Thursday, 28 March 2013 - 08:40
Police Stay in Dr. Tinus
The National Police must give permission to producer Four One Media to use police uniforms and cars in the TV series Doctor Tinus. This was ruled by the court in Amsterdam on Wednesday in the lawsuit that was filed by TV producers.
The National Police are lately trying to improve their image. As a result, they have tightened permissions to use their logo, uniforms and cars. Those can only be used if they add to the positive image of the National Police, according to the new guidelines.
The creators of the SBS6 series Doctor Tinus heard just before the start of the recording of the second season that the nerdy village agent Ken (Tygo Gernandt) was no longer allowed to wear an official police uniform. Neither was the character allowed to drive around in a police car. "The look and method of the character of the State do not match the way an agent should act."
"A producer may let a drunk cop crawl behind the wheel or let him otherwise misbehave, but the police have no obligation to contribute to that. If the viewers see the official logo of the police, they might get the impression that the police agree with the content,” the government prosecutor pleaded.
The Association of Independent Television Producers (OTP) filed a lawsuit against the State. Lawyer Bas le Poole called the refusal to allow the series to use the uniform and police car “pure censorship”.
The court ruled that the freedom of expression of the programmers outweighed, in this case, the interest of the police to protect their image. "This is clearly a drama series. Not a representation of reality. "