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24 Hours in Police Custody
2014 - 2022 7.4 (12 votes) 10 Seasons
Official Website
Genres
Documentary Crime Reality
Networks
Channel 4

24 Hours in Police Custody

Overview

The landmark documentary series that captures real life drama at its most intense, following police detectives around the clock as they investigate major crimes.

Top Cast

Royce Pierreson
Royce Pierreson

Self - Narrator (voice)

Seasons

Season 0 poster
Season 0 (2020)

No overview available.

30 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: Murder in the Woods (1)
2020-01-06

The first of two episodes that take viewers behind the scenes of a police investigation into the pre-mediated and brutal murder of a young man in the middle of woodland.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 2: Murder in the Woods (2)
2020-01-07

The second half of the double episode. The DCI believes that he knows who was behind the murder. Cameras follow the case as detectives decide to arrest the victim's friends.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 3: The Home County Cartel (1)
2020-11-08

In a two part special, a covert police unit track a smuggling operation bringing huge quantities of drugs into the UK. Can they catch the ringleader?

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 4: The Home County Cartel (2)
2020-11-09

The covert police operation tracking a major drug smuggling operation closes in on the ringleaders in a nerve-shredding conclusion.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 5: Black Widow (1)
2021-01-04

In Cambridgeshire, police hear a recording of a woman plotting to have her ex-husband killed - the start of a gripping investigation as officers race against time.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 6: Black Widow (2)
2021-01-05

Police investigate a woman secretly recorded plotting to have a man she met on a dating site kill her ex-husband. Can officers gather enough evidence to prove it?

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 7: Bedfordshire's Most Wanted
2021-03-22

A 23-year-old man with a history of violence is questioned over a string of offences that have left victims badly hurt, but refuses to give any answers. Without fresh evidence, the police has no choice but to release the suspect. Within days of leaving police custody, he reoffends and officially ends up on the Most Wanted list.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 8: The Search for Justice
2021-03-29

In Luton, a man is shot in the chest by a complete stranger. The same suspect threatens a woman. With a gunman on the loose, a frantic manhunt is launched to catch the shooter before he strikes again.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 9: The No Body Murder
2021-04-05

Cambridgeshire Police have a big problem: a murder hunt without a body. A complex search for clues takes them into the woods and across Europe, and features a mysterious post on Facebook.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 10: Til Death Do Us Part
2021-04-12

In Luton, a man who has been attacked at home dies of severe brain trauma. The investigating officer met the victim a week before and is haunted by the idea that maybe she could have saved his life.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 11: Cold to the Touch (1)
2022-01-03

Behind the scenes of a police investigation into the tragic, shocking death of an 11-week-old baby. A crime that leaves experienced officers shocked and dismayed by what they find, but determined to pursue justice for the baby boy.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 12: Cold to the Touch (2)
2022-01-04

Behind the scenes of a police investigation into the shocking death of an 11-week-old baby. The real-life drama of the police's search for justice for a baby, which digs deep to ask how and why Baby Teddy met his fate.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 13: The Murder of Rikki Neave (1)
2022-07-04

A true crime cold case special revisits the brutal, unsolved murder of six-year-old Rikki Neave 27 years ago. Only now can the full truth be revealed of how a killer remained unpunished and on the loose for nearly three decades.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 14: The Murder of Rikki Neave (2)
2022-07-05

A dedicated police team start a fresh investigation into Rikki Neave's murder, sparking a 'cat and mouse' game between the detectives determined to find justice and the suspect determined to evade it.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 15: The Honeytrap Murder (1)
2023-03-20

The story behind the murder of a man in Luton who is found dead and naked in the hallway of a block of flats. He may have unwittingly stepped into a honey trap, enticed by women with the promise of sex, when their real intention was to rob him.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 16: The Honeytrap Murder (2)
2023-03-21

Two women are charged with murder after a man is found robbed, naked and stabbed to death. But the CCTV reveals that the two women were also accompanied by two men on the night of the murder. The police must now track down and find these men.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 17: The Siege
2023-12-03

Feature length special telling the gripping story of an armed siege in a tower block. With unprecedented access to the police command suite, we follow every twist and turn of the incident as it becomes more critical.

