By LOUISA CLEAVE
Mel Draper is your average British 22-year-old raving all Saturday night at a club with the aid of an illegal substance.
But, uh-oh, what's this?
She's late for work and jumps into the nearest taxi. A few minutes later she is pulling on her police uniform for a day on the beat.
The opening scene of The Cops (TV3, 9.30 pm) achieved what every new television show craves - controversy.
It brought a negative reaction from the top brass in Britain, says actress Katy Cavanagh, owner of the blonde head we see leaning over the line of speed in tonight's first episode.
"The police got uncomfortable about that [drugs scene]. I think it's very, very rare but it could happen and I'm sure it has happened," says the 24-year-old after the final shoot for the third series in England.
She says the scene was less controversial among police on the ground, who have embraced The Cops despite its portrayal of the force as a bunch of thugs, racists and drug-takers.
"I've been stopped in the street by coppers on the beat who absolutely love it and think it's brilliant.
"Nobody has given me any bad feedback about it, but obviously they've got a difficult job to do and they don't want their image to be tarnished."
Cavanagh spent time with the real law enforcers and walked away with not only a healthy respect for their work but the certainty that The Cops was not all fiction.
"You don't tend to think of them like this, but they're all people, they're all fallible and they all go to work with a hangover.
"I don't think [the show] gives them a bad press. It gives them good press in a lot of ways.
"It shows how hard they work and how difficult the job is."
The Cops comes from executive producer Tony Garnett, who brought viewers the short-lived This Life, another series which did not shy away from controversy, and also the hugely successful Ballykissangel and Between The Lines.
"The writing is absolutely brilliant ... and that is one of the things that makes the show, because it's so natural, it's so raw,"says Cavanagh.
The BBC promotes the five central characters in the show as: sex-offender, thug, racist, drug-taker and perjurer.
Cavanagh points out that The Cops will not be everyone's cup of tea and expects the less-than-law-abiding actions of the police characters to shock some viewers.
"Every character has a good and a bad side, which is great because you can play a much a more complex character than your stereotypical cop."
Cavanagh is contemplating a fourth series as Mel Draper, who continues to be torn between the responsibilities of her job and the temptations in her social life.
"With a character like Mel there's only so far I can go with her. She does have to become boring or she does have to leave the police force.
"She can't continue to be torn between two minds. Everyone would get bored with that and I would get bored acting it."
TV: Bad sides of boys and girls in blue
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