Special Ops: To Catch a Criminal: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

Gritty factual series revealing the work of elite police forces across the UK.

Formerly titled Special Ops: Crime Squad UK, this behind-the-scenes docu-series follows the investigative work of a variety of specialist units within UK police forces created to crack the toughest of cases. From cyber heists, romance fraud and people trafficking to drugs rings and murder.

The series boasts unique access to the highest-level detective techniques used to tackle crimes where ordinary policing has failed to make progress. This gritty but intelligent series reveals the workings of police operative units made up of the most elite detectives in the country.

Filming with numerous task forces across the country, Special Ops: To Catch a Criminal reveals the real, lived experience of the police officers involved, through exclusive interviews, archive, CCTV and body cam footage.

Series details

• Title: Special Ops: To Catch a Criminal
• Format: Documentary
• Language: English
• Genres: Crime
• Premiere date: 2025-01-05
• Status in TVmaze: Running
• Network listed by TVmaze: U&Dave
• Network country: United Kingdom
• Typical episode runtime: 60 minutes
• TVMaze ID: 81160

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 2025-01-05; final listed air date 2025-01-05; episode order: 6.
• Season 2: premiered 2025-04-13; final listed air date 2025-04-13; episode order: 3.
• Season 3: premiered 2025-10-12; final listed air date 2025-11-02.

Source and licence

Adapted from Special Ops: To Catch a Criminal on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.