A British television series that goes behind the scenes with the Bermuda Police Service has resulted in new-found celebrity status for some officers.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Martin Weekes revealed that a tourist even walked into Hamilton Police Station and asked for one constable — only to recite the policewoman’s lines from the show back to her.

He told The Royal Gazette how Policing Paradisecame to be, the interest it has sparked from prospective overseas recruits and the possibility of a third season.

Mr Weekes said: “A couple of years ago we got a call from a production company in the UK that had been tasked by the BBC to come up with a daytime TV show.

“They do reality TV stuff. They've done a lot of stuff with the Royal Family and for some reason they thought Bermuda would be a good spot to try to do a policing reality TV show.

“They pitched the idea to the BBC, the BBC took them up on it and they came over and filmed a bunch of episodes, which became Policing Paradise.

“They came back last summer to do season two because the BBC really liked the reaction that the public had.”

He added: “I am actually in talks with the company now about whether or not the BBC wishes to do a third series

“It's a lot of work for the Bermuda Police Service. It might seem like they are just following us along but there’s a lot of logistics.

“It's getting the officers to take part. Not every police officer is willing to have cameras follow them around when they're doing stuff.”

Mr Weekes praised the show for how it displays the island.

He said: “I have seen all of the pre-production tapes from every episode; I have not watched the finished product.”

“I think it's a great advert for Bermuda. It makes Bermuda look absolutely fabulous and it shows all of the best parts of the island,” he added.

“Season one was a little glossier, if you like, while season two is a little grittier.

“We show some of the underside of the things we deal with, some of the drug importation and stuff like that. But it's still daytime TV, they don't want to film the really gritty stuff, because that's not what this show is about.”

Meanwhile, officers being recognised out on the beat is a common occurrence.

Mr Weekes said: “It's happened loads of times, particularly with those who feature in multiple episodes.

“Like Constable Carol Skerritt, who has her little catchphrase she says a lot, which is ‘policing is in my DNA’. She tells me that tourists come up to her all the time and go, ‘policing is in my DNA’.

“She gets that a lot. I have even seen somebody down in the front of the police station doing it. Some people from the UK came to the police station just to find Carol and to say that to her.”

The BPS have 380 officers and are recruiting to reach 400. There is an eventual plan to be at 420.

Mr Weeks said that 100 people attended a webinar to lodge interest in working for the service.

“In nearly every case they referenced Policing Paradise for why they had taken the opportunity to come on the webinar,” he revealed.

However, accommodation challenges result in obstacles to hiring.

Mr Weekes explained: “In the past we used to have a lot more barracks space.

“We don't have a lot of single man’s quarters, which is a contract agreement that we have when we bring police officers in.

“We are working on that with the Government as we speak, to try to increase the amount of accommodation we can provide in order to bring in more overseas officers.”

He added: “There is a real problem with single-person accommodation across the island — trying to find reasonable rents when we bring people in for short-term consultant roles.

“Trying to find them somewhere to live is nigh impossible.

“When we bring people in to do this, we will bring a course of 20 people. We've got to find 20 single people’s accommodation. We can't do it right now, that’s why we can’t go overseas for recruiting.

“Just from the Caribbean alone I think we have around 200 applicants who are eager to come here but we have them on hold at the moment. I think we have some UK people.”

Mr Weekes said that Bermudians who would like to join the BPS were welcome to express interest on the service’s website.

The Gazette asked the BBC about whether the programme might be made available for broadcast in Bermuda, but there was no response by the time of publication.