Fake tension belongs in Bake Off, not the real-life tragedy of a crash

Car Crash: Who’s Lying? 999: What’s Your Emergency?

As police and other emergency services increasingly open themselves up to scrutiny on screen, film- makers must take extra precautions not to treat tragedy as callous entertainment.

Car Crash: Who’s Lying? (BBc1), with long segments told through video from police bodycams, shot in the aftermath of a fatal road crash, drifted over that boundary. it treated the death of a 19year- old boy as fair game for a real-life whodunnit.

The footage taken from the crash scene itself was not exploitative. A speeding hatchback had careered off a country road outside portsmouth in Hampshire late at night. Two youths were trapped in the back. A third got out, practically unscathed.

opening with a reconstruction of the moments before the accident, the story switched to real-life police dashcam video. As the first patrol car arrived, a young man was sitting dazed and cross-legged on the wreckage.

His name was Dannylee: he thought he had been driving, but could not be sure how many people were in the vehicle — three or four.

By the time rescue services were able to free the backseat passengers, 19-year-old luke Fletcher was dead and his mate sonny was in a coma. A fireman, talking later about the carnage, became tearful. police video from the periphery of the scene shows Dannylee watching aghast, pleading with an officer: ‘can i have a hug?’

it was bitterly grim, and the sequence should be compulsory viewing for any lads caught speeding. Young men are the most common victims of fatal road crashes.

But the rest of the documentary played out like a poirot mystery, an impression heightened by cynical editing and the withholding of crucial evidence from viewers.

When his shock subsided, Dannylee revealed his cousin Zax had been driving, despite being very drunk. Zax claimed he hadn’t been driving and had an alibi: he’d been out with his father all night.

The film gradually uncovered Zax’s lies. Ample phone and ccTV evidence dismantled his story. The final proof came from the crash scene, with traces of clothing and hair from the driver’s and passenger seats. All this was built up into a great mystery over an hour.

even the solution was delayed, as we listened at a door, unable to see whether Dannylee or Zax was being charged. such drawn-out, fake tension belongs at the climax of Bake off, not in a true investigation of how an innocent boy lost his life.

There was much less artifice about 999: What’s Your Emergency? (c4), another documentary drawn from live footage of police on the front line — shot by a crew who accompany Wiltshire officers, with fixed cameras in the patrol cars. interviews with the call handlers and constables supplement the stories, giving an extra layer of perspective. We watch the dramas unfold, then hear the police reactions. it’s especially refreshing that these are the authentic voices of the men and women dealing with crime in an increasingly violent Britain — not anodyne soundbites scripted by a pR team for the chief super.

every incident was frightening, from the inevitable drunken saturday night brawls to the lunatic high- speed driver who threatened police with a replica Roman sword. scariest of all was the sunday league footballer who reacted to a red card by fetching an axe from his car.

Though it sometimes lacks depth, this show is entertaining without being manipulative.

And it cannot fail to leave viewers with an increased respect for our police.