Runtime: 70 min
Episode 18: Night Prowler
2023-12-10

A man secretly films a couple having sex in an alleyway. Voyeurism can be a gateway crime, so the police are concerned when a club report a suspected attack on a woman.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 19: The Predator
2023-12-17

A hook-up via a gay dating app leads to an accusation of rape. Featuring access to Bedfordshire Police's Rape & Serious Sexual Offences team, they try to work out whether there is enough evidence to charge a suspect who claims the sex was consensual.

Runtime: 70 min
Episode 20: Murder on Camera (1)
2024-01-08

A man is found stabbed to death outside a pub and another is fighting for his life with multiple stab wounds. Then another victim is found bleeding to death nearby in a garden. Police are baffled. But in this tight-knit community, nobody's talking.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 21: Murder on Camera (2)
2024-01-09

Two men have been brutally murdered. The police have made arrests but the lead suspect is on the run. As the manhunt builds, a vital letter might hold the key.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 22: The Devil's Chain
2024-06-05

The gripping inside story of a brutal machete and gun attack on a Luton doorstep, a gold chain, and a struggle against the odds to identify the attackers.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 23: Murder on Prescription (1)
2024-09-09

A 47-year-old disabled woman is found dead with her throat cut. There are suspects but no hard evidence. But then the case takes a major twist.

Runtime: 46 min
Episode 24: Murder on Prescription (2)
2024-09-10

The original murder suspect is found dead and a large quantity of heroin is unearthed as detectives close in and prepare to question their final suspect.

Runtime: 46 min
Episode 25: The Murder Messages
2024-11-25

A couple's lives are upended by online attacks and death threats in a gripping true crime story. Can the police solve a complex plot where nothing is as it seems?

Runtime: 47 min
Episode 26: Living the High Life
2024-12-02

In the small towns and villages of Bedfordshire, police investigate a surge in drug use where a major fraud is linked to a local gang exploiting vulnerable youths.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 27: Murder of Jane Doe
2024-12-09

A woman calls the police at 4am. She's in deep trouble and many miles from home. Soon she's in a coma. Can detectives solve the mystery of how she got this way?

Runtime: 47 min
Episode 28: Breakout
2025-01-06

As dozens of detainees escape from Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre, cameras go deep inside the high-octane manhunt. But was the breakout random or planned by outsiders?

Runtime: N/A min
Episode 29: The Norfolk Narco Cartel
2025-01-13

The inside track on a major covert operation against a Mexican drugs cartel who the police think are importing large quantities of methyl-amphetamine into Norfolk.

Runtime: N/A min
Episode 30: The Unusual Suspects
2025-01-20

With cannabis deliveries coming through letter boxes across the country, sent to unexpected suspects, Luton CID have a battle on bringing the chief culprit to justice.

Runtime: N/A min
Season 1 poster
Season 1 (2014)

No overview available.

7 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: The Conspiracy to Murder
2014-09-29

This extraordinary episode opens with the dawn arrest of a man on suspicion of conspiracy to murder. The film documents the work of the lead detectives as they investigate and interview the suspect about his involvement in a plot to shoot a man. While driving to work, the victim was hit from behind by another vehicle. When he stepped out to inspect the damage he was shot in his leg by a close range sawn-off shotgun, sustaining life-threatening injuries. The police believe the case arises from a potential love triangle that has spiralled out of control. Detectives have 24 hours to gather enough evidence to charge or release him.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 2: Love Hurts
2014-10-06

Police Constable Cheryldeen Liversidge and Police Constable Kat Alison investigate two strongly contrasting stories about harassment and domestic abuse. Domestic abuse takes up to 40% of police time nationally and is now a priority for Bedfordshire Police, having had a poor record in the past. A scorned wife has dumped an ex-partner's clothes in a charity shop, while another woman complains of a series of highly threatening messages from a man with a violent past. On the surface, two very different cases, but both officers turn the cases they are investigating into something of a crusade and are determined to get to the bottom of what really went on in the private relations between their suspects and the victims.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 3: The Confession Of A Paedophile
2014-10-13

