Wild Bill: Lincolnshire Police respond to ITV drama

The six-part drama stars Rob Lowe who comes to Boston, Lincolnshire, from the US to take charge of the local police force

An ITV drama starring Rob Lowe as a rural police chief has been branded "criminally inaccurate" by a UK force.

In Wild Bill, the Brat Pack heart-throb plays a grizzled US lawman transferred from Miami to the fictional East Lincolnshire Police.

Episode one saw the one-time Tinseltown hellraiser throwing a cabbage and being booked for speeding on a bicycle.

In a tongue-in-cheek tweet, the real Lincolnshire Police said: "The inaccuracies are criminal".

"It's definitely not what we are really like."

The force said it would pass "concerns about the officers portrayed" to AC-12 - the anti-corruption unit featured in the BBC's Line of Duty.

It also responded to a line in the show describing Lincolnshire as "a Godforsaken cabbage patch".

One of the opening scenes sees Lowe's Bill Hixon chasing a group of car thieves through a field and throwing a cabbage in anger as they get away.

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The force's chief constable, also named Bill, said his on-screen namesake did much more running around.

"Chasing people is definitely not what my role is about," said Bill Skelly.

And, unlike Lowe's character, Mr Skelly said he "couldn't pedal fast enough" to get a speeding ticket on his bike.

However, he said he might consider cabbage-throwing to help with stress.

In the first episode, Lowe is seen throwing a cabbage in anger after a gang of car thieves evade capture

Mr Skelly said cheeky colleagues had taken to calling him "Wild Bill", and one rogue officer had stuck a sheriff's badge on his office door.

"I suppose there are worse nicknames and being associated with a Hollywood star isn't all bad," he added.

Others have also joined in the banter, with several questioning why the drama features people with Yorkshire accents.