Helicopter Heroes

Helicopter Heroes is a British daytime television series, following the lifesaving work of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. The first episode aired on 3 September 2007, and a total of seven series have been made. The programme ceased production in 2015.

Helicopter Heroes
Also known asHelicopter Heroes Down Under
GenreDocumentary
Factual
Narrated byRichard Hammond (2007)
Rav Wilding (2008–2014)
Joe Crowley (Down Under)
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series6 (Regular)
1 (Down Under)
No. of episodes110 (Regular)
10 (Down Under)
Production
Executive producersCarla-Maria Lawson
Ian Cundall
ProducersAndy Joynson
Matt Richards
Laura Blair (assistant)
Production locationsYorkshire, England, UK
EditorIan Cundall
Running time30–45 mins
Release
Original networkBBC One
Picture format16:9
Original release3 September 2007 (2007-09-03) 
July 2015 (2015-07)
Chronology
Related showsSky Cops (2006–08)
External links
Website

In 2012–13 the team produced a ten-part series called Helicopter Heroes Down Under, featuring the work of British medics working in Australia.

History

First screened on BBC One in 2007, its first presenter was Richard Hammond. He agreed to front the show to thank the Yorkshire Air Ambulance crew which flew him to hospital in after his near-fatal jet engine powered car crash, while filming for Top Gear, at Elvington airfield near York, in September 2006.

Audience appreciation ratings (AIs) led the BBC to re-commission the show. Several series have been repeated in a primetime slot in slightly shortened form (30 minutes).

Since series two (2008), it has been fronted by ex-policeman and former Crimewatch presenter Rav Wilding. Series six was broadcast in Autumn 2012, with a further ten episodes airing in May 2013.

The first series of Helicopter Heroes Down Under first aired in April 2013 on BBC Two, narrated by Joe Crowley. This was then repeated on BBC One and led to a second series being commissioned, which then aired in January 2015.

Filming

Helicopter Heroes is edited in a hangar at Leeds Bradford Airport and shot by a small team from BBC English Regions using Sony EX3 and PMW200 HD cameras. The team also uses a collection of GoPro cameras both as 'Medicams' (body-mounted cameras on the paramedics) and five cameras located within the helicopter for stationary shots. The show also features air-to-air footage and aerial pictures of the Yorkshire countryside. They have flown more than 2,000 missions in the Yorkshire Air Ambulance's two MD900 Explorer helicopters.

The programme captured footage of the aftermath of the Cumbria shootings during summer 2010. The team also filmed footage of a patient - air ambulance dispatcher Chris Solomons - actually suffering a heart attack, going into cardiac arrest and being revived with CPR and a defibrillator. This is now used as a training aid for police, firefighters, air ambulance crews and paramedics.

The Helicopter Heroes Down Under series was filmed in Australia during early 2013.

Transmissions

Regular series

SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
13 September 200714 September 200710
225 August 200819 September 200820
35 October 200930 October 200920
46 September 20101 October 201020
512 September 20117 October 201120
61 October 201231 May 201330
79 December 201325 April 201420

Down Under

SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
11 April 201316 April 201310
219 January 20152 February 201515

International broadcasts

Helicopter Heroes has aired in Australia (series 1–2 on LifeStyle Channel), New Zealand and Scandinavia.

See also

References

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