Undercover Customs was a television series

Television program

A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...

 produced by Granada Television

Granada Television

Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....

 for ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 which consisted of dramatic reconstructions of some of the largest real-life smuggling

Smuggling

Smuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...

 incidents based on the official records of HM Customs and Excise

Her Majesty's Customs and Excise

HM Customs and Excise was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government in the UK. It was responsible for the collection of Value added tax , Customs Duties, Excise Duties, and other indirect taxes such as Air Passenger Duty, Climate Change Levy, Insurance Premium Tax, Landfill Tax and...

 in the UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

.

The series was presented by Sir Trevor McDonald

Trevor McDonald

Sir Trevor McDonald OBE is a Trinidadian-British newsreader and journalist. He had a long career as a news presenter with ITN...

 and was supplemented by genuine surveillance

Surveillance

Surveillance is the monitoring of the behavior, activities, or other changing information, usually of people. It is sometimes done in a surreptitious manner...

footage and exclusive interviews with the Customs Officers responsible for the investigations of the organised smuggling rings, and also the witnesses and informants who helped crack each case.
The 1998 series was Series Produced by Mike Kleinsteuber who also directed two of the programmes.

Episodes

The episodes and original air dates are as follows:

• Undercover Customs (01/03/1999)
• Operation Crux (21/05/1998)
• Operation Barbecue (14/05/1998)
• Operation Escape (07/05/1998)
• Operation Fluke (30/04/1998)
• Operation Oltet (23/04/1998)
• Operation Bypass (16/04/1998)
• Operation Klondyke (14/08/1997)
• Operation Carla II (07/08/1997)
• Operation Suntempest (31/07/1997)
• Operation Babysitter (24/07/1997)
• Operation Green Ice (17/07/1997)
• Operation Begonia (10/07/1997)