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The Bill series 1

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The Bill
Season 1
No. of episodes11
Release
Original networkITV
Original release16 October 1984 (1984-10-16)[1] –
22 January 1985 (1985-01-22)
Series chronology
← Previous
Pilot
Next →
2
List of episodes

The first series of The Bill, a British television drama, consisted of eleven episodes, broadcast between 16 October 1984 and 22 January 1985.

Artichoke Hill - Sun Hill Police Station Set and Location Filming

Whilst Woodentop used a traditional three-wall set built at Thames Television's studios at Teddington, for the series, Sun Hill Police Station was created by converting the premises of a two-storey former cigarette packing company on the corner of Artichoke Hill and Pennington Street, in Wapping, East London.

The police station was significantly smaller than subsequent versions, with almost-all of the interior offices being seen on-screen - Only the original packing/warehouse area alongside the rear yard not featuring. Production offices doubled with some of the sets, with the canteen being used by cast and crew, and notably Chief Superintendent Brownlow's office actually being that of producer Michael Chapman. When shooting was taking place upstairs, the production team were unable to continue typing or to take phone calls.

Located in the shadow of the towering wall that surrounded the then-disused Tobacco Dock, and alongside the cobbles of Pennington Street, the nondescript 1950's building was very much in an East-End setting. Fronting onto the short stretch of road called Artichoke Hill, road signs were simply covered with those reading Sun Hill when exterior filming was taking place.

The use of real buildings instead of traditional sets within TV studios was very unusual at that time, with Channel Four's "Brookside" being one of the few others then to do so. Hand-held video cameras allowed the actors to move from within the building directly onto the street - Something that was just not possible with traditional studio-based production and created a new degree of realism for the viewer.

Many of the crew enjoyed the autonomy of working at Thames' East London outpost, however transport links to the area were then very poor and many of the Teddington-based staff disliked the cross-city journey from West London. This remained a constant at Artichoke Hill, and may have been a factor in the choice of a West-London location when the filming base was forced to move for Series 3.

Cast and Character Changes

Although the series is a continuation of the one-off play, a number of casting and character changes were made.

The character of Sergeant Wilding changes name to Sergeant Cryer, and was recast with Eric Richard replacing Peter Dean. Since the transmission of "Woodentop", Dean had secured the role of Pete Beale in EastEnders, following the re-casting of the original choice, Leslie Grantham, as Den Watts.

Robert Pugh, who had appeared as DI Galloway, decided shortly before production was due to begin that he did not want to commit to a series and the role was recast with John Salthouse.

The senior uniformed officer, Inspector Deeping, was replaced with Chief Superintendent Brownlow, played by Peter Ellis. Ellis had auditioned originally for one of the CID characters, but was felt to be too old.

PC Morgan's name was changed to PC Edwards, although still played by Colin Blumenau.

Larry Dann was offered the part of Sergeant Alec Peters the day before filming of the first episode, after the actor originally cast in the role repeatedly forgot his lines.

Both Jon Iles (DC Dashwood) and Tony Scannell (DS Roach) were initially booked to appear in only two episodes.

The original casting was the responsibility of Pat O'Connell, and there is a strong link with some of the original male cast appearing in successful plays at the Royal Court Theatre in London during early 1983. John Salthouse and Eric Richard took the lead roles in the Martin Allen play Red Saturday, and Gary Olsen, Mark Wingett and Robert Pugh all appeared in “Welcome Home”.

Industrial Dispute - Impact on Production & Transmission

During 1984 a dispute between Thames Television and the technician's union, the ACTT led to a series of strikes which impacted the production and transmission on the ITV network of the first series.

The first series was due to consist of twelve episodes, but only eleven were fully completed.

The episodes "A Friend in Need" and "Clutching At Straws" were transmitted in their usual 9.00pm Tuesday slots on the 23rd & 30th of October 1984, in the Thames TV (London) region only, as technicians had walked-out, leaving management to run the service. ACTT members in the other ITV companies supported their London-based colleagues by refusing to transmit Thames output across the network, so these episodes were shown in all other ITV regions in February 1985, a few weeks after the last episode "The Sweet Smell of Failure" had been broadcast.

Main characters

Episodes

No. overall No. in series Title Directed by Written by Original air date
11"Funny Ol' Business - Cops and Robbers"Peter CregeenGeoff McQueen16 October 1984 (1984-10-16)
22"A Friend in Need"Peter CregeenBarry Appleton23 October 1984 (1984-10-23)
33"Clutching at Straws"Christopher HodsonBarry Appleton30 October 1984 (1984-10-30)
44"Long Odds"John Michael PhillipsGeoff McQueen6 November 1984 (1984-11-06)
55"It's Not Such a Bad Job After All"John WoodsBarry Appleton13 November 1984 (1984-11-13)
66"The Drugs Raid"John WoodsBarry Appleton20 November 1984 (1984-11-20)
77"A Dangerous Breed"Christopher HodsonBarry Appleton27 November 1984 (1984-11-27)
88"Rough in the Afternoon"Christopher HodsonJohn Kershaw4 December 1984 (1984-12-04)
99"Burning the Books"Peter CregeenBarry Appleton8 January 1985 (1985-01-08)
1010"Death of a Cracksman"Christopher HodsonBarry Appleton15 January 1985 (1985-01-15)
1111"The Sweet Smell of Failure"John Michael PhillipsBarry Appleton22 January 1985 (1985-01-22)

References

  1. ^ Colbran, M. (2014). Media Representations of Police and Crime: Shaping the Police Television Drama. Springer. p. 70. ISBN 9781137334725.
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