The Motorway - Episode Guide

At the start of a busy bank holiday weekend, patrol manager Marrissa deals with a high-speed crash outside Leeds that looks like it could be potentially fatal, while 50 miles south, Alex and Steve race to a vehicle fire.

Patrollers Alex and Steve are called in when a horsebox catches fire, while Marissa and her team at the control centre spot a young man on CCTV threatening to jump off a bridge. Elsewhere, Keith and his engineering crew must complete a ú7 million resurfacing job over a weekend, but the works are thrown into jeopardy when a state-of-the-art machine breaks down.

Patrollers Mick and Mike are called to a potentially fatal incident. A man is reported running across a dual carriageway near Nottingham and a desperate call from an SOS phone soon explains why - his car has broken down on the blind corner of a slip road and his wife and children are still inside. Near Leeds, people are spotted illegally walking along the M1, so patrollers Gareth and Nick are sent to intercept them.

Lives are endangered when a 40-ton truck illegally reverses down the M1 into the path of oncoming high-speed traffic, while control room staff are powerless to intervene with no patrol teams available. Elsewhere, another lorry driver hits a car and does not notice until he has driven for a quarter of a mile, while the motorway has to be closed down when a car drives into the back of an HGV.

The return of the documentary following emergency patrol teams on the M1, beginning as the North East Control Team deal with a serious accident on the M18 near Doncaster during the Friday rush hour. Elsehwere, a driver is found dazed and confused on a motorway near Manchester, and dispatchers Liam and Chris in the North West control room must try to find his missing car, which has mysteriously vanished from the carriageway.

High in the Pennines on the M62, a driver gets trapped in the snow in an extremely dangerous location, with high-speed traffic in danger of smashing into the stranded car. Just north of Manchester, heavy rain, sleet and snow on the M60 create treacherous conditions and a driver spins his supercar off the carriageway, taking out a 20ft section of the crash barrier in the process.

In the north-west, Gavin and Martin are searching for a pedestrian on the M6 in poor visibility due to heavy rain, when they are re-assigned to a six-car pile-up. Maintenance men Mick, Steve and Neil are on the A1M, cleaning a notorious litter hotspot just outside a busy motorway service station.

Just outside Manchester, patrollers Victoria and Darren fight their way through heavy traffic to reach a high-speed crash on the M62. It's a pile-up with 15 people involved, nine wrecked cars — and one of them spilling fuel onto the motorway. The M62 is blocked, they have more than a thousand cars trapped behind the crash site, and the jam is growing by the minute. In a major incident like this, the M62 won't be back up to full speed until the early hours of the morning. Patrollers Adam and David are looking for anything that could be a hazard to high-speed traffic. Debris on the roads causes thousands of accidents a year, and today they find a garden fork, then a spade, followed by an entire garden shed in the middle of the M62! A simple breakdown on the hard shoulder becomes a tiring afternoon for one lone motorbiker, who is determined to push his machine all the way home. But it's four miles to the nearest exit, so with the added danger of being hit by a passing lorry, the traffic officers decide to escort him until he gets off the motorway. And a diesel spillage on a major interchange of the M62 near Bradford causes chaos. With one car already skidded off the roundabout, Adam and David must close the junction. But with 5,000 vehicles an hour diverted, not everyone is happy and one lorry driver attempts to drive through the road block.

During rush hour on the M6 in the northwest of England, patrollers Steven and Sue hit traffic jams near Warrington and discover a three-car RTC with one driver injured and trapped in her car. It should be a straightforward incident to deal with, but the patroller's lives are in danger when a van driver ignores emergency signals and attempts to drive past the crash site on the hard shoulder. Outside Manchester, patrollers Iain and Carl are back working together for the first time since the pandemic. Reunited after a year working solo, they're on form and ready for anything. But they weren't expecting to deal with a broken-down lorry load of horses in the middle of the M60. A ton of horse bolting across lanes of high-speed traffic is a nightmare they must avoid at all costs — so they're forced to shut down both sides of the M60 and two slip roads from the M61 to get the horses safely off the motorway. Potholes are a dangerous hazard for motorway traffic and fixing them without major roadworks is a skilled operation requiring military precision. While Steven and Sue bring the motorway to a stop, the plan is for maintenance teams to swoop in and fill the hole in record time so the motorway can get back to full speed. But can it be done without a hitch? On the M62, patrollers Sharon and Phil deal with a 4x4 that's been smashed into and rolled over by an HGV. And Iain goes above and beyond the call of duty when he attempts to retrieve a mobile phone from a storm drain on the hard shoulder.

