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Just watched this and its good. Just shows you how difficult it is to get away and also the huge amount of tools the authorities have at their disposal.
Every place/ plan seems to have weaknesses and shows the amount of discipline needed to succeed.
Can't help but feel maybe the doctor should have used one of his bikes to escape !
Very interesting and really makes you think "how would I do it"
Didn't know that was starting this week otherwise I would have watched it. Instead I spent the evening battling with stupid braided hoses.
I hate braided hoses.
I'm just catching up now, it is quite good isn't it!
I automatically think about bikes as escape vehicles, but doubt they'd be any good for any length of time.
Any good plans formulated yet?
The doctor bloke seems to have it sorted for the time being
Why do people automatically think they need to travel to the other end of the country? I'd be off the grid in about ten minutes.
Impossible to get away without a trace ...
I could be hard to find in an hour, realisticall impossible to find in a couple, I reckon. A proper full-on manhunt would do it, if I'd murdered the queen or something but it'd take that sort of epic mobilisation. But I have literally no survival skills so I'd have to visit civilisation from time to time, I'd probably get caught that way. Or when I caved in and posted on STW about tyres.
A bike might be a good way of getting about "off grid". Not 650b though, they make the trail come alive... 😆
Hide in plain sight. Go bikepacking or backpacking and blend in with others where possible.
Organise a posse of people to try and find you. Stay near but not at the head of the posse. They'll never find you if you're one of them
Lucan (Lord)
ChubbyBlokeInLycra - MemberOrganise a posse of people to try and find you. Stay near but not at the head of the posse. They'll never find you if you're one of them
Lucan (Lord)
In those days they did not have the technology ...
I might have to try and find that...
I reckon train and bike to somewhere and then start a long tour
I'm not sure I'd use the bike. It's what they'd expect me to do. I'd like to reach inside the telly and slap that one who keeps phoning home to find out about her kid though.
I'd hide in my shed. I can never find anything in there.
If like on the show I knew it was coming I'd discuss false plans on e-mail in the time leading up. Have a grab bag packed ready to go instead of flapping around for 1/2 an hour. Couple of quick early cash withdrawals that would indicate a direction and mode of travel that backed up the e-mail plans. Then bugger off in a different (but not exactly opposite direction) on foot with a tent/bivy. A month with a bit of cash in the pocket shouldn't be that hard. The main flaw in the plan is that my background would indicate a likelyhood of heading off grid to the hills camping. So maybe living on the streets in a city would be a less expected option.
Debating whether to watch or not... Have to be slightly sceptical. Your every move is followed by a camera crew - so that's 2-3 people inc a driver. You can move 24 hours a day - so is there more than one crew working shifts? If I was going off grid, they'd have to be properly prepared to survive some of the places I might go - food, shelter etc, with only a 10hour walk on foot back to civilisation. If I was on the run, I'd ditch my phone, take all my cash out the bank before leaving, and that's me off grid. Living in the highlands, it's pretty easy to avoid cctv, even when using shops - just avoid the bigger stores.
So who gets spotted - you or your camera crew?
I'm a bit sceptical of the 'reality' element of this show. I watched the first one and some of the scenes seemed very scripted with poor acting!
Watched an interview with someone from the show on BBC breakfast and it sounded pretty far from 'reality'
I'd have prepacked a lightweight tent and minimal camping gear, grabbed the bike, ditched the phone, stayed local to withdraw all of the £450 in cash over the first 2 days, then paid cash to grab a train within a couple of days ride of say the Lakes. Spend the whole month travelling round the trails, mostly wild camping, paying cash for everything in small local shops, farm shops etc. Nice little holiday and how would they find you?
I suspect that the programme has rules about these sort of things. No doubt you'd have to remain accessible for a vehicle based camera crew at all times, otherwise they can't properly film it. Can't see a camera crew bing happy tackling some gnarly trails and possibly bad mountain weather day after day.
It's an interesting concept but it's just ridiculous with the camera crew in tow. Day one I'd be giving my cameraman the slip.
Who's to say they're not tipping the chasers off to make good TV?
I'd put myself with my car keys every morning.
They are the masters at hiding
Presumably they don't actually have access to ANPR, ATM data and CCTV, but the accompanying camera crews give the pursuers the equivalent information.
It's a great concept for a show, be interesting to see how it develops.
Personally, I would have thought the 'Rogue Male' approach of hiding in a hollowed-out hole in a ditch with a bunch of canned food would be hard to counter, but wouldn't make great telly, would it?
