Serious repeat offending in the UK is at a record high. There are now over 100,000 hardened criminals with more than 15 convictions to their name, and their numbers are constantly increasing.

Between them, these serial offenders are responsible for more than a third of all crime in this country. Breaking into people’s homes, stealing from cars and robbing business; these serial offenders are causing ordinary, law-abiding people misery, fear and heartache. And they’re costing the country millions.

With extraordinary access to some of the UK’s most prolific criminals, and also to the cops faced with the unenviable task of trying to get them to go straight, Career Criminals simultaneously explores life on both sides of the law.

This new series takes an unflinching look at the everyday reality of crime in this country, meeting the unabashed career criminals who are robbing us all blind, and the cops trying new tactics in the hope of persuading some of them to turn their backs on their lives of crime. Offenders and officers speak with honesty, humour and sometimes breathtaking frankness about crime, about justice, and about the reality of rehabilitation.