Former Crimewatch presenter Nick Ross has asked Oxfordshire residents about their experiences of crime for a new primetime TV show on the BBC.

Mr Ross left the Crimewatch programme after 23 years in July last year and is now filming a new series, which is expected to be called The Truth About Crime and shown on BBC1 in the Spring.

Mr Ross and film crews are talking to people about crime in a number of locations around the UK.

The team has been filming in Oxford for the past two weeks.

On Monday the presenter launched a questionnaire, which he hopes thousands of people in the county will complete.

Mr Ross said: “I can promise the series will throw up a lot of surprises.

“It will challenge everything from how much crime there is, and who does it, through to the purpose of the police and the courts, and the millions spent on rehabilitation.

“And I’m pretty sure we’ll show a host of new solutions.”

Mr Ross said people would be able to take part in the questionnaire on an anonymous basis. He hoped between 1,000 and 10,000 people would take part over the next month.

“If someone confesses to a crime we will know they come from an area containing 2,500 homes, but not who they are,” he said.

“We are hoping to get thousands of people in Oxford alone, who will answer the questionnaire and tell us what their real experiences are.”

Mr Ross said Oxford had been chosen as one of three main locations for filming because its ‘town and gown’ mix and because its crime rates made it a “typical” city.

Thames Valley Police and other emergency services were consulted, together with Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals and the county council’s trading standards department.

When the Oxford Mail pointed out to Mr Ross that our Freedom of Information request showed in Sept- ember that the people of Oxfordshire were only told about three crimes for every 1,000 committed over a four-week period this summer, he asked to see a copy of the story and said: “We need to become more sophisticated in how we judge what police tell us.

“If I am photographed next to two bikes in Oxford and both are stolen, one may end up a crime statistic if it is insured, while the other does not because it is not insured.”

Film crews captured footage of drinkers coming in and out of the city’s pubs and Mr Ross added: “What struck me is that whenever a fight develops, there are police or Pcsos there very quickly, so we have not seen fights develop into a major bundle.”

One woman who contacted police to report an assault was actually injured when she fell down in the street after drinking too much alcohol, said the show’s producer Alice Perman.

Vicky Brandon, a spokesman for Thames Valley Police, said: “Film crews have been accompanying police officers and staff over the past two weeks and working with other partner agencies.”

The questionnaire can be found at the website oxfordcrimequestionnaire.co.uk affrench@oxfordmail.co.uk