Establishment TV

"Good" Authorities vs "Bad" Individuals

BBC1 has broadcast a procession of "fly-on-the wall" documentary series, filmed from the viewpoint of the authorities, who are shown to be in pursuit of individual wrongdoers (often from "lower" classes). Institutions, government agencies, corporations, etc, don't often get portrayed as wrongdoers.

On the rare occasion that the BBC focuses on crimes committed by government, corporations or rich city folk, it tends to be a one-off programme (rather than a series), and is shown on BBC2 (which has a far smaller audience than BBC1).

A recent example was No tax please, we're rich (2/3/06), a single 30-minute documentary shown on BBC2 (roughly concurrent with a six-part BBC1 series about welfare fraud, On the Fiddle.

Of course, if the situation were reversed – if BBC1 broadcast a prime-time series about tax avoidance by rich corporations (whilst ignoring small-scale crime committed by the poor) – we'd remove this page, then we'd eat our computer.

Here's a partial list of prime-time TV series which present the authorities as "good guys" – going after individual citizens ("bad guys"):

Sky Cops (helicopter patrols)
Traffic cops
Bailiffs
Car Wars (Tactical Vehicle Crime Unit)
On the Fiddle (welfare fraud)
Clampers (car wheel clampers)
Customs & Excise Cops
The Tube (London's underground police)
Animal Cops
Airport (airport police)
Forensic Cops
A Life of Grime
Crimewatch UK
Traffic Wardens
Rogue Traders
Drunk and Dangerous (police tackling drunks)
Transport Cops
Seaside Rescue
Cops, Robbers and Videotape
Shops, Robbers and Videotape (variation on a theme)
Girl Cops
War at the Door (housing officers & RSPCA)
Dumping on Britain (Environment Agency)
Rail Cops
Cops with Dogs
Cars, Cops and Bailiffs
Motorway Cops
The Planners are Coming (Planning Police)