News spreads across the county about a suspected paedophile trying to abduct young children on their way home from school. Local press coverage has led to hundreds of calls from panicked parents to the police. With the culprit at large, cameras follow the Major Crime Unit as they lead the operation to arrest a third suspect following a nine-year-old girl's statement and an e-fit description. After two previous suspects have been released without charge, have they now got the right man? In the public protection unit, DC Annie Fowler and DC Selena Humphreys believe they have finally gathered enough evidence, including thousands of images and hundreds of videos of extreme child abuse, to ensure the suspect is remanded in prison pending a trial. Following his second arrest, he makes a frank and shocking confession. The detectives take this new information to the Crown Prosecution Service in the hope of preventing him from committing any more offences.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 4: The Drug Drop
2014-10-20

This episode opens with a young man accidentally dropping a large quantity of cocaine from his jacket pocket outside a petrol station - all caught on CCTV. On the case are hard-bitten Detective Constable Colin Knight and fresh-faced Police Constable Oly Tomlinson, who joined the team three months earlier. They get off to a promising start, tracking down the owner of the vehicle the passenger was travelling in. DC Knight brings in his chief suspect for questioning and discovers that, just like the man in the CCTV footage, he has a striking tattoo on the right side of his neck, but could it be a case of mistaken identity? Also brought in to the custody suite is Darren, a man arrested on suspicion of theft of meat from Marks & Spencer. As he is booked into custody it soon becomes apparent he is a heroin addict. Sympathetic Custody Sergeant Pete Fitz-Gibbon tries his best to persuade him to stay strong and get clean. Both cases provide a stark picture about the dark world of young people caught up in a cycle of drug addiction and crime in Luton and the challenges facing the police as they tackle it.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 5: The Morning After
2014-10-27

It's Saturday night in Luton, and Bedfordshire Police are dealing with drunken domestic disputes and a booze-fuelled fight. Police Constables Leanne Turner and Andy Parsons are sent out to investigate an alleged assault against a vulnerable and fragile 75-year-old man in a domestic dispute. The suspect is the man's private carer and has been living with him for the past seven years. When he made the 999 call, the elderly man alleged that he had been slapped in the head with an open palm. But when they arrive, PCs Leanne and Andy are confronted with a distressed victim who insists he does not want them to pursue the matter and who begs them to leave. At the police station, a Polish man arrested for a drunken row with his partner is admitted into custody. He's initially brought in for a 'breach of the peace' - to remove him from the situation and allow him to sober up and cool off - but things take an unexpectedly sinister turn when he whispers to the custody sergeant that he will kill his wife the following day.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 6: Honour Thy Father
2014-11-10

A devout Muslim has been arrested on suspicion of assaulting his daughter with an iron, after she married a man he does not approve of. Bedfordshire Police have set up a dedicated `honour-based violence' unit at Luton, but the investigation falls to DC Rachel Chandler in CID. Will she succeed in finding the evidence before time runs out?

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 7: The Crime Of The Century
2014-11-17

Drunken abuse, the theft of 98p's worth of fizzy drinks and the joyriding of a 45-seater bus are all in a day's work for acting sergeant Wil Taylor. Some can seem like a waste of police time, while others quickly become serious - such as the case of three sex workers who have been arrested during a raid on a local brothel. Are the women victims, possibly trafficked to the UK from Eastern Europe, or are they running the business and exploiting others? Last in the series

Runtime: 45 min
Season 3 poster
Season 3 (2015)

No overview available.

5 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: Bad Blood
2015-07-27

The return of the documentary in which more than 60 cameras are used to follow the work of Bedfordshire Police, from the cells at stations to the operational heart of major investigations. A small town near Luton has been plagued with an outbreak of teen criminality, and DS Emma James and DC Cathie Layton pull a 22-hour shift to find the evidence against a young man accused of robbery and assault. He denies everything and paints himself as the victim. Will they uncover enough to charge, or will he be released?