Missed the show (is it on 4od yet?), but caught some of the interview on BBC Breakfast where one of the hunters said the hardest people to catch were those with no plan who made it up as they went along as it was obviously really tough to see a pattern and predict their next move.
So, you're all caught.
The doctor bloke seems to have it sorted for the time being
Pretending to be Salman Rushdie for a few years gave him some good practice.
hide in plain sight.. the folks you meet in the dales/lakes highlands would know you immediately as an outsider and up to no good and the very few shops you d stand out like a sore thumb.. hide in plain sight.. rock up at winny mandela builings squat a flat and i reckon you could live normally without anyone of the squillion folks who d see you every day suspecting a thing
I'd get my wife to tidy me up. Can never find a ****ing thing after she's tidied it up.
Or put myself through the washing machine with my favourite socks. 50/50 chance of going off grid forever!
It's TV so it'll be 70% bollock with 30% reality and that's being generous.
Not watched this yet and I know it is a different beast to Mantracker... But on there it was a genuine man hunt. The scenes where the hunted were followed by a camera closely with Terry in close pursuit were reproduced based on what actually happened during the manhunt - crime watch reconstruction style.
Could this be similar?
Mantracker... But on there it was a genuine man hunt.
Mantracker has elements of a genuine manhunt, but the number of times he has them at close quarters within a couple of hours of the start, but basically lets them get away (in order to prolong the chase into the second day and make enough material for the show) makes me think that a lot of the formula is engineered rather than natural.
I'm also sure some of the competitors could disappear into the brush and not pop out until the finish point if they really wanted - sometimes it's as little as 30k to bushwhack over a two day period.
The old mantracker was better, too. His liberal use of the word 'bugger' endeared him to me.
Agree on the finding and losing them (usually down to terrain unsuitable for a horse) and his use of bugger!
Agree on the finding and losing them (usually down to terrain unsuitable for a horse)
It's more obvious with the new one as he likes getting off and chasing on foot, but always seems to give up quite easily on the first day...or decide it's time to make camp!
Fun show though.
The covert ops guys could earn a fortune, finding all the passwords, important pieces of paperwork and information we all lose.
A great public use of public money, think how many hours we all waste every year looking for all this stuff and re-setting passwords.
hide in plain sight.. the folks you meet in the dales/lakes highlands would know you immediately as an outsider
s'wat i was thinking to.... seems silly trying to get as far away as possible, running the risk of more anpr sightings etc. a chaser could probably pass you in the street and not give you a second glance as you would just be a member of the faceless public, so just stay in the city where you live.
a chaser could probably pass you in the street and not give you a second glance as you would just be a member of the faceless public, so just stay in the city where you live.
Hiding in plain sight is a good idea if you can blend in, but...
Camera crew following you round might make you stand out though.
so just stay in the city where you live.
I don't live in a city.
I watched it and noticed one of the women had a SPOT tracker attached to her belt. If they're so determined to be anonymous, why are they using a Spot tracker??
I'd head to my nearest large city, rather than the mountains as even in the middle of know where you have to come in to shops and people will notice you as a stranger. With a decent amount of cash it would be easy to be lost? Could even get a cash job and stay indefinitely.
They are clearly using the camera man to fill in the gaps - all the guys in the secret room seem to be doing is looking at Google maps.
I am bit confused how they shot the lady getting cash out from the ATMs point of view...
Hiding in plain sight is a good idea if you can blend in, but...Camera crew following you round might make you stand out though.
good point 🙂
I am bit confused how they shot the lady getting cash out from the ATMs point of view...
It won't be the ATM camera, just a mini-cam stuck on by the cameraman.
It's an interesting series, but all kinds of fakery and re-enactment is to be expected.
Interesting concept but too many holes. Possibly would have been improved by training the "hunteds" to use a handycam type thing and do video diaries, or maybe doing it in pairs only, with both trained to use a camera. The concept of them being followed everywhere by (one?) cameraman is just a bit clunky to be believable. I assume the participants have to wear trackers so the producers know where they are. Whether we can trust them not to hint the chasers with the fugitives' locations...hmmm I dunno.
I was a bit surprised by the reaction of the woman who got all shirty when she and her partner were caught on the high street. "Don't touch me! Get your hands off me!" 😆 It's a game matey, you've been caught. It's ok, you're not really an international terrorist on the run FFS.
