The BBC have announced they are axing Crimewatch after 33 years of solving crimes across the UK.

Since it was first broadcast in the summer of 1984, the programme has featured hundreds of appeals for information and reconstructed crimes to catch those responsible and bring them to justice.

But despite Crimewatch being credited for helping solve some of the country's most notorious crimes, the BBC said they were cancelling it to make way for other programmes, although the daytime sister edition Crimewatch Roadshow would continue to be broadcast.

Chester has been featured on the show a number of times over the years, but we've uncovered this video that shows actual footage from 1988 as police appealed to solve a series of petrol bombings in the city centre.

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Introduced by veteran Crimewatch presenter Nick Ross, the reconstruction follows the events of Saturday February 27, 1988 when thugs planted petrol firebombs through the front doors of four estate agencies in Watergate Street.

The Prudential, Jordan's and Beresford Estate Agents were among those businesses targeted after dark, and one police officer narrowly avoided serious injury as he walked away from one of the shops just seconds later.

Despite the explosions, nobody was killed or injured in the attacks, something Nick Ross said was 'out of luck as much as judgment.'

The video shows what has changed in the city centre in 29 years, including a very different looking Town Hall Square and a number of shops and businesses that have long since closed.