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 2: Guilty Little Secrets
2015-08-03

Bedfordshire Police must decide whether to charge two men arrested as part of a nationwide operation against people possessing and, in some cases, distributing indecent images of children online.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 3: Partners In Crime
2015-08-10

DS Simon Hancock and DC Cathie Layton have 24 hours to interview two men who they suspect are behind a string of knife-point robberies. And neither man knows what the other's saying...

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 4: Mother's Day
2015-08-17

The police release a young man who's been accused of a vicious assault when he gives his mother as an alibi. But when she fails to support his story they have to try to find him again...

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 5: A Sixth Sense
2015-08-24

DC Cathie Layton investigates the case of a man who is alleged to have assaulted a taxi driver and stolen his keys. But her instinct tells her that all is not what it seems...

Runtime: 45 min
Season 4 poster
Season 4 (2016)

No overview available.

9 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: Human Cargo
2016-04-20

Banging from within a refrigerated lorry alerts Bedfordshire Police to a group of 15 illegal immigrants within. What starts out as a routine case takes a dramatic turn when the men start falling seriously ill.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 2: To Catch A Paedophile
2016-04-27

The police have a complex case to deal with when a man comes to them admitting that he tried to set up a meeting for sex with a 12-year-old girl that turned out to be a sting operation carried out by online vigilantes.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 3: Love Thy Neighbour
2016-05-05

Bedfordshire Police have a high profile case to handle when, English Defence League founder, Tommy Robinson assaults a Muslim man in Luton. They also try to help a Muslim woman seeking protection.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 4: One Punch
2016-05-12

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 the police try to disentangle what really happened.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 5: The Black Balaclava
2016-05-19

Bedfordshire Police investigate a series of armed robberies that all involve two men wearing crude balaclava's fashioned from items of clothing threatening their victims at knife-point.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 6: Home Truths
2016-05-26

The number of domestic abuse incidents reported to Bedfordshire Police has soared to over 200 a week in recent years. Two such incidents show the difficulties officers have investigating these cases.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 7: The Lethal Weapon
2016-06-02

Officers search for an armed and dangerous man who is on the run from Bedfordshire Police's "Operation Bosun" - a specialist unit that tackles gun crime.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 8: In Plain Sight
2016-06-08

During Luton's annual carnival a man seizes the opportunity to enter a house and sexually assault two young children. Bedfordshire Police scan thousands of hours of CCTV footage in the hunt for him.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 9: A Complaint Of Rape
2016-06-15

When a young woman reports that she has been raped by a man she met in a bar, Bedfordshire Police bring the man in for questioning and try to unpick the two very different accounts of events.

Runtime: 45 min
Season 6 poster
Season 6 (2018)

No overview available.

6 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: Sex & Corruption
2018-02-19

Cameras follow all the twists and turns of the major investigation into an allegation of police corruption, as detectives track down, arrest and then charge a fellow officer.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 2: Car Attack
2018-02-26

Bedfordshire Police are called to Dunstable Town Centre, where a man has driven a car into a group of revellers outside a kebab shop before fleeing on foot. With a suspect on the loose, cameras follow every twist and turn of the investigation.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 3: Left For Dead
2018-03-05

A man lies dead in a Peterborough park. The position of his body raises intense suspicions but rigor mortis has set in and the trail of evidence is going cold. Detectives are called in to investigate.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 4: Shallow Grave
2018-03-12

Police search in a Luton garden for the body of a woman who disappeared in 2003, as they turn up the heat on suspects in a case that's puzzled them for years.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 5: Frequent Flyers
2018-03-19

The police search for a couple who they believe have exploited a young, vulnerable woman by taking over her flat to use it as a drugs base.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 6: Too Close For Comfort
2018-03-26

A woman has reported to Bedfordshire police that she is living in fear because she believes a man who she once regarded as a friend has begun to stalk her, and officers are sent to arrest him. Cameras follow the complainant and the prime suspect as they argue over whether he has crossed a line and what was once friendship has now turned into an unhealthy obsession.

Runtime: 45 min
Season 7 poster
Season 7 (2018)

No overview available.