I was a bit surprised by the reaction of the woman who got all shirty when she and her partner were caught on the high street. "Don't touch me! Get your hands off me!" It's a game matey, you've been caught. It's ok, you're not really an international terrorist on the run FFS.
I think if I'd just sat through about 400 bus journeys and got nabbed almost straightaway, I'd be a bit narky as well. You'll never take me alive, copper!
Goes to show that at least some of the contestants are taking it seriously. As long as they catch the whiney girl who keeps ringing her mum, I'll be happy.
The girl who keeps ringing her mum needs taking out by a marksman, silly ****er.
similar reaction from one of the lads last night, the other one tried legging it 😆
is it "that" hard not to call home? its whats popping them all,
and why didn't they double bluff the doc, he was staking them out, why didn't they do the same and stake out the cabin? he'd clearly been in the area
Some of them need to take a leaf out John Darwin's* book.
*that canoeist wot went missing
Interesting concept but too many holes. Possibly would have been improved by training the "hunteds" to use a handycam type thing and do video diaries, or maybe doing it in pairs only, with both trained to use a camera. The concept of them being followed everywhere by (one?) cameraman is just a bit clunky to be believable. I assume the participants have to wear trackers so the producers know where they are. Whether we can trust them not to hint the chasers with the fugitives' locations...hmmm I dunno.
They explained at the start of the first episode that they were fakeing the state's powers.
They don't really have access to all the CCTV, ANPR network, phone signals, cashpoints, it'll be the producers/cameramen and the SPOT transmitters reporting back and the producers passing this on as faked data.
I reckon the biggest issue isn't going missing, it's boredom. The GP could easily manage it I reckon, but he's going to come unstuck if he makes it a game. OTOH it does mean he knows where they are, if he can stay in bothy's and stay half a day ahead without making a predictable pattern he could do it.
and why didn't they double bluff the doc, he was staking them out, why didn't they do the same and stake out the cabin? he'd clearly been in the area
I'm sure they would have written the whole thing off as a well planned ruse and that they had wasted enough time on it.
If the good doc has any sense, he will now post that burner phone to a mate down south and get them to send a couple of text messages on it 😈
There was an article in one of the trashier papers from Emily who apparently survives for quite a while, she said they only found out they had been selected for the programme 2 weeks before it and there were various rules in place about not caching food, supplies etc.
I can't believe how many of them feel the need to phone home every 5 minutes. 🙄 That said, those two Sikh lads did alright up until they repeatedly called home on the same phone and then holed up in a building with zero escape options. Muppets.
The Dr is funny, he's got well into the role with all his camo gear. I reckon he might just make it the whole month.
There's a little bit about how they made it here:
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/hunted/articles/all/hunted-the-makings-of-a-manhunt
That said, those two Sikh lads did alright up until they repeatedly called home on the same phone and then holed up in a building with zero escape options. Muppets.
If they'd just stayed in Manchester and ditched the phone they'd have been safe.
The chasers were hilarious last night, Glasgow to fort William in about 7 mins. They were on Dumbarton road when they were told he was in Spean bridge, next they were at the village... And only 4 mins behind him... Only wish I could do the same on the A82.
Wife is under strict instructions that if we ever find ourselves on the run like that, it's limited to one call per burner phone.
If they're so determined to be anonymous, why are they using a Spot tracker??
They say on the web site that they are simulating some of the functions that the state could do for real, eg ANPR and some other stuff. So they must have someone actually tracking them, and deciding what data to pass on to the hunters. Perhaps the cameraman also passes on things like "they are using the HSBC ATM now".
Regarding the simulated CCTV, how did they have front and back video of the doc's friend making a withdrawal? Stinks of BS to me.
Pile of cash, bike and train.
A few early calls on a burner phone and then post to a friend within a 50 mile radius with a nice letter and a pile of postage stamps. Request they send a text or two to my mrs or kids and then immediately post on the phone to one of their friends asking to repeat the process.
Let hunters follow the phone.
Meanwhile go for a 1 month holiday somewhere in UK that I've never been before - preferably with good biking 🙂
Well, can't help feeling it's cheating a bit to publicise the fugitive's face in the press and offering cash to the public.
Well that fell a bit flat, it was almost like he'd given up.
Disappointed that they caught Ricky, he was doing well up til then.
Kinda thought that was a bit unfair...but then, they're supposed to be replicating the state. Who knows if those "Have you seen this man...his family and friends are worried about him" posts from the Polis on Twitter are actually genuine missing person alerts or the Bizzies actually pursuing someone...