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Okay, just to clear things up my TV references were as follows.

National Emergency Volunteers.
Chief Warden John Reagan (DI Jack Reagan from The Sweeney)
Senior Warden George Carter (DS Carter, see above)

London Fire Brigade.
Station Manager Mick Callaghan (station officer in the final series of London's Burning)
Watch Manager Geoffrey Pearce (long running Sub-Officer from the same series)
Station Manager John Coleman (senior officer from circa 2000-2001)

Metropolitan Police (all from The Bill).
Sergeant Callum Stone
PC Emma Keane (now deceased)
PC Sally Armstrong (the big nosed one )
PC Benjamin Gayle
PC Nathanial 'Nate' Roberts
PC Beth Green (the one who looks about 12)
Sergeant Nikki Wright
PC Tony Stamp
PC Roger Valentine
PC Diane Noble

I think I've been watching The Bill for a bit too long having had a look at that list.

Robbie,
I see I'll have to call you Mr Superficial from now on, then. You could always put a paper bag over her head.
I used to be a big fan of The Bill, yet a few years back when it got too concerned with who was secretly gay, who was sleeping with who etc rather than catching criminals I gave up on it for quite a while. I started watching it again last year and I think that it is a lot better than it has been for the last five years.
Brownlow was a bit too image obsessed, but he was fundamentally a decent bloke, unlike his successor, who was a rapist and a murderer. A bit unusual for a Superintendent I'd say.

I do quite like Neil Manson at the mo thought; somehow he reminds me of Sam Tyler from Life on Mars.

You know, now I think about it you're right. At least the rest of Sun Hill don't act like they're from 1973!

IIRC in the first few chaps. of TLW there is a scene when two police officers in Scotland shut a road and they are armed with 'Glocks'.

You are quite right. They were two AFOs who happened to be serving with the Roads Policing Unit. During the TTW as many AFOs are to be armed as possible (stocks of weapons may not support arming of all AFOs), and Chief Constables/Commissioners have a duty to qualify more AFOs.

There is an interesting quote in the first article: one police force has only had to use a weapon once in its entire history.

Thames Valley, DCI Morse and DI Lewis' force, btw. Off the top of my head I don't know if Fife Constabulary has ever shot anyone, though I do know that Lothian and Borders was involved in a 'suicide by cop' incident a few years back.

JBG,
I think that Regan's car was probably an old Ford Consul GT, or a Granada.
I like the idea of an RAF Bone, I have seen a photoshopped pic of an RAF Lancer B.1, I'll need to see if I can find it.

Also in this day and age British police services must be armed. And not with revolvers either.

The vast majority of British officers do not carry firearms (and don't wish to either). However the most popular weapons for Armed Response Vehicles and Tactical Firearms Units (like the Met's CO19) are the Glock 17 pistol, the MP5 (in both carbine and fully automatic versions), the G36 rifle and various semi-automatic and bolt action sniper rifles. Some forces, for example Greater Manchester, use other weapons, such as the carbine version of the Steyr AUG.
You'd be surprised what they had access to in the past.
However the only British forces to routinely carry firearms were the old RUC, and the new PSNI (though it seems to be transitioning to a largely unarmed force), the MoD Police and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary.

Flyingdutchman,

Aren't all British cops proficient with at least one kind of firearm? I thought the days of the unarmed bobby were over.

Nope, only a small percentage of cops, highly trained Authorised Firearms Officers, are trained in the use of firearms, though many are trained in how to make a weapon safe. Polls taken by the Police Federation over the years have found that upwards of 80% of British officers are against routine arming, and a substantial percentage would resign rather than carry a weapon.
I wouldn't classify someone who carries an ASP, or telescopic baton, CS spray, and possibly also a Taser, as 'unarmed'.

The scene where the (armed) parachutist surrenders to an unarmed policeman reminds me of a movie, was it "Battle of Britain"?

Being WW2 he may have been carrying a .32 Webley pistol under his uniform jacket. Interestingly until the early '30s a PC on night duty could ask his sergeant to issue him with a revolver (known as a 'comforter').
Post-war the police employed a variety of weapons, including military surplus weapons like Lee-Enfield rifles and Sten guns, and a variety of pistols they bought themselves. The difference between then and now was the level of training, the police tended to rely on the fact that the majority of its officers were ex-servicemen, or had recently been National Servicemen. Police chiefs did also not want weapons to be carried openly, unlike today.

Hooliganism strangely enough only really started here some 10ish years ago, after the hooligans in the UK were put back under control. Really impressive how during games in the UK the spectators are only a meter away from the field without fences of 3 m high.

The Dutch have quite a reputation for hooliganism over here, especially amongst a few teams.

Tom,
Thanks again, glad you enjoyed it. My experience of the TV news is that they will say something without thinking about it.
A good example from Op TELIC was the tragic collision between two AEW Sea King helicopters. The news first showed a Lynx, then the commando version of the Sea King, thus causing a great deal of distress amongst the families of those helicopters squadrons while causing unfounded relief amongst the families of the squadron who had suffered real losses.
A basic bit of homework would have saved a great deal of grief and distress.

...enjoy.



Interestingly it would be possible to restart production of the B-1B as the USAF still holds the majority of the tooling at AMARC (or whatever it is called these days).

Yes, a few Bones would be nice. I'm sure I've read that the electronics in the P-8A Poseidon are basically the same as those developed for the MRA.4.
I'm always open to ideas, so fire away.