''Helicopter Heroes'' is a British daytime television series, following the lifesaving work of the

Yorkshire Air Ambulance Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) is a dedicated helicopter Air medical services, emergency air ambulance for the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It was established in October 2000, and currently operates three Eurocopter EC145, Airbus ...

. The first episode aired on 3 September 2007, and a total of seven series have been made. The programme ceased production in 2015. In 2012–13 the team produced a ten-part series called ''Helicopter Heroes Down Under'', featuring the work of British medics working in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

History

First screened on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

in 2007, its first presenter was

Richard Hammond Richard Mark Hammond (born 19 December 1969) is an English journalist, television presenter, and author. He co-hosted the BBC Two motoring programme ''Top Gear (2002 TV series), Top Gear'' from 2002 until 2015 with Jeremy Clarkson and James Ma ...

. 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 Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the ori ...

'', at Elvington airfield near York, in September 2006. Audience appreciation ratings (AIs) led the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

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 ''Crimewatch'' (formerly ''Crimewatch UK'') is a British television programme produced by the BBC, that reconstructs major unsolved crimes in order to gain information from the public which may assist in solving the case. The programme was or ...

'' presenter

Rav Wilding Ravin Mika Wilding (born 16 October 1977) is a British television presenter and former police officer who served with the British Transport Police and Metropolitan Police Service. Prior to joining the police, Wilding served in the British Ar ...

. 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 BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

, narrated by

Joe Crowley Joseph Crowley (born March 16, 1962) is an American former politician who served as U.S. Representative from New York's 14th congressional district from 1999 to 2019. He was defeated by Democratic primary challenger Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in ...

. 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 Leeds Bradford Airport is located in Yeadon, West Yorkshire, Yeadon, in the City of Leeds, City of Leeds Metropolitan District in West Yorkshire, England, about northwest of Leeds city centre, and about northeast from Bradford city centre. ...

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 GoPro, Inc. (marketed as GoPro and sometimes stylized as GoPRO) is an American technology company founded in 2002 by Nick Woodman. It manufactures action cameras and develops its own mobile apps and video editing software, video-editing software ...

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 The Cumbria shootings was a shooting spree that occurred on 2 June 2010 when a lone gunman, taxi driver Derrick Bird, killed twelve people and injured eleven others in Cumbria, England. Along with the 1987 Hungerford massacre and the 1996 D ...

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 The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

firefighter A firefighter (or fire fighter or fireman) is a first responder trained in specific emergency response such as firefighting, primarily to control and extinguish fires and respond to emergencies such as hazardous material incidents, medical in ...

s, air ambulance crews and

paramedic A paramedic is a healthcare professional trained in the medical model, whose main role has historically been to respond to emergency calls for medical help outside of a hospital. Paramedics work as part of the emergency medical services (EMS), ...

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

Transmissions

Regular series

Down Under

International broadcasts

''Helicopter Heroes'' has aired in

(series 1–2 on LifeStyle Channel),

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 1101218 2007 British television series debuts 2015 British television series endings 2000s British documentary television series 2010s British documentary television series 2000s British medical television series 2010s British medical television series BBC television documentaries Documentary television series about aviation British aviation television series Television shows set in Yorkshire