Britain by Bodycam

Every month brings a new headline about shoplifting, confrontations with retail staff and disorder on our high streets.

As a result, more and more security guards have taken to wearing bodyworn cameras, now visible in every part of our lives, from supermarkets to coffee shops, railway stations to hospitals. For some they are a welcome deterrent and bring peace of mind. For others, they are a sign of a country that has lost its way.

But what is the world behind these bodycams? Miles away from the high street, dotted around the country on trading estates, in business parks on the edges of cities, even in disused military bunkers, staff work round the clock to monitor live footage that feeds through from bodyworn cameras.

Aidan Tulloch has been allowed through the bombproof doors and secure airlocks to see what it is like to work in one of these alarm receiving centres. How does it feel to spend 12-hour shifts in one of these windowless rooms watching all corners of Britain? What is the psychological impact of seeing violence unfold in real time?

Talking to employees from a number of security companies as they sit at banks of computer screens and watch notifications ping in from across the country, he finds out how the alarm receiving centres can often be peaceful places, full of the usual office chatter...until an alarm goes off.

And as our social media feeds are filled with videos of altercations - often caught on bodycam - alongside people claiming the country is in decline, what does it say about society that we consume this content for pleasure?

Presenter: Aidan Tulloch Producer: Tim Bano

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(60)

AI on the Farm

Artificial intelligence is beginning to transform many aspects of our lives - but what's its potential for farmers? Producers are facing more challenges than ever, from drought and heat waves to labou...

11 Loka 28min

America’s Gerrymandering Arms Race

What if you could map the outcome of an election before a single vote was cast? This is the story of the drawing - and redrawing - of electoral battle lines in an unprecedented gerrymandering war t...

5 Loka 28min

Taiwan: The Pacific Breaking Point

James Crabtree has spent nearly 15 years tracking politics in Asia as an author, journalist and analyst. In that time, one small island - separated from mainland China by a hundred miles of water - ha...

20 Syys 28min

The Return of the Youth Club

More than a thousand youth clubs have closed their doors since 2010. Local government spending on youth services was slashed by around three-quarters during the age of austerity leaving a generation ...

8 Syys 28min

The Dictators' Survival Guide

Xi Jinping is known to be a ruthless leader. In the last five years alone, China’s richest man, Jack Ma, China’s defence minister and the country’s foreign minister have all abruptly disappeared - som...

30 Elo 28min

The WhatsApp Underground

In June 2026, racist violence erupted across Northern Ireland. Masked groups circulated lists of homes where people of colour were believed to be living, forcing more than a hundred people to flee.As ...

23 Elo 28min

Pride Before the Fall

Across the country love for Pride events is waning. Councils are pulling funding saying that cash is better spent on potholes and emptying the bins and big companies, once eager to be associated with...

16 Elo 27min

Decency Politics

As a journalist, historian, constitutional scholar and member of the House of Lords, Peter Hennessy has been observing British public and political life for more than 50 years. But now he's retiring f...

13 Heinä 28min