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The Bill

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This article is about the British TV series. For the Polish punk rock band, see The Bill (band).
The Bill
File:Thebill.GIF
The old title card for The Bill
Created byGeoff McQueen
StarringApprox. 25 regulars
Country of originUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
No. of episodes2155
(as of April 2007) (list of episodes)
Production
ProducertalkbackTHAMES
Running time46'40" (commercial half hour)with three part breaks
Original release
NetworkITV
ReleaseAugust 16, 1983 (Pilot - as Woodentop), October 16, 1984 –
Present
Related

The Bill is a long-running British television police procedural first shown on ITV, at 8pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The omnibus edition of the show can be seen on ITV3. Past episodes can also be seen on UKTV Gold. The Bill has been broadcast in over 55 different countries, and is very popular in New Zealand and Australia, where the show is shown on the ABC on Tuesdays and Saturdays at 8:30pm, with older repeats also shown on the ABC and UKTV. In Sweden the show was retitled "Sun Hills polisstation" (Sun Hill Police Station) by broadcaster TV4. It screens in Ireland on RTÉ One. The Bill is set in and around Sun Hill police station in the fictional London borough of Canley in East London. Other police stations within the Canley Borough Operational Command Unit (BOCU), mentioned but (usually) unseen, are Barton Street, which is the location of Borough Headquarters, Stafford Row and Spicer Street. Canley is approximately contiguous with the real London Borough of Tower Hamlets, but filming takes place all over London, mainly in South London and particularly the London Borough of Merton, where the Sun Hill set is located. Sometimes scenes are filmed in East London and notably the London Docklands standing in for Canley. Canley is also the name of a real district within the city of Coventry, some 100 miles north of London.

The Bill is unusual among police shows: it takes a serial format and it does not focus on one particular area of police work. The show focuses on the work and lives of patrol and response officers on one shift in the uniform division, and the work of the CID. In its current serial format, some stories are cleared up in an episode or two, whereas others can stretch over months or even in some cases approaching a year.

It started as a one-off drama for ITV entitled Woodentop; this pilot show starred Mark Wingett as PC Jim Carver and Trudie Goodwin as WPC June Ackland on Carver's first day on the beat at Sun Hill police station. It was originally devised by Geoff McQueen, and it impressed ITV so much that they decided to make a series out of it. Wingett left the cast in early 2005, while Goodwin's last episode was broadcast on 8 March, 2007 (coincidentally the last episode since the serialised format was introduced by Paul Marquess to be broadcast without an episode title)

History

Main article: History of The Bill

Following the pilot in 1983, the first episode of The Bill was transmitted in 1984. Starting with hour-long separate storylines, The Bill went on to be half an hour in length between 1988 and 1998 before going back to hour-long episodes. From 1998 until 2002, The Bill became more serialised, and when Paul Marquess took over in 2002 Under Johnathan Young, who took over as executive producer in 2005, the more sensational storylines have been dropped, with more focus on crime storylines.

Senior Officers

The Relief

Uniformed Inspectors

Uniformed Sergeants

Uniformed Constables

Criminal Investigation Department (CID)

Detective Inspectors

Detective Sergeants

Detective Constables

Police Staff

Recurring Characters

Along with the regular characters, because The Bill is a serial drama, there are many other characters who although not classed as regular characters, appear a considerable number of times in a certain storyline. Some current recurring characters are:


Main article: List of The Bill characters

Upcoming Character Changes

Template:Spoilers

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DVD releases

UK

  • Series 1, 2 & 3 have been released
  • Series 4 & 5 are yet to be confirmed

Australia

  • Seasons 1,2 and 3. 12 Disc Super Wallet (36 episodes including the pilot)
  • Seasons 4 and 5. 12 Disc Super Wallet (48 episodes)
  • Seasons 6 and 7. ?? Disc Super Wallet (104 episodes - Yet to be confirmed) - Set for release August 2007

