As this seems to be a question that is being raised more often than not in the RW universe, this page is designed to help those who are confused as to why Pat, Carl, Derek, Tony, Ruffy et al are no longer on the programme.

The answer is very simple: within TVP - and indeed most police forces within the UK - specialised units such as the Proactive Unit have a limited tenure. The longest an officer can serve in a specialist unit on such a tenure is usually three years. Hence why Pat, Carl, Derek, Tony and everyone else from the first three series suddenly seemed to 'disappear'.

The exception to this rule is, of course, the great Chris Piggott. You will remember that Chris seemed to have been in every series of RW? Well in fact Chris's first appearance on RW was Epsiode Five of Series One. This was a 'taster' day. Basically what that means is that Chris rode along for a shift to get a taste of what working on the Proactive Unit was like. He must have liked it because he became a regular feature on Series Two, Three, Four and Five, then finally left in Series Five. Now technically that's four years but with the editing and whatnot of the programme, it is about three years bang on. In the same way, Conrad was in the first series and then disappeared from subsequent series but then made a return in Series Six.

So that's why some of your favourite officers have disappeared.

On a more serious note, please do not email the webmaster asking as to which area any previous officers have gone to. Unless they state where they are now in any of the interviews given on the interview pages, it will not be divulged. Not only would this be a gross invasion of privacy for them, but also it could compromise any open investigations they may be involved in.