etc.

The opening segment (over six minutes duration) shows a masked, hooded criminal gang "armed with spades and crowbars" breaking into a house, while the owner (in Spain at the time) helplessly watches the remote CCTV footage on his laptop. He worries – and the viewer is left worrying – about whether his daughter is asleep in the house as it's being attacked (she isn't, as it turns out). This dramatic segment features an ominous horror-style soundtrack to increase the terror. Towards its conclusion (the arrival of the police – the "money shot", in pornography terms), the narrator comments: "Is this the future for us all?"

No place in crime porn for issues

For a "documentary on the history of CCTV", little time is spent on reactions of the public (eg protests) and civil liberties issues. Less than one minute, in fact. The narrator comments: "So far, the majority of Britons seem comfortable with being caught on camera hundreds of times a day". Then there's a quick clip of Professor Martin Gill (University of Leicester), who says: "In truth, CCTV is not a big threat to civil liberties – not on its own. Although of course that is a serious issue to watch when it's not managed properly". That's all we get on these important issues. The emotionally-overwhelming message of the "documentary" is that in a time of ever-escalating crime and threat, our only route to salvation ("relief", porn-wise) is to give the authorities unlimited powers to monitor us all.

The BBC isn't the only channel to produce sleazy crime porn, of course. But only the BBC would present – as a respectable "history documentary" – a combination of pro-surveillance establishment propaganda and gratuitous fearmongering.