Coming soon to a highway near you
Oamaru police Highway Patrol Sergeant Peter Muldrew is in the spotlight again, as a second series of Highway Cops is filmed.
Greenstone TV cameraman Shay Dewey followed Mr Muldrew around on his day-to-day routine yesterday, as the filming in Oamaru for the TV One series kicked off.
Shooting the second series in this way will continue for a number of months.
The filming of the second series comes after an "absolutely" positive response to the debut 10 episodes of Highway Cops.
Oamaru featured numerous times in the first series, most notably for featuring a drunk driver who thought he was above the law and a young man smoking up more than his tyres.
Mr Muldrew took centre stage for those Oamaru-based stories, which were filmed about two years ago. He said the attention from the first series hadn't been expected.
"I found it hard to believe that it had been so popular," Mr Muldrew said.
"I just take it for granted, because it's my job, but it seems to have fairly high ratings, so that's good."
Highway Cops follows members of New Zealand's Highway Patrol out of the city and into the rural heartland and shows their efforts to keep motorists safe on some of the nation's most perilous highways and byways.
Highway Cops, which has been described as "sometimes hilarious, sometimes haunting", also follows the work of the specialist Rural Drink Drive team, which is based in Alexandra.
Mr Muldrew said he liked the idea of putting the spotlight on the rural heartland.
Mr Dewey said he would be filming "anything and everything" he came across with Mr Muldrew. He expected to come across plenty of interesting characters as he followed Mr Muldrew, and it was those sort of people who made the show so popular.
"[Viewers] like the characters, and there are plenty of characters," he said.
Mr Muldrew told the Oamaru Mail the presence of cameras did influence people's behaviour in the first series - some played up for the camera, while others shied away.
A Greenstone TV spokeswoman said it had not been confirmed when the second series would screen on TV One.
