Catch up TV

Episode 27 September 2022

A gritty, multi-perspective look at the impact of illegal drugs in a rural community. Rather than focusing on big city drug dealing, this film tells the story of how a gang from the city establish a ‘county line’ and muscle their way into the drug economy of rural Devon. They take control of the supply of drugs by intimidating local dealers and enforcing their authority throughout the underworld. The gang deploys extremes of violence rarely seen before on the country lanes and small town streets of rural England.\n\nA stabbing on the side of a remote A-road in Devon kick-starts a police investigation that leads to the exposure of a huge drug-dealing network with links to Liverpool. With full access to the police investigation, the film gives an in-depth and up-close inside view of the complexity and difficulty of taking down an entire county lines gang - from the bottom right to the top.\n\nWe get multiple perspectives on how a county lines gang actually works. A more traditional local drug dealer finds his own illicit trade has been adversely affected. He is surprised to find himself agreeing with police that he wants the county lines gang out of the country. The new gangs have the upper hand because they are bigger and more willing to use fear and violence to get their way as they set out to flood the market with cheaper drugs. Besides the police and local dealers, it is the users and addicts who find themselves caught in the criminal network, and we hear from them, too.

Source: BBC 3