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The UK Home Office has teamed up with Channel 4 to tell the stories of black, female and LGBT+ police officers in a three-part series of short films.

“Untold: The Police” features members of the public from groups that are less likely to consider a career in policing interview serving officers from those same communities.

The conversations are unscripted and cover topics such as the reaction of family and friends to their career choice, inclusion, the Black Lives Matter movement, stop and search and balancing personal life with work.

The films were created by 4Studio, produced by Armoury London and directed by Jack Laurance. They launch today across Channel 4’s Facebook and YouTube accounts and are available to stream in full on All 4. The partnership was brokered by 4Sales and Manning Gottlieb OMD.

Two 30-second edits have been created for linear TV, with the first debuting this evening during The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer. They will also run on All 4, including an interactive format providing viewers with the option to click through to view the relevant full-length social film.

This is part of the Home Office’s wider "Make your dfference" campaign to recruit 20,000 additional police officers over three years. An extra 8,771 officers have been recruited so far – although this follows a 20,000 decline in police numbers in England from 2010, when the Conservatives first came to power, to 2018.

Kit Malthouse MP, policing minister at the Home Office, said: “The government’s push to recruit 20,000 extra officers gives us a once in a generation opportunity to make the police more representative of the communities they serve and ensure they are drawing from the full range of talent that this country has to offer.

“To do this, we need to be bold, honest and tackle difficult issues head on, and that is exactly what this exciting partnership with Channel 4 is doing.”

Jonathan Lewis, head of digital innovation and partnerships at Channel 4, said: “'Untold: The Police' is a brilliant example of Channel 4 working with advertisers to create powerful content that reaches new audiences with a thought-provoking message – wherever they’re watching.

“We’re really proud that Channel 4 is now the UK's most viewed social branded entertainment content partner, thanks to our unique and award-winning, social-first offer.”