August 13, 2026
Courtesy of/SEPTA Media Relations
A production crew will be filming SEPTA Transit Police officers through at least late October for an upcoming docuseries, the authority said.
SEPTA's police department will be the focus of a docuseries that depicts their everyday lives as law enforcement officers for one of the country’s largest transit systems.
Videographers and production assistants began shadowing officers two weeks ago, filming them conducting their work duties and showing a "lighthearted" side to the police force. Filming will likely continue through at least late October, SEPTA representatives said Thursday.
An email was sent last week to SEPTA employees that notified them of the "yet-untilted documentary-style series" that's currently in production.
"SEPTA is partnering with a UK-based agency, named Double Act Productions, to offer viewers a unique perspective of SEPTA law enforcement, allowing the audience to get to know some of the men and women of SEPTA's 200-plus strong police force as they face the challenges of patrolling the sixth-largest transit system in the country," the internal statement said.
Interviews will be combined with body-camera recordings and surveillance footage that spans multiple months for a 10-episode series that is slated for broadcast on A&E next year. Any passersby or SEPTA passengers who are not comfortable being filmed can express that to either a transit officer or member of the film crew, SEPTA said.
"It's not just going to be the gritty side of policing on the system," John Golden, SEPTA senior press officer, said Thursday. “There’s going to be lighthearted stuff on there, too. It's a lot of showing the personalities and the people behind the SEPTA Transit Police Department. So there's going to be a nice balance for programming."
Over the past few weeks, SEPTA riders have posted on social media to flag the presence of camera operators wearing vests that say "Press" while filming the authority's police force on the system's subway and bus lines.
A user on the r/philly subreddit posted a roughly 1:45 minute video showing two officers being filmed while confronting two people that appear to be using drugs on the Market-Frankford Line. In the video, an officer can be heard saying to the camera that the passenger "fell asleep with a broken pipe in his hand."
Andrew Busch, director of media relations with SEPTA, said Double Act Productions has to adhere to the authority’s standard media policies, but crews are just "a little more intensive" due to the nature of the project.
"Our department does great work out there," Busch said. "It's difficult to see all the time because the system is so vast, but this is a different kind of perspective that we thought would be good to show. We want our riders to see it and we think it's really going to shine a light on the great work that they’re doing."
Although SEPTA has an active partnership with Double Act Productions, the filmmakers have full editorial control over the final product.
"We're comfortable that [Double Act Productions] are going to represent things in a way that's accurate and not trying to make things look sensational or anything like that," Busch said.
The authority was first approached by the production company about the possibility of being filmed for a docuseries late last year, Busch said. Crews came to the city in April and filmed for around two weeks before the project fully got off the ground.
Busch said during pre-production meetings, SEPTA officials saw the project as an opportunity to tell a compelling story about the role its police force has played to reduce major crime on the system. Earlier this week, the force reported a 21% drop in serious crimes in the second quarter of 2026 compared with the same time last year.
"In addition to stories about our success with bringing crime down, the fact that the vast majority of our officers are on foot patrols was compelling to [Double Act Productions]," Busch said. "When they went out with them on patrols in the spring, they were able to see first-hand how foot patrols lend themselves to more interaction between police officers and the public."
Double Act Productions has produced dozens of documentary-style TV series for networks and streaming services including the BBC, National Geographic, Netflix and Discovery Channel. Some of its most notable works includes the production of "Jared from Subway: Catching a Monster" for Discovery+, "The Real Bling Ring: Hollywood Heist" for Netflix and "Italia 90: When Football Changed Forever."
Its repertoire also includes a flurry of true-crime dramas like "Swamp Patrol," which follows law enforcement officers operating in "America's most unforgiving swamps," and "Border Invasion USA," which follows police taking down "smugglers" at the U.S.-Mexico border. They also produce the dating show "Virgin Island," which follows 12 adult virgins who are pushed to embrace their intimacy while staying on a luxury retreat in the Mediterranean.
A representative with Double Act Productions did not respond to a request for comment about the SEPTA project.
"We've seen a little bit of a teaser roll that they put together for A&E and it's a really interesting treatment, I think it's going to be very engaging and very interesting for people who know stuff to watch it," Busch said. "We're really excited about it."
