History of The Bill

From the ITV police drama's first screening in 1983, the history of The Bill includes a variety of major plotlines and changes to the programme's format.

1983: Pilot

During 1983, Thames Television broadcast a one-off drama called Woodentop. It was written by Geoff McQueen, who had previously worked on LWT's The Gentle Touch. Woodentop followed Police Constable Jim Carver (Mark Wingett) on his first day, mentored by Woman Police Constable June Ackland (Trudie Goodwin). The production was seen as innovative for the use of natural lighting, hand-held cameras and an authentic portrayal of British policing. Thames Television commissioned 12 further episodes for transmission in 1984.

Woodentop was directed by Peter Cregeen, who had played a part in Z-Cars and Juliet Bravo. The cast included Peter Dean as Sergeant Wilding who went on to play Peter Beale in EastEnders.

1984-1987: "The Originals"

The first episode of The Bill was broadcast at 21:00 hours, on 16 October 1984. From the pilot episode, the actors who portrayed Carver, Ackland, Litten and Morgan (renamed to Edwards) were retained. The character of Detective Inspector Roy Galloway was also retained from the pilot, but was recast to be played by John Salthouse. Several new characters were introduced, such as Sergeant Bob Cryer (replacing Sergeant Bob Wilding from the pilot), Detective Sergeant Tommy Burnside (later changed to Frank) and Chief Superintendent Charles Brownlow.

Early episodes of The Bill had a duration of fifty minutes, with thirty-five being produced over the first three series of The Bill. The fifty-minute episodes were broadcast post watershed, allowing the programme to include scenes of nudity, drug use, violence and swearing.

The Bill's production base changed from the first two series where it was filmed in Wapping, east London, due to an industrial dispute at an adjoining premises. During March 1987, filming for the third series went ahead in Ladbroke Grove, west London. In 1989, the location changed to Merton, South London, a production base they used till the series ended.

The early series was considered to be realistic of how the police operated, with Geoff McQueen's focus on the mundane and the ordinary aspects of a police station, such as filling in forms and paperwork. The investigations displayed in each episode would vary from muggings and domestics, to bomb scares and armed robbery.

1988-1998: Change to the half-hour format

During 1988, the decision was made by Thames Director of Programmes to extend the show to a half-hour episode twice a week. The programme was also moved to pre-watershed rather than post, significantly curbing bad language and violence. The new format aired on 19 July 1988.

During 1989, Peter Cregeen left ITV to work for the BBC and was replaced by Michael Chapman. Meanwhile, the owners of the set of Sun Hill Police Station set in Barlby Road, decided to renovate the building. This caused Thames Television to look for a new area to host the filming of the police station and selected a disused hospital in Clapham, but this did not go ahead. Instead, Thames settled for an old wine warehouse in Merton industrial estate, near Wimbledon, South London.

In 1993, the continued success of the programme led to ITV commissioning three weekly episodes which began at the start of the year.

In 1994, the show celebrated its 10th anniversary in October. The special anniversary episodes that week followed Detective Inspector Sally Johnson in court charged with manslaughter after a drug user had died during a police raid. In July that year, the creator and writer Geoff McQueen, died at the age of 46. In 1995, Detective Sergeant Don Beech joined the ranks of Sun Hill, later causing the removal of the CID team in 2000.

During 1997, The Bill underwent a series of changes. The Bill's ratings were challenged by BBC One who introduced a number of docusoaps such as Driving School. Michael Chapman, having been Executive Producer since 1989, handed over to Richard Handford. The new Executive Producer introduced a different title sequence, changing the previous theme music and removing the "plodding feet" at the end credits, with a new one-hour-long format introduced in August that year.

1998-2002: hour-long episodes return

After 1998, the original foundations of Geoff McQueen's writing was relaxed to include some characters' private lives, but still remained that an incident would not be seen without a member of cast involved. The old title sequences were entirely removed, in favour of displaying things that are seen to be associated with policing, such as reflective jackets, a suspect being interviewed, and a map in the CAD room. The theme tune was also revamped, with a change from the irregular time signature.

During 2000, the programme witnessed one of the largest cast changes in its history. This was partly due to Detective Sergeant Don Beech's corrupt activities which led to the storyline known as the Don Beech Scandal. The scandal was brought about by Beech entering into a corrupt business relationship with a local crime boss, Howard Fallon, who frequently paid Beech to delay investigations and lose evidence. Unknown to Beech, fellow Detective Sergeant Claire Stanton was an undercover officer from the Complaints Investigation Bureau (CIB) who had infiltrated Sun Hill CID to expose suspected corruption. Don Beech also killed Detective Sergeant John Boulton who was in a relationship with Claire Stanton. After killing Boulton, Beech fled to Australia giving way to two spin-off programmes, Beech on the Run and Beech is Back. Don Beech's actions led to the departure of seven characters and the introduction of six new characters.

