Into The Fire

This series following the firefighters of the West Midlands Fire Service takes a gamble that, at least in this opening episode, doesn’t quite pay off. It’s trumpeted that for the first time viewers will have a first-person perspective on fighting fires, thanks to the heat-resistant helmet cams worn by the firefighters. Yet while this delivers visceral thrills when crews tackle a roaring house fire, with flames filling the screen, it’s less successful when there’s a call-out to a car that has struck a house, which needs to be made structurally sound. And while the firefighters’ work is vital and potentially lethal, their reflections are often banal.