Watching the true detectives

The media has a key role to play in the construction of our knowledge of crime and policing. In the post-war decades, they argue the representation of policing in the UK reflected the general social consensus. The dominant image here is Jack Warner playing George Dixon in the popular UK TV series Dixon of Dock Green that ran from 1955 to 1976. George Dixon came to represent the archetypal ‘British Bobby’, a pillar of the community who was widely respected. The homely and reassuring values that Dixon represented were summarized in his catchphrase “Evenin’ all”.

The TV cop drama has been a mainstay of the schedules virtually since the birth of the medium.  It is probably impossible to list all the variations of the maverick cop that have made appearances on our screens. Representations of the police officer on a continuum ranging from “married to the job” to “broken by the job” has a history dating back to the emergence of the private investigator in the Hollywood Film Noir era of the 1940s. The detective as an essentialist loner battling authority and bureaucracy within the Police service whilst righting wrongs has become a cliché of the genre. Modern cop drama focuses on the personal problems of the individual officers. The Holmesian genius has been replaced by characters such as the alcoholic Jim McNulty anti-hero of David Simon’s The Wire. McNulty is a womanising drunk but still respected as a great cop.

Inspector Morse with his Oxford degree, love of classic music, classic Jag, and tormented relationship with women is a modern archetype. Inspector Morse is also an excellent example of the cannibalistic nature of TV, as the death of John Thaw led to the creation of two spin off series: Lewis, about his partner and Endeavour, a look at Morse’s early career in the force.

The BBC series The Detectives features none of the stock characters of the modern TV cop drama; there are none of the hi-tech gadgets of CSI or the insight profilers of series like Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. Some elements of the genre’s signature cinematography do appear – gloomy early morning wide shots of urban landscapes, a low key score – but this is a documentary series, a world away from the maverick cop solving crimes by a flash of inspiration. The Detectives follows the work of the Serious Sexual Offices Unit of Greater Manchester Police (GMP), set up specifically to deal with the investigation of crimes of sexual violence. There has been recognition that sexual crimes require specially trained officers. As DC John Chadwick comments in the first episode: “general-purpose detectives can do murder all day long. They’re not best equipped to deal with rape.”

Following the exposure of the crimes of Jimmy Savile, there has been an increase in the reports of sexual offences. This has occurred across the country, but GMP has seen a huge spike. The BBC’s three-part series follows the Unit staff as they deal with its biggest case, strongly linked to the Savile investigation. Ray Teret was a DJ based in Manchester, who was eventually sentenced to 25 years for a string of rapes and indecent assaults on underage girls. Interwoven with the meticulous  investigation of the Teret case, the series shows the officers dealing with a range of other cases, including an attack on a woman on her way home and the statutory rape of a 12 year old by an 18 year old who contacted her via social media.

Teret generated mountains of evidence, but these cases are often very difficult to investigate: offences were committed against girls in their early teens, who came forward as much as forty years later. The access provided to the film makers was incredible – it included 999 calls, interviews with witnesses, filming of police interviews, and face-to-face conversations with the detectives themselves. Showing the painstaking detail in which these cases are investigated, The Detectives portrays in graphic and harrowing detail the nature of sexual violence and its impact on victims.

The Criminal Justice System (CJS) has rightly been criticised for its responses to rape and sexual violence. Following the Teret case, the impact and strain of given evidence and confronting a perpetrator was clear to see. The most striking feature of the officers themselves was their clear dedication. There were no mavericks in this Unit. A genuine maverick would not have the skills or eye for detail required to gather the information required to secure convictions in such cases. The Detectives is a welcome antidote to the stylised cop drama. It is also required viewing for those who wish to understand the CJS response to sexual violence.

Documentary series The Detectives is available to watch on BBC iPlayer until 30 June 2015.
Featured image: Promotional image from The Detectives (2015). (c) BBC, Minnow Films, via BBC.