Crimewatch is one of the BBC's biggest live studio productions. It takes a month to prepare each programme and the process starts even before the previous show has gone out.

The series producer reviews and selects the cases. Reconstructions are scripted, actors attend castings, and the films are shot and edited. Everything's cleared with BBC lawyers and the police.

On the day of broadcast, the set is assembled overnight, and there are continual rehearsals and briefings before the show goes live. Watch our clip to take a trip behind the scenes. We go backstage and show you how Crimewatch is made from the OTHER side of the camera…

Timeline

Midnight - 8am: An overnight crew assembles the studio set. This includes fitting glass panels to create the incident rooms, constructing pillars, lighting and moving in furniture.

9am - midday: The production team dress the set with graphics, pictures and incident room numbers. Phones are set up, laptops and internet connections installed. Camera crew arrive and set up.

Midday - 3.30pm: Police officers from around the UK arrive at Television Centre. The series producer makes final changes to the script and meets the programme lawyer, researchers cross check facts. Films are encoded for the website. Presenters arrive and go into make-up before the first run through.

3.30 - 6pm: Kirsty, Rav, Matthew and production staff are required on set to do a block-through rehearsal, mapping the show onto the set, and ensuring cameras and presenters are in position for specific shots.

6 - 7.30pm: Officers are shown all the reconstructions and CCTV clips. The Senior Investigating Officer (SIO) on each case then briefs the rest of the officers who will be sitting in the studio. This is because calls come in to a general number so every officer on set will need to be up to speed on the specific information officers are looking for in every case.

7.30 - 9pm: Full dress rehearsal with the officers and production staff in place. Series producer checks each element runs to time, ensuring the programme doesn't overrun its allotted air time (usually 57 mins 30 seconds). Make up is retouched, the website launches and the opening titles roll.

9 -10pm: The show is broadcast live. Production staff collect call sheets from the officers, collate information and update internal screens and website. Significant calls are continually fed to the series producer in the gallery and back down to the presenters via their earpieces to update viewers live.

10 - 10.40pm: Producers and presenters liaise to finalise the latest news on each case and run through the update show. Throughout the rehearsal production staff are monitoring new calls and updating the presenters.

10.40 -10.50pm: The update show is broadcast live with the presenters being updated live on air to give viewers the very latest information.

10.50pm - midnight: Crew dismantle the set. Officers and the TV team go for a debrief where each SIO gives an update on their case. Calls and texts continue to come in the day after the show and production staff are on hand to ensure information is passed on to the relevant forces. Officers remain in touch after the show's over giving progress reports on their cases.

Then it's back to the office to prepare for another show.

Find out about the presenters and how to watch the show again.