Channel 4 goes shopping for cops

THE Blue Light Zone, every Saturday evening for the next seven weeks on Channel 4, is described by the commissioning editor, Stuart Cosgrove, as "the copper's answer to Channel 4's, Red Light Zone - a unique and challenging blend of documentary, drama and true crime". It might be asked whether we really need yet more policemen on our screens is impossible to avoid them most nights as it is. But the Blue Light Zone claims loftier ambitions. In addition to classic episodes from Hill Street Blues, Homicide - Life On The Streets and NYPD Blue, the slot promises new documentaries and dramas from Hong Kong to Budapest. According to Cosgrove: "There is widespread fascination with true crime. It is reflected in the growth of detective fiction, cop shows on television and the high profile that the press gives to murder investigations. It is a culture in its own right."

Over the years, police forces have realised the importance of television to their public image. The British Prime Minister, John Major, has announced a campaign to increase publicity for successful police operations", while the recent UTV series Inside The RUC was a blatant PR move in the wake of the ceasefire. The most significant televised image of cops in the 1990s, however, was the sight of Rodney King getting leathered by the LAPD.

But American police forces have fought back, granting access to cheap verite shows such as Fox's Cops. "Real crime" shows, often masquerading as public interest programmes, are proliferating across all channels. With security cameras providing endless footage for the committed voyeur, cop dramas have grown more stylised. Watching NYPD Blue, you might be forgiven for thinking that police stations haven't yet discovered the joys of strip lighting as Simone and Sipowicz stumble around their shadowy office.

Two documentaries tonight set the tone for much of the Blue Light Zone. Subway Cops And The Mole Kings follows a unit of Metro Cop North police as they patrol the nether regions of the New York subway system, trawling for the MICA (mentally ill, chemically addicted) "mole people" who make their homes in the warren of tunnels beneath Manhattan. Soweto Flying Squad is set against the backdrop of one of the most dangerous beats in the world, where gun law rules and murders are a daily occurrence. The programme focuses on a group of rookie policemen to see what attracts them to such a dangerous job.

These reports from the front line are a favourite strategy in modern television the clear implication is that this is the future for all of us. It's a sign of the times that Channel 4's selection, which a few years ago might have been expected to include a few trendy, lefty, anti authoritarian programmes guaranteed to infuriate Tory backbenchers, concentrates instead on the twin obsessions of the mid 1990s - male bonding rituals and millennial anxieties. It's a post Tarantino New Labour-ish sort of agenda that concentrates on the tribal nature of police forces. But whereas 20 years ago this tribalism was seen as intertwined with police corruption and racism, in movies such as Serpico and Prince of the City, now it's something to be admired in a dangerous, uncertain world. With the notable exception of Errol Morris's superb The Thin Blue Line, there aren't many programmes about miscarriages of justice scheduled.

TONIGHT offers a rare opportunity to see an episode of The Sweeney, the only British show that ever managed to approach the brutish glamour of its American rivals. Watching Regan (John Thaw) and Carter (Denis Waterman) at work, you realise where our Special Branch gets its self image - same dress sense, same haircuts, same air of perpetual disgruntlement - these guys were probably in their teens when the programme was topping the ratings and they've been trying to perfect the look ever since. In contrast, it's hard to imagine real forensic psychologists modelling themselves on Robbie Coltrane.

The director, Stephen Frears, says it's impossible to make a decent cop thriller in Britain because the uniforms look so silly. Attempts to glamorise the British bobby, as in the recent dismal UTV offering Thief Takers, prove his point - even dressed up in body armour and cute little baseball caps the protagonists lack the innate style of their American counterparts. Certainly British TV is better sticking to the humdrum day to day activities at Sunhill station in The Bill, or relying on charismatic loners such as Fitz, Morse and Jane Tennison.

And what hope do we ever have of seeing the Garda Siochana immortalised on screen? It's obvious from the Thou Shalt Not Kill series and the lovingly re enacted crime sequences on Crimeline that producers and directors in RTE are straining at the leash to do a proper cop show, but the only recent portrayal of an Irish detective on RTE was sponsored by a butter company and shown in the middle of the Late Late Show. On the other hand, having seen Ballingale Murder Mystery perhaps we should count our blessings.