The WORST episodes of 24 Hours in Police Custody

Every episode of 24 Hours in Police Custody ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of 24 Hours in Police Custody!

Bedfordshire Police allowed more than 80 cameras to follow their work for this landmark documentary series from the makers of 24 Hours in A&E.

Last Updated: 3/21/2024Network: Channel 4Status: Continuing
Share:
Holding the Baby
star
6.73
11 votes

#1 - Holding the Baby

Season 9 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/1/2021

The real-life drama follows police investigations into one of the most disturbing and hard-to-prove crimes - baby-shaking cases - and examines parents' often-divided loyalties

Watch Now:Amazon
Partners in Crime
star
6.82
44 votes

#2 - Partners in Crime

Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 8/10/2015

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...

Watch Now:Amazon
Punchdrunk Love
star
6.83
36 votes

#3 - Punchdrunk Love

Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 1/27/2015

The officers of Bedfordshire Police deal with cases of domestic violence this week. A man is arrested after a drinking session when his new wife alleges he hit her twice in the face, but once sober, the couple say they have made up and are now enjoying their honeymoon period. However, for other cases the toxic combination of booze and relationship tensions has more lasting consequences. Footage from police bodycams captures the immediate aftermath of a serious incident where a young man has apparently attacked his pregnant girlfriend after a drunken night out. As well as a series of potential charges, he also faces the prospect of losing his partner and their child for ever

Watch Now:Amazon
A Short, Sharp Shock
star
6.98
47 votes

#4 - A Short, Sharp Shock

Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/13/2015

Two teenage girls are arrested after a fight broke out in a nightclub. And the police also arrest a 61-year-old man who's never spent a night in the cells before.

Watch Now:Amazon
Frequent Flyers
star
7.02
45 votes

#5 - Frequent Flyers

Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 2/10/2015

Detective Cathie Layton and legal rep Brett Jones have known each other for 16 years and once worked together in the police, but now they face one another on opposite sides. Brett is called to the station by a regular client who happens to be one of Luton's most prolific burglars - and he's recommending the man offers `no comment' in the interview room

Watch Now:Amazon
Bad Blood
star
7.07
57 votes

#6 - Bad Blood

Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 7/27/2015

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?

Watch Now:Amazon
Murder on the Doorstep
star
7.09
11 votes

#7 - Murder on the Doorstep

Season 9 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/25/2021

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

Watch Now:Amazon
Home Truths
star
7.15
48 votes

#8 - Home Truths

Season 4 - Episode 6 - Aired 5/26/2016

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 domestic dramas behind closed doors in Bedfordshire.

Watch Now:Amazon
A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
star
7.17
12 votes

#9 - A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

Season 10 - Episode 2 - Aired 12/5/2022

Bedfordshire Police race to rescue a missing 15-year-old girl reportedly being held captive in what becomes a case of alleged sexual grooming and serious multiple abuse.

Watch Now:Amazon
The Crime of the Century
star
7.18
28 votes

#10 - The Crime of the Century

Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/17/2014

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

Watch Now:Amazon
Lost in Translation
star
7.18
38 votes

#11 - Lost in Translation

Season 7 - Episode 7 - Aired 7/2/2018

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.

Watch Now:Amazon
Their Time Will Come
star
7.19
69 votes

#12 - Their Time Will Come

Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 6/12/2017

A distressed woman arrives at Luton Police station, where officers have to tell her that her 76-year-old husband is under arrest following allegations of historic child sex abuse.

Watch Now:Amazon
Invisible Chains
star
7.21
58 votes

#13 - Invisible Chains

Season 5 - Episode 3 - Aired 6/19/2017

'TB' comes to Luton Police station claiming that his life's in danger and that he's just escaped from a slave owning gang. Over 200 officers launch a dawn raid on the suspects.

Mother's Pride
star
7.23
47 votes

#14 - Mother's Pride

Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 8/17/2015

It is Mother's Day and a young man accused of a vicious assault has just been released from police custody after he said his mother could provide him with an alibi, but when she arrives at the station she fails to support his story. Detectives now have to find the suspect they let go and issue a warrant for his arrest, but he is nowhere to be found

Watch Now:Amazon
The Confession of a Paedophile
star
7.24
68 votes

#15 - The Confession of a Paedophile

Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/13/2014

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.

Watch Now:Amazon
Age Concern
star
7.24
38 votes

#16 - Age Concern

Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/3/2015

Several elderly people have been sexually assaulted in a graveyard. The police have a sample of an attacker's DNA from a previous crime scene, and arrest a young man. Will his DNA match?

Watch Now:Amazon
Code of Silence
star
7.25
67 votes

#17 - Code of Silence

Season 5 - Episode 4 - Aired 6/26/2017

A man has been attacked and left unconscious on the floor of a crowded pub for over 30 minutes. Detectives face a wall of silence as they search for evidence.

Watch Now:Amazon
A Complaint of Rape
star
7.27
49 votes

#18 - A Complaint of Rape

Season 4 - Episode 9 - Aired 6/15/2016

A woman has made a complaint of rape against a man she met in a bar. Although she can't remember his name she can give the authorities details about him. What follows is a series of interviews with the woman, a visitor from Spain and the suspect.

Watch Now:Amazon
The Morning After
star
7.27
49 votes

#19 - The Morning After

Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/27/2014

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.

Watch Now:Amazon
Guilty Little Secrets
star
7.30
54 votes

#20 - Guilty Little Secrets

Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 8/3/2015

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

Watch Now:Amazon
The Kane Line
star
7.35
49 votes

#21 - The Kane Line

Season 7 - Episode 2 - Aired 5/28/2018

The programme follows major surveillance operation run by the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit against an organised crime gang behind a drugs supply line. Ten simultaneous armed raids are launched at dawn and the suspects are taken into custody, with the cases against the gang members being documented as the officers put their evidence to them in interviews.

Watch Now:Amazon
The Golden Bracelet
star
7.36
42 votes

#22 - The Golden Bracelet

Season 5 - Episode 5 - Aired 7/3/2017

Bedfordshire Police are particularly busy. A care worker denies stealing a gold bracelet, a man denies being involved in a stabbing, and a suspect is questioned about an assault.

Watch Now:Amazon
A Sixth Sense
star
7.37
52 votes

#23 - A Sixth Sense

Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 8/24/2015

A man behaving erratically while carrying a hockey stick has been arrested and brought into Luton police station after he was reported to be staring through the window of a house, while a young woman has been detained for headbutting a nightclub bouncer. Upstairs in CID, DC Cathie Layton is investigating the case of a man who is alleged to have assaulted a taxi driver and stolen his keys, but when she meets the suspect her instinct tells her all is not what it seems.

Watch Now:Amazon
Chicken Shop Wars
star
7.39
28 votes

#24 - Chicken Shop Wars

Season 9 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/4/2021

A violent daytime brawl with knives erupts on the streets of Luton as a chicken shop war heats up. But the case takes an even more disturbing twist when a police raid lands a huge cache of drugs.

Watch Now:Amazon
Human Traffic
star
7.40
35 votes

#25 - Human Traffic

Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/20/2015

Police in Luton, Bedfordshire, arrest a man and a woman from Hungary on suspicion of human trafficking, and DC Tom Stean discovers the pair are already wanted for other alleged offences. The forensic team's investigation of the couple's hidden loft space provides evidence against them

Watch Now:Amazon