During 2001, Sergeant Bob Cryer was forced into early retirement after he was mistakenly shot during an armed siege by Constable Dale Smith, who was at the time attached to SO19. Cryer was replaced by Sergeant Craig Gilmore. The title sequence was changed to include static photos of the cast and the music was remixed to include the "Overkill" theme tune, last featured in 1988. The series was also broadcast in widescreen ratio, for the first time.

2002-2007: serial format

During 2002, Executive Producer Richard Handford left the show at the start of the year, being replaced on a temporary basis by Chris Parr. In February, Paul Marquess become the show's producer. Paul Marquess who had previously worked on Brookside, changed the format of The Bill to a serial one, rather than the previous stand alone episodes which included a soap opera narrative.

2002 gave way to several major storylines and the axing of characters, such as the murder of Chief Inspector Derek Conway, when the panda car he was driving was petrol bombed in March that year. Following Conway's death, a memorial fund was organised and a large sum of money was donated by Superintendent Tom Chandler, which prompted Constable Des Taviner to donate an even large sum of money which he had confiscated off a group of youths. While a petrol bombing attack was underway on the police station, Des Taviner discovered that the money was forged. Taviner managed to get hold of a petrol bomb, and threw it into a temporary office in the station yard, where the money was being kept in an attempt to destroy the evidence. Unknown to Des, contractors had left their gas canisters in the office. The canisters ignited leading to the Sun Hill Fire, which caused the death of six characters.

During 2003, a live episode of The Bill was broadcast to commemorate the 20th anniversary since the pilot episode, Woodentop. The live episode centred on a siege in the yard, involving a drunken man taking Detective Constable Juliet Becker hostage with a knife, after Constable Cathy Bradford had failed to search the man. Juliet Becker later died of her injuries. During September 2005, a second live episode was broadcast to celebrate the 50th anniversary of ITV1. The second live episode centred on Sun Hill Police Station under siege, after a grief-stricken father laid siege to the station after the driver of the car that killed his son was found to be not guilty.

During 2005, a second fire at Sun Hill was caused by Police Community Support Officer Colin Fairfax crashing a van laden with explosives into the front office of Sun Hill Police Station, as a revenge attack after he had been dismissed for his racist behaviour towards Constable Leela Kapoor. This storyline caused the death of three characters.

While the series remained fairly grounded in the early days of the new serial format, gradually more sensational and soapy storylines were introduced, many of these aimed to boost the show's ratings. The earliest of these took place in 2002 where viewers witnessed a gay kiss between PC Luke Ashton and Sgt. Craig Gilmore. More of these particular scenes would follow, for example with the lesbian kiss between DS Debbie McAllister and DC Juliet Becker. The show later went on to tackle same-sex marriage in the police force, with the partnership registry of PC Lance Powell and Sgt. Mark Rollins in 2005. The Bill under Marquess featured a male on male rape storyline in 2003, where the victim was DC Mickey Webb, and later in 2005 Sgt. June Ackland revealed she was raped in her teens by a 13-year-old boy. Other sensational aspects of the show were the manner in which characters were killed off - such as the death of PC Cass Rickman at the hands of a serial killer, and that of Superintendent Tom Chandler who shot himself after raping his wife DS Debbie McAllister. Chandler was replaced by Adam Okaro, a black Superintendent played by Cyril Nri. The misguided PC Gabriel Kent became the most prominent character in the darker and sensational storylines, joining the series in early 2003 and lasting out the remainder of the Marquess era as an increasingly unhinged individual. Arguably the most controversial storyline during the Marquess period was the relationship between PC Kent and what viewers assumed was his birth mother, Sgt. June Ackland. PC Kent often stretched viewer credibility with the crimes which he was willing to commit in order to keep his secrets, including deliberately killing his colleague PC Kerry Young while managing to avoid the evidence ever pointing back to him.

Another sensational storyline of Marquess's tenure came when the station suffered another explosion in February 2005, three years after the previous, this time caused by disaffected PCSO Colin Fairfax, who drove a van into the front of the station, killing DC Ken Drummond, (who was in the back of the van), SRO Marilyn Chambers and PC Andrea Dunbar (an undercover journalist). A few months after the episode aired, Paul Marquess was signed away by Endemol, the makers of Big Brother, to head their new drama division. His replacement was Johnathan Young, whose name has appeared on the credits since September 2005. Under Johnathan Young's tenure, a second live episode was broadcast on 22 September 2005 to mark the ITV Network's 50th anniversary. The episode was written by Graham Mitchell and, again, co-produced and directed by Sylvie Boden. The Serial format remained in place for the first few months of Johnathan Young era but gradually the serial format was drifted away.