8 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: Body In The Grass
2018-05-21

A woman's body is found in overgrown grassland. When detectives inform her partner of her death, his behaviour marks him out as a chief suspect.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 2: The Kane Line
2018-05-27

The real-life crime series has unprecedented access to a covert surveillance operation, which culminates in 10 simultaneous armed dawn raids against organised crime gangs.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 3: A Knife through The Heart
2018-06-04

A man lies dying in the street from a stab wound to his heart. A friend at the scene is desperate to find out if he will survive but it is now a crime scene and he is not allowed to see the victim.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 4: A Second Chance
2018-06-11

A woman calls the police to a block of flats in Luton and as they carefully advance down the corridor, a bloody handprint is clearly visible on the wall. The flat appears to be empty, but police suspect a man who has previously been in trouble with them has fled the scene. Cameras follow Bedfordshire Police's enquiry into a disturbing case that ends with a twist.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 5: Fifty Shades Of Abuse
2018-06-18

A teenager disappears from hospital after being brought in with serious injuries that suggest she's been tied up and assaulted. Bedfordshire Police investigate.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 6: What Lies Beneath
2018-06-25

A man phones police to claim that there are body parts buried in the garden of a house on an estate in Luton and a search team is dispatched, but faces a wall of silence at the scene. Detectives suspect that it is a fantasy but, more worryingly, they may be being deliberately drawn into a long-running and brutal tit-for-tat gang war. Cameras follow every twist and turn of the case as it escalates further when the mother of the original complainant is stabbed in the chest.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 7: Lost In Translation
2018-07-02

Bedfordshire Police confront issues thrown up by the mass movement of people across Europe. A man travelling with a young woman on a one-way ticket from Bulgaria is stopped at Luton Airport. Officers from the National Crime Agency believe that he - and another man who has come to the arrivals gate to meet them - may be bringing the woman into the country unlawfully. The story takes a surprising twist when one of the men they have arrested claims he is her father. Cameras follow every twist and turn of the case, as detectives try to discover the truth when so much is obscured by different languages and culture.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 8: Living Amongst Us
2018-07-09

Bedfordshire Police have to confront the issues thrown up by a surge in the number of crimes related to the sexual exploitation and grooming of children by paedophiles. A man is lured to what he believes is a meeting with a 13-year-old girl, but is caught in a sting operation by so-called 'paedophile hunters'. A few days later, the case takes a surprising twist when police are called to a roadside where a pensioner is found badly beaten and suffering a bleed on the brain.

Runtime: 45 min
Season 8 poster
Season 8 (2019)

No overview available.

6 episodes

Season 9 poster
Season 9 (2021)

No overview available.

6 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: Wanted
2021-09-27

Police officers search for a man in Luton who disguises himself as a delivery driver to force his way into people's homes and commit brutal assaults. However, when the police investigation fails to make headway, the family of one of the victims launch a campaign for information on social media - which increases the likelihood of the criminal seeing he is at risk of discovery and going to ground.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 2: Chicken Shop Wars
2021-10-04

A violent daytime brawl with knives erupts on the streets of Luton as chicken hop war heats up. The case then takes a disturbing twist when a police raid lands a huge cache of drugs.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 3: The Horror House (Part One)
2021-10-11

A lone detective is on the trail of a Luton man who sexually abused scores of young people, in what becomes a very complex and disturbing pursuit.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 4: The Horror House (Part Two)
2021-10-18

In the gripping conclusion to this two-part special, the victims of historic child sex abuse come forward to try and finally get justice, and prevent the suspect from walking free for the ninth time.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 5: Murder on the Doorstep
2021-10-25

On a quiet Sunday lunchtime in a Cambridgeshire suburb, a man lies bleeding to death on the doorstep. A major manhunt is triggered, where the strength of family blood ties is brutally exposed.

Runtime: 45 min
Episode 6: Holding the Baby
2021-11-01

Features police investigations into one of the most disturbing and hard-to-prove crimes, baby-shaking cases, and examines parents' often-divided loyalties. Detectives probe the stories of the parents, as they piece together what really happened

Runtime: 45 min

Videos

TRAILER | 24 Hours In Police Custody | New Series | Available On All 4

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