ABC's Ice Wars: Documentary series goes behind the scenes on death, destruction and recovery

"There had been a strange smell," says executive producer Alex Hodgkinson. "But we'd all thought it was a fire that had happened a couple more doors down. It was quite amazing because we hadn't noticed it. We walked past it every day.

"It reinforces the prevalence of ice. It can happen under your nose and you would never know. I was pretty stunned."

Ice Wars is a four-part documentary series filmed over 10-months in 2015 and last year, which aims to hammer home the insidious ubiquity of the drug.

The filmmakers were granted unprecedented access to frontline police and health workers in areas such as Blacktown and regional communities such as Nowra, Wellington and Lismore. By following the "first responders" in their daily work, what emerges is a shocking insight into the everyday world of methamphetamine , the grasp it has on vulnerable members of communities, and the tireless but tragic familiarity with which police and health workers go about their tasks .

Hodgkinson says she hopes the series makes viewers more informed, recognising the "normality" of ice in communities, and so become more engaged in the battle where they can.

The idea sprang out of an ABC documentary for the Changing Minds series, filmed at Liverpool Hospital Mental Health Unit in 2012, where a striking number of patients admitted they were experiencing psychotic episodes due to the drug.

It took about a year to get access to the police and health workers. NSW Drug Squad Commander, Detective Superintendent Tony Cooke, said the show lays bare what's happening by presenting it in plain sight.

"It's important to us to be able to highlight for people, like the community, everyday mums and dads, what the issues are," he said. "It's about providing them information. We need people to understand what the issues are and that everyone's got a role."

"Grim" is the word that describes the portrayal of ice here on all levels. There's Aaron, a patient at Blacktown Hospital who uses it to combat his schizophrenia, and is seen embroiled in rant of "deranged, deluded thoughts", as Hodgkinson puts it. There's Michael, a man in his mid-50s who has lost his family due to his addiction, and who, at the time of filming, had presented 11 times in the previous six weeks at Blacktown Hospital, amid various suicide attempts.

Then there's Cleo, a young single mum caught in a group suspected of dealing. At first she insists she doesn't touch the stuff. "It's a putrid drug, it's a backyard drug made with battery acid. It's no good, it kills people and kills families," she says, and mentions herdad is in prison because of it. Moments later an empty ice bag is found on her. She died of a suspected drug overdose just months later.

And then there are people like Tom Carroll, the 1980s surfing world champion who spiralled into ice abuse in his early 40s, a decade after retiring from professional surfing. He's spoken openly about his addiction before, which rocked his life between 2001 and 2006 when he entered rehab, but continues to contribute to campaigns about the drug.

He started taking ice at a time when he was struggling with ecstasy use, and says at first it brought to him a focus and clarity that helped him "back up" as a father and perform better. He likens it to having a "really strong cup of coffee" that would last all day, he says in the series.

"I was a real classic, underhand, in secret, behind-closed-doors addict," he says.

Eventually, feeling worthless and trapped, he entered a facility for six weeks and embarked on a program that gave him the support he needed for recovery.

Now, he says, he hopes telling his story in places such as Ice Wars will help to bring to light the path beyond. "If I just put it out there and maybe one person might get it, that's enough," he says.

WHAT Ice Wars

WHEN ABC, Tuesday, February 7, 8.30pm