2007-2009: crime based stories

During 2006/ 2007 Johnathan Young began retooling the programme which led to noticeable changes in The Bill. Whilst personal storylines remain, they are of less abundance than before, and more time is spent on crime-based Stories. The episode titles were reintroduced beginning with Episode # 490 which was titled Sweet Revenge - broadcast on 21 March 2007, which saw the serial format dropped. A spokesperson for the programme commented on how the titles summed up the 'essence' of an episode. Sensational storylines have also been dropped since 2007. The deaths of officers are far less frequent and the focus of the more dramatic storylines is largely on the crimes being dealt with, and not on the personal lives or conduct of the officers. Arguably the most memorable storyline of the Young era so far was DC Zain Nadir's undercover operation.

By mid-2007, The serial format remains in place, the storylines are generally more self-contained and are often dealt with in two or three episode blocks and there is little to no sensational stories or stories about the characters' private lives. An example of this might be the recent Closing The Net two-part storyline and Witness, a storyline which spanned out over eight episodes . The Bill has more frequently featured self-contained episodes, focusing on one or more crime storylines wrapped up in one hour. In this way, the programme more closely resembles the earlier period helmed by Richard Handford.

Jonathan Young also axed a few characters in his first few months in the job;

On 3 January 2007 to bring in the new year, the episode opening titles were revamped once again, paying homage to the original 1984 titles. The 2007 ones have shots of London, interspersed with police work and shots of Sun Hill Police Station. The break bumpers and music were also updated.

Because of the more compact and less serialised format adopted under Johnathan Young, episode titles were reintroduced, beginning with Episode # 490 which was titled Sweet Revenge - broadcast on 21 March 2007. A spokesperson for the programme commented on how the titles summed up the 'essence' of an episode.

2009–2010: grittier drama

In 2009, the show moved to 9:00 PM with only one episode a week, and the format also received significant changes; the new show was much more focused on the crime rather than the officers, personal stories vanished and incidental music was introduced. The show moved post-watershed, after being pre-watershed for twenty-one years, in order to feature grittier, more action-packed scenes. This was arguably one of the most serious revamps in the show's history.

The result of the once a week move was a significant cutdown of the cast. During 2009, nine on-screen characters were written out:

  • PC Beth Green - Departed in "Leap of Faith: Part 2" on 18 February 2009. She joined Witness Protection.
  • PC Arun Ghir - Departed on "Decision Time" on 19 February 2009, after he was suspended following an incident and later resigned from the force.
  • PC/ Sgt Diane Noble - Returned to Sun Hill as a sergeant, the third uniformed sgt after Rachel Weston's promotion, following a sabbatical but later announced she was transferring to Barton Street the 3rd uniformed sergeant's job was not replaced.
  • DC Kezia Walker - Departed in Conviction: Judgement Day; she left Sun Hill to join a People Trafficking unit after being asked by Superintendent John Heaton. Her position in CID was not replaced.
  • DS Stuart Turner - Departed in Conviction: Judgement Day; she left Sun Hill to join a People Trafficking unit after being asked by Superintendent John Heaton. His former position of DS was given to DC Stevie Moss.
  • Inspector Rachel Weston - Departed in Conviction: Judgement Day; she left Sun Hill to join a People Trafficking unit after being asked by Superintendent John Heaton. Sergeant Dale Smith replaced her as Inspector. Smithys position was not replaced.
  • Superintendent John Heaton - Departed in "Conviction: Judgement Day"; he left Sun Hill to join a People Trafficking unit. DCI Jack Meadows took over as Sun Hill's Superintendent, Jack's former position of DCI was not replaced and DI Neil Manson took over the reins as head of CID.
  • PC Sally Armstrong - Departed in Unforgiven on 17 December 2009; the reasons behind Sally's departure are not given.
  • PC Millie Brown – Departed in "On the Streets: Part 2" on 29 December 2009; like PC Sally Armstrong, Millie's reasons for departing are not revealed.

Long-running veteran character PC Tony Stamp was sacked by the show's producers; they said that Stamp did not 'fit in with the show's new dynamic'. Actor Graham Cole said he was devastated to leave the show. Tony Stamp last appeared in the episode "Rescue Me" on 5 November 2009; the character left to join Police Training school Hendon as an advanced driving instructor. Stamp's position at Sun Hill was replaced by new area car driver PC Kirsty Knight.

The show began high definition broadcasts on 1 July 2009 with episode number 682, titled "Conviction: Cover Up". Two episodes later, the episode numbers were reset to 001, on the third episode of a six-part story, and also, due to episodes being aired out of production order, meaning that the episode numbers 684–689 and 691-693 went unused even though episodes 690 and 694–697 had already been broadcast.

2010: Cancellation

After less than a year in its new format, with declining ratings, on 26 March 2010, it was announced that ITV would not be commissioning further episodes beyond the current series, citing the new format failing to arrest the ratings decline.[1] However, fans started fighting back, with online petitions, Facebook groups and media attention, in order to get ITV to reconsider. The final episode of The Bill was aired on Tuesday, 31 August 2010, followed by a special tribute show named "Farewell The Bill".

References
  1. Sweney, Mark (26 March 2010). "The Bill: ITV drops police drama after 27 years". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
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