An officer from the Northumbria Police Mounted Section goes on patrol around the streets of Newcastle from the Quayside to St James Park.

Like many police forces across the country, horses play an important role both in law enforcement as well as public order across Tyne and Wear. The first horse to be purchased for what would later become known as the Northumbria Police Mounted Section was bought for the newly appointed Chief Constable of Northumberland, Alexander Browne in 1857. Originally a unit of Newcastle City Police, these early horses had various tasks to perform including the transportation of condemned prisoners to the Town Moor for execution. Originally stabled under Grey Street in the city, they moved to Jesmond Dene in 1939 to be used as part of the cities civil defence when the shipyards were bombed during the war. It is these stables that feature in the film both at the start and finish. The section moved again in 1998 to Kirkley Hall near Morpeth in Northumberland and in 2020 moved once more to their current home the stud farm on the Lampton Estate near Chester-le-Street in County Durham. The Mounted Section currently have nine horses including new recruit Prince Philip, a 12-year-old Dutch Warmblood, who joined the section in May 2021 and is named in honour of the late Duke of Edinburgh.

"Forty-eight hours is just a moment in time in the social history of a nation. However, over 26 and 27 August 1988, the people of the North East England have produced a significant record of their lives, their time and their country." These are the words of HRH Prince Charles in his introduction to the book '48hrs: Two Days in the Life of the North East', published by BBC Books and containing hundreds of original and unique photographs taken by people across the region that, according to David Cox, producer of 48hrs, "Create a true reflection of how people feel about their area and their lives' at a specific moment in time."

'48hrs: Two Days in the Life of the North East' began as a collaborative project between the BBC in Newcastle, local production company Filmnova and the Tyne & Wear Development Corporation. The BBC were able to promote the project and along with Filmnova provided curatorial assistance in witling down the thousands of submissions to those that would eventually make up the book. The Tyne and Wear Development Corporation provided financial support with the books publishing.

While the book went onto become a success, what is less know is that twenty film submissions in the form of video tapes were also submitted by for consideration. Sadly, none of these films made it into the final publication and for the next thirty they sat on the shelves of Filmnova until being donated to the Yorkshire & North East Film Archives in the early 2010s. Now, thanks to the support of BFI Heritage 2022 these tapes have been digitised and made available here for you to view and look back on the people of the North-East of England over a summer Bank Holiday more than thirty years ago.