A new five-part BBC series on policing in the Highlands and Islands will offer a revealing insight into operations at Western Isles police station.

Camera crews were allowed into Stornoway police station and out on patrol with Western Isles officers at intervals over the past year, helping to generate some of the stories and images for the BBC Scotland and BBC Two co-commission, Highland Cops.

The series delves inside the UK’s biggest police beat, following the work of Police Scotland’s Highlands and Islands division.

Covering 12,000 square miles of lochs, glens, islands and mountains, thes division is like no other in the UK.

Across the series Highland Cops discovers what it takes to patrol the beat and keep the peace in the most beautiful – and challenging places – in Britain and highlights how cutting-edge crime fighting works alongside old-school rural policing, tackling 21st century problems that threaten traditional ways of life.

From Hebridean crofts to the housing schemes of Inverness, the series follows officers protecting endangered species, searching for missing people, policing royal visits and attending road traffic accidents.

Each week, Highland Cops showcases the skills of wildlife officers, dog handlers, CID officers, community police officers and regular police patrols.

That includes uniformed officers and CID in the Western Isles, with aspects of daily policing highlighted.

Western Isles Chief Inspector Jane Mackenzie said: "We were very pleased to host the film crew and hope they got a good perspective on the daily challenges of policing in the Western Isles."

Highland Cops is to broadcast weekly from April on BBC Scotland and BBC iPlayer, followed by BBC Two.

Vari Innes, executive producer for programme producers Firecrest Films, said: “From missing hikers in the wilderness to county lines drugs busts in the inner city, this series sheds light on what it takes to police the biggest and most unique beat in the country.”