Patrollers Chris and Woody work 12 of the busiest motorways in Britain, including the M6. They race to the rescue of a young woman who swerved to avoid a tyre in the middle of the road, but crashed into a concrete barrier. She's now trapped in the middle of six lanes of high-speed traffic. All goes to plan until drivers start to ignore the emergency closed lane signs, putting the patrollers' lives in danger. In Lancashire, Dave and Chris come to the rescue of a school-run mum and her three young children when their car is hit and shoved sideways down the motorway by a 40-tonne truck. Patrollers Lewis and Nick deal with a series of breakdowns causing chaos on the M1. There's never a good excuse for running out of fuel on the motorway, but it's a dangerous and all too common problem for the patrollers. Unfortunately, there's worse to come, as Nick and Lewis find an abandoned lorry on the side of the M1. Chris and Woody must fight their way through traffic to reach a serious crash on the M6. And a £17 million roadworks project near Sheffield hits a bump in the road.

Patrollers Helen and David race to a car that has broken down in the middle of an unlit section of the M1 near Leeds. but it is smashed into at high speed by another vehicle, sending wreckage hundreds of yards down the carriageway. Meanwhile outside Manchester, an elderly couple are stranded in the dark when their car suddenly stops in a live lane.

On the night shift in the control room near Leeds, motorway dispatcher Stuart spots a car crash on the busy M62 on CCTV. A pick-up truck towing a trailer spins out of control, flips over sideways and hits the crash barrier, narrowly missing other vehicles. The truck and trailer are left pointing the wrong way, facing oncoming traffic in a live lane.

Motorway patrollers Gavin and Ryan race to a serious car fire on the M60, fearing that someone may be trapped inside.

A breakdown in the middle of the night in an unlit section of motorway puts lives in danger.

And a serious accident is narrowly averted when an HGV runs over a rogue wheelbarrow on the M60, but Gavin and Martin must then find a way to get it out from underneath the seven-tonne truck.

A head-on collision at rush hour brings the M66 to a standstill, and patrollers Martin and Gavin have to get the thousands of people stuck in the queue off the motorway. When a swan goes walkabout on the central reservation, patrollers Victoria and Darren are urgently sent to prevent the bird from causing a serious accident - but the swan isn't keen to move on.

The motorway patrollers face off with a pack of escaped sheep and are forced to shut down the entire M6 as a desperate ewe makes a break for freedom right into six lanes of high-speed traffic.

Vicky and Steve have a risky job to do when they must expertly hand retrieve a smashed up wooden pallet that threatens the safety of motorists, without bringing the motorway to a stop.

A hard-up driver attempting to get home on an empty tank is confronted by the patrollers when he runs out of fuel in a live lane of the motorway.

And a seven car pile-up on the M62 near Manchester causes Friday night chaos. With twenty members of public stranded on a live motorway, the patrollers face the challenge of keeping everyone safe whilst trying to clear more than seven tonnes of wrecked cars.

Patrollers Gavin and Ryan deal with a Tesla that's been smashed into the central reservation of the M62 and discover the entire crash was caught on dashcam.

Vicky and Steve are sent on a wild animal hunt when they receive reports of a badger crossing the Manchester ship canal via the M6.

A grandma, mum and baby are lucky to escape unhurt when they are caught in the blind spot of a 40 tonne truck on the M60.

Gavin and Ryan must rescue 2 men stranded on the M62 when their car breaks down. On a blind bend without any hard shoulder, it's a dangerous spot, and when drivers ignore the closed lane signs they find themselves in a serious situation.
And on the M6, National Highways and a crack team of traffic police and the DVSA mount an operation to stop dangerous HGVs on the motorways. With 98% of abnormal loads discovered to be illegal the team have a busy day giving seriously bad news to lorry drivers.

On the M5 near Birmingham, Patrollers Dave and Martyn must shut down the motorway when a car on fire gets dangerously out of control and is discovered to be packed with explosive contents.

Students on a weekend bender in Liverpool break down on the M6 but aren't entirely sure where they are or what the problem is.

A high-speed smash between an HGV and a small car leaves a student nurse shaken but uninjured and a young commuter's hopes of getting to work on time are blown when a 40-tonne truck side swipes him off a roundabout and rights off his car. Upsetting news for his Dad, who arrives to help and will now have to drive his son to work every day.

And in the northwest, patrollers Martin and Barrie find a distressed motorist stranded on the M6 at night. He's out of fuel and out of phone charge but the patrollers help him contact his girlfriend who comes to the rescue.

When a crash happens right in front of a police car with dash cam evidence of who's at fault it's going to be a clear cut insurance case… unless the driver is un-insured. Patrollers Sharon and Tony pick up the pieces when a young man runs into some expensive trouble on the M60.

On the outskirts of Manchester, patrollers request a breakdown truck for a broken-down van on a high speed slip road funneling traffic into the city, but when the breakdown truck breaks down they've got a problem on their hands.

The M62 gets a multi-million pound face-lift but the works must be done and cleared before morning rush-hour starts at 6am.

And when boy racers crash a car in Rochdale that causes traffic to back up onto the motorway the patrollers must get involved. Gavin and Ryan do their best to drag the wreck off the road but with only two wheels remaining it's a tricky tow.

