Chris Ryan's Elite Police

"Wheeaye muckas lets get stuck in" is kind of where you'd imagine the author of the fantastic Strike Back series to start off. Not so. Chris really sets the scene with careful backdrops, careful narrative to give you the hard facts behind the challenges faced by these gifted Special Police Operatives in countries where law and order is sometimes at a premium.The research is pithy, well structured and he has a very gifted camerman. The insurance team I imagine wouldn't allow him to deploy actively, but all the Police Ops expected him to muck in and keep the cameraman safe, and this is the big win. All of the teams finish with great respect for this man, and his epic stature in the Band of Brothers in the SAS. Some of the live deployments seem actually as if they are going to turn into one of those missions he writes about thrillingly in his outstanding, and educational novels. It is important to understand the value of this documentary series. It goes where the media can't, and the local Government ,pray to their God, whichever one, that they will will do what is strong to protect the society and move the economy forward.

I really enjoyed this series. It was awesome to see these elite Police and their job is very dangerous. Whilst watching you keep forgetting they are Police and not the Military. One point I noticed is really all Special Forces all operate in the same way today. It was a General in Stalingrad during WW2 the son of a peasant who first came up with what all Special forces do today when entering Building to building combat. Kicking a door in, throwing a explosive in and then rushing in and killing their enemy with sporadic firing of guns then go room to room methodically clearing a house etc. A fascinating look at some of the most dangerous countries and their Special Police today. Get it you will not regret. Wow we are so lucky to live in Australia.

I cannot agree with those who unfavorably compare this show to Ross Kemp on Gangs. They are just two different shows and both are good. Ross Kemp on Gangs concentrates...well, on gangs, on the criminal side of the story. Chris Ryan's Elite Police goes to the Law Enforcement side. Ross Kemp's view is more about the social: how gangs are born, how they operate, the delicate balances of power inside a gang etc. Chris Ryan's is more about the tactical: how policemen train and operate to fight the criminal. Both points of view are valid, just choose the one you find more interesting. Even better, watch both shows!Each episode is divided in two: a first part in which Ryan closely observes the training of the unit he's a guest of and a second part in which he follows an actual operation in the field. There's plenty of reportages about world's criminals and crime-fighters out there, but none of them follows elite police officers both in training and in operation.Ryan is a British citizen and therefore has no place arresting or shooting people in Mexico or Poland, hence complaining that he takes part in the final operation solely as a reporter is pointless too. Still each operation shown is unique in its particular nature due to the different part of the world we are and the different kind of enemy the host agency is facing. As 'you train as you fight' the training part of each episode is consinstent with the field operation part. There are a lot of valid insights to be gained both about the menace and the measures taken against it if you watch closely both segments of each episode.The only reason why I gave this show four stars instead of five is that in the last episode in Sri Lanka it is obvious from the start that the final operation is a fake, but that is revealed only at the end after you have watched the entire operation thinking it's real (although it didn't fool me). I can completely understand that not everywhere in the world will the host police agency let Ryan follow his men on a real operation, especially in a dangerous counter-guerrilla operation against Tamil Tigers, but why don't just say it? There's no point in trying to trick the audience into believing it is a real operation only to disappoint them in the end. That is if you ever managed to trick anybody in the first place.

it.s awsome

Great!

If you like guns, & you like Chris Ryan (he was in the SAS you know) you'll enjoy this. You know who you are !Chris Ryan (ex SAS, did i mention that?) plays soldiers with the world's best police forces.Enjoyable, but watch it when the girlfriend/wife is out, or she'll think you've reverted to being 14 again...

Really enjoyed this series, fascinating insight and great presentation by Chris Ryan (he does a better job than Mcnab). My sister loved it as a Christmas present - not just for the boys!

Great programme - Chris provides a rare insight into several little known police units and provides an insider's view of their training, equipment and typical deployments. The programme excels due to Chris's SAS background which allows him to be accepted by these secretive police teams and therefore gain a much closer view of the action than other TV crews are likely to achieve. A very impressive series!