24 Hours in Police Custody - Season 4

The critically acclaimed documentary series returns with a new approach to serious crime as it follows the investigations of Bedfordshire Police around the clock. Police are called to investigate frantic banging coming from inside a refrigerated HGV lorry that recently passed through Dover after crossing the Channel. Inside, they discover a distressed three-year-old girl and her five-year-old sister along with their mother and 12 other migrants who have been smuggled into the UK. Bedfordshire Police now face a race against the clock to find out whether they have been illegally trafficked into the UK and deliberately imprisoned in the refrigerated container for more than 17 hours, or whether they have smuggled themselves aboard the lorry unbeknown to the driver and transport company. With the migrant crisis dominating the news agenda, this is real life drama at its most intense.

Men are being lured to meetings with a couple who pose online as underage girls. After filming their public confrontations with their victims, paedophile hunters post the evidence online. They also demand that the men who they entrap hand themselves in to the police. Once the suspects are in custody the police begin a race against the clock to find the evidence to charge the men. Does the involvement of these modern-day vigilantes help the police investigation into potential sex offenders who lurk in our midst or does it risk undermining the prosecution against them? 24 Hours in Police Custody - the critically acclaimed documentary series with unprecedented access around the clock to the work of Bedfordshire Police - has returned with a new approach to their investigations into major crimes. Cameras follow each case in forensic detail as the officers race against time to disentangle who is responsible for the crime, then try to build a case and put it to their suspect in interview.

Cameras from 24 Hours in Police Custody follow Bedfordshire Police as Tommy Robinson, the founder of the English Defence League, is held in Luton police station following a vicious assault on a Muslim man. Policing tensions between extremist groups in one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse towns in the UK is a daily challenge for Bedfordshire Police. Their job is made more complicated still when they have to deal with the backwash of Islamic fundamentalism when a Muslim woman seeks their protection from her husband, who is threatening to take her to Syria against her will. 24 Hours in Police Custody, the critically acclaimed documentary series that follows the work of Bedfordshire Police around the clock, has returned with a new approach to their investigations into major crimes. Cameras follow each case in forensic detail as the officers race against time to disentangle the evidence and build a case, which they then put to their suspects in interview.

Two lives change in a heartbeat after a single punch fells a man outside a nightclub. The blow kills the victim and the police arrest the attacker. Cameras follow every twist and turn as police from the Major Crime Unit try to disentangle what really happened. Was the punch an unjustified and aggressive assault on an innocent man or an act of self defence with tragic consequences? This is real life drama at its most intense. 24 Hours in Police Custody, the critically acclaimed documentary series that follows the work of Bedfordshire Police around the clock, has returned with a new approach to their investigations into major crimes. Cameras follow each case in forensic detail as the officers race against time to disentangle the evidence and build a case, which they then put to their suspects in interview.

Bedfordshire Police investigate a rash of knife-point robberies. But without good CCTV images, they have to rely on old-fashioned detective skills.

When does a row at home become a case of domestic violence? That's the tricky question the police face as they are called to intervene in the many domestic dramas that happen night and day behind closed doors in Bedfordshire. The force has seen a surge in the number of incidents of domestic abuse being reported to them, to over 200 a week. Domestic violence crimes have been given a high priority and the police have new powers to charge suspects, so they have their work cut out navigating very personal situations. The stakes are high; although many couples decide to make up, officers are all too aware of the tragic statistic that on average two women every week are killed at the hands of their partners. These issues around domestic abuse are often covered in television drama but for the police and the victims this is no drama; it's real life.

A man is on the run from Operation Bosun, Bedfordshire Police's specialist unit who tackle gun crime. Police believe that the wanted man is lying low for the moment but remains armed and dangerous. Gun crime is a force priority: in just six months Bedfordshire Police have dealt with dozens of reports of weapons being discharged and have seized 23 firearms. Finally officers spot their suspect and call in armed back-up. The attempted arrest is a moment of high tension and drama that plays out in an ordinary street in an ordinary town. This isn't a crime thriller; this is real life. 24 Hours in Police Custody, the critically acclaimed documentary series that follows the work of Bedfordshire Police around the clock, has a fresh approach to capturing their investigations into major crimes. Cameras follow each case in forensic detail as officers race against time to disentangle the evidence and build a case, which they then dramatically put to their suspects in interview.

During Luton's May carnival, a man enters a house and sexually assaults two young children. Bedfordshire Police are determined to find him before he can strike again.

A young woman has made a complaint of rape against a man who she met in a bar. What follows is a series of interviews with the woman and suspect, as police try to unpick the different accounts.