Patrollers Sharon and Victoria come to the rescue of a terrified family who have broken down in the middle of the M60 with a baby on board. Mickey and Lee race to a three-car collision on the M6 with the help of a blue-light police escort, but find the driver of one of the crashed vehicles has locked the doors and left with the keys.

Manchester is gridlocked for over an hour when a multiple car pile-up blocks the M60 and patrollers Sharon and Tony are left to clean up the mess, but are surprised when one of those involved tells them he's just seen another crash. A monster pothole forces the team to temporarily shut down half of the M60 before someone is seriously injured, while eight miles of the M6 are brought to a standstill when they a flood of calls report a dog running up the middle of eight lanes of high-speed traffic.

In the north-west of England, Sharon and Tony come across a broken-down vehicle on a high-speed slip road but on investigation it's not what it seems. After hitting a crash barrier, the driver has disappeared, and the car appears to contain illegal drugs. Up in the Pennines, an accident blackspot sees four cars collide, bringing the M62 to a stop, while on the M60 in Manchester a driver is left stunned and stranded when a wheel falls off her car.

Extreme snow and wind hits the West Midlands and causes chaos on the M6 for patrollers on night shift and when a pick-up truck flips upside down, a car heads the wrong way down the carriageway directly towards the crash site. While gritting teams are out in force trying to protect the roads, Paul and Aries fight in poor visibility to get a man to safety after he runs out of petrol in a live lane, while a driver on his way to Scotland is forced off the motorway when his windscreen wipers leave him with reduced visibility.

In the first episode, the motorway patrollers deal with a freak accident and a family in shock when a lorry's wheel comes off on the motorway and destroys their car.

Heavy rain sees floods, blocked drains and a high-speed aquaplaning disaster on the M42

A pedestrian puts lives in danger sprinting across eight lanes of the M6 at night and then assaults a patroller attempting to stop him.

And a car must be stopped from travelling on the M66 with a king size mattress tied to the roof, which threatens to fly off, causing disaster.

When motorway patroller Tony spots a car crashing into the central reservation, he urgently goes to assist but the situation seriously escalates when he is attacked by the driver.

An accident blocks all three lanes of the M6, but neither ambulance, fire nor the patrollers can get to the crash site.

And patrollers must close the motorway after an unfortunate driver's luggage flies off the car's roof rack leaving their clothes strewn across all three lanes of the carriageway.

Bad British weather makes for a bad day on the motorway.

A freak hailstorm causes chaos for the patrollers as three cars crash off the motorway at high speed – and one is left upside down in a farmer's field.

A driver is forced to stop in heavy snow when her windscreen wiper falls off and she can't see what's in front of her.

And how proper preparation prevents disaster – when the patrollers come across a vehicle broken down in a live lane on the M6 they discover the driver's OK because he's brought tea and biscuits with him, just in case.

The bank holiday brings mayhem when motorway patrollers discover a car on the M60 leaking fuel and on fire…

A broken-down van blocks a slip road, and lives are put in danger by reckless drivers determined to use the closed exit

Plus a four vehicle pile-up causes chaos on Spaghetti Junction.

A four-car crash in Manchester's rush hour puts the patrollers under pressure and a family are left stranded at the side of the motorway when their vehicle conks out. Throughout the night, maintenance is carried out on the carriageways, which involves clearing up litter thrown out of car windows by unscrupulous drivers.

The bank holiday brings mayhem when patrollers discover a car on the M60 that is leaking fuel and is on fire. A broken-down van blocks a slip road and lives are put in danger by reckless drivers determined to use the closed exit. Plus, a four-vehicle pile-up causes chaos on the Spaghetti Junction.

The entire motorway must be shut down after a high-speed motorbike crash on the Spaghetti Junction, just outside Birmingham. The patrollers worst fears are confirmed when they discover an injured man lying in the carriageway. Officers Mickey and Lee discover an abandoned caravan parked on the hard shoulder.

When a 44 tonne freight lorry crashes and capsizes in the middle of the M6 a major incident is declared. With the morning rush hour fast approaching and tonnes of wreckage blocking both sides of one of Britain's busiest motorways, the patrollers have their work cut out.

A man tries to pull the wool over the patroller's eyes when he runs out of fuel on the motorway, an HGV almost catches fire when his brakes lock on, and a school bus breaks down in a dangerous spot.

Motorway patroller Mickey discovers that a bouncing wheel, ripped from a car in a high-speed crash on one side of the motorway has caused 3 more cars to crash on the opposite carriageway.

A car out of fuel on one of Britain's busiest junctions causes chaos in the Birmingham rush hour.

And, patrollers come to the rescue when one driver's long weekend away is cut short after her car breaks down.

The motorway patrollers must act quickly to avert disaster when the control room spots a woman attempting to wave down passing traffic on the M6.

And when a young driver crashes into the central reservation on his way into work the terrifying moment is captured on CCTV. Trapped in his car and with drivers dangerously swerving to avoid him, the patrollers must get there fast.

And a man is trapped in his smoking lorry cab which threatens to catch fire after crashing on the M5.