Trivia

  • Prince William has admitted that he enjoys The Bill and June Ackland is his favourite.[citation needed]
  • The police uniforms used in the series are genuine and are locked away for security reasons every night with no complete uniform being locked in any one cupboard.
  • In the early days of The Bill a local resident registered her protest at what she deemed to be a stereotypical portrayal of council estates as hotbeds of crime. She held up filming by stationing herself in the background with an ironing board, iron and basket full of laundry.
  • Real police officers took such a dim view of previews they were shown from the first series of The Bill that they refused to attend the launch party. The Police Federation later attacked the programme for implying that racial prejudice existed within the Force.
  • When filming on location, The Bill does not have permission to use sirens. These are added in the dubbing suite.[1]
  • The doors of Custody used to be made of plywood, with the resounding "bang" also being added in the dubbing suite. In May 2007, they were changed to metal doors, which lock fully.[1]
  • Tony Blair and his family recently came out as fans of The Bill.[citation needed]
  • 2006 is the first year since 2001 that has not involved the death of a police officer in the series.
  • Sarah Tansey, who plays the reccurring role of missing 7 year old Amy Tennant's step-mother Ruth Barker, is married to Hywel Simons, who played Sergeant Craig Gilmore until 2003.
  • In an on-going storyline of Gina Gold having a romantic fling with businessman Peter Harris, who turned out to be married, Roberta Taylor played opposite her real-life husband Peter Guiness.
  • The first line spoken in Woodentop was Jim Carver (Mark Wingett), saying "Okay Carver, let's do this" as he got out of bed. An almost identical scene with the same line opened the episode where Jim married Sgt. June Ackland in 2004. They were also the final words spoken by the character when he left the series in 2005.
  • The opening titles used from around 2003 until 2007 included a shadowed stylised map of London, with areas supposedly showing police districts. These are actually a scan of the 'key to pages' found at the start of the London A-Z. Looking carefully at the titles one can clearly see the words "Large scale section [pages] 158-173".
  • The Bill is recorded at Bosun House which is the building portrayed as Sun Hill Police Station instead of a studio set. Bosun House is situated in South Wimbledon,London
  • The fictional telephone number of the station located on the notice board at the front desk is 020 7511 1642.
  • In the 2005 live episode, since the action was filmed live at the Sun Hill set, crowds of people watching the filming can be seen across the road from the station entrance. Also, in the scene where the car flips over, a boom mike operator can be seen running across the screen, apparently unaware that he is being filmed.
  • In an episode on 15 February 2007, the actor playing a criminal involved in a car dealership scam was called Bob Cryer. This episode also included Lisa Maxwell's (Samantha Nixon) first appearance as a permanent Detective Inspector.
  • In the 2007 episode where Sgt Dale Smith is held at gun point by Ryan Jones, Ryan is carrying a magnum if you look carefully you can see he has no bullets in the gun. .[citation needed]
  • Jesse Birdsall, the actor who played Gillian Taylforth's (Sgt Nikki Wright) character's husband in 'Footballer's Wives' once appeared as a criminal who blackmailed DS Phil Hunter. Taylforth also starred along side Gary Lucy (PC Will Fletcher) in the series.
  • "The Bill's" theme music is called "Overkill", written by Andy Pask and Charlie Morgan. There are several versions of this theme. The first, used between 1984 - 1987, featured a guitar riff, with bass and drum accompaniment, with "middle-eight" sections performed on synthesizers. The second is a remix of the first, used between 1988 - 1998. Instead of the guitar riff, it was replaced with a more bouncy saxophone riff, and is better known than the original. Both versions were written in the irregular time of 7/8 with the exception of the "middle-eight" sections which were written in 4/4.
  • Sam Callis, who will play new arrival Sgt Callum Stone later this year appeared in The Bill in 2004 as Karl Radford.
  • As of March 2007, Jeff Stewart (PC Reg Hollis) is the last remaining original cast member from the first episode in 1984. Trudie Goodwin left in March 2007, after playing WPC/Sgt. June Ackland since 1983 in the pilot Woodentop. Long-standing cast member Mark Wingett (PC/DC Jim Carver) left the series in February 2005, but returned briefly for Goodwin's leaving storyline. Original cast members Peter Ellis (Chief. Supt. Charles Brownlow) and Eric Richard (Sgt. Bob Cryer) left in 2000 and 2001 respectively, although both returned briefly for guest starring spots, as did Larry Dann (Sgt. Alec Peters).
  • A two-part story featuring Superintendent Garrett (Tony Osoba) was recorded in 1994, but never transmitted.[citation needed]
  • In November 2006, thieves stole editing machines and master tapes from the shows studios in Merton, South West London. Posing as a worker and wearing a high-visibility jacket, one of the thieves followed a real worker into the studios and took the equipment, walked out with it and was driven off in a getaway van.[2] Two episodes (468 and 469) were dropped from the schedules in late December 2006, and it is rumoured that the stolen tapes contained scenes from these episodes. The scenes were re-filmed, with the episodes being re-edited to fit continuity with present storylines and were transmitted Wednesday 9th May (Episode 468 (Renamed "Blood Money")) and Thursday 10th May (Episode 469 (Renamed "To Honour and Obey")).
  • Burnside (Christopher Ellison) was originally called "Tommy" when he guest starred in series one and two, but when he appeared as a regular character from 1988 onwards his first name was changed to "Frank". This was because there was a real-life "Tommy Burnside" serving in the Metropolitan police at the time.
  • Rick Wakeman was offered the chance to write the theme tune either for this series or for "Lytton's Diary" (1985). He chose the latter, believing that it had the best potential of the two to be a long running series. It ran for two seasons. The job went to Andy Pask and Charlie Morgan who wrote "Overkill".

Spin-offs

The Bill has spawned three spin-off productions.

The first of these was known as Burnside. It lasted a single series of six episodes, the first of which debuted on 7 July 2000. The series focused on the newly promoted DCI Burnside as a member of the National Crime Squad. It was created and produced by Richard Handford.

The second spin-off debuted in 2001, and also lasted only six episodes, although was more of a break away from the regular Bill (it was shown in the Bill timeslot) than a complete spin-off. Beech is Back focused on dodgy ex-DS Don Beech, still on the run from Claire Stanton who wants him brought to justice for the murder of her boyfriend DS John Boulton. None of the episodes were given titles, with each being part of a single six part serial. At the end Beech is brought to justice and sent to prison, although he would return in The Bill three years later.

In 2003, ITV debuted the third spin-off of the show, entitled MIT: Murder Investigation Team. The first episode investigated the drive-by shooting of Sgt. Matthew Boyden, who had been at Sun Hill for eleven years. The first series consisted of ten one-hour episodes. The second series was filmed in 2004, but not shown until mid 2005, and consisted of four ninety-minute episodes. It featured Eva Sharpe (Diane Parish) from The Bill, who had transferred to MIT. (Before it was broadcast, it was also rumoured to feature Chris Simmons as Mickey Webb, who had recently departed from The Bill, but these rumours turned out to be false). The series was created by Paul Marquess. The second series was produced by Jonathan Young.

Other versions

A German version of The Bill, utilising original Bill scripts was produced for RTL Television from 1994 to 2006. It was called Die Wache. [6] [7]

References

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference inside story was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Nathan, Sara (2006-11-10). "The Bill's master tapes stolen". The Sun. Retrieved 2007-06-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

See also

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