The Bill: ITV drops police drama after 27 years

The Bill, one of the UK's longest-running TV dramas, is to be dropped by ITV in the autumn after 27 years, MediaGuardian.co.uk can reveal.

ITV has taken the decision to axe the police drama after last year's revamp and switch to a new 9pm slot failed to halt a long-term ratings decline.

The Bill last year was moved from being aired twice a week at 8pm on ITV1 to a single slot on Thursdays at 9pm. The show also switched from a 30-minute to an hour format and storylines were tweaked to take account of the new post-watershed slot.

However, ratings for the show have failed to pick up. In 2002 the show averaged more that 7 million viewers, while more recently audiences been about 3.5 million.

The broadcaster said that the decision to drop the series was made as part of a creative rethink of its drama schedule, which has seen the development of popular short run shows such as Collision and Above Suspicion, and not on cost-cutting grounds.

ITV intends to use the multimillion-pound saving from axing The Bill to create shorter run drama series for the 9pm slot with projects in the works including a new medical series with writer Peter Bowker and a new series from Collision and Foyle's War writer Anthony Horowitz.

"The Bill has been a fixture on our screens for more than 25 years and has been the home of some of the UK's best serial drama storylines, and a great showcase for terrific scriptwriting and fine acting talent," said Peter Fincham, the ITV director of television, channels and online.

"But times change, and so do the tastes of our audience. Whilst The Bill will come to an end in 2010, we will continue to invest more in drama programming than any other commercial broadcaster in the UK and viewers can look forward to a wide range of high quality drama on ITV1."

The show, which is made by independent production company TalkbackThames, is likely to prove to spark significant interest from rival broadcasters.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010...6/the-bill-itv

Perhaps they should ask themselves why ratings have dropped. :angry:

Quelle Suprise!!!!!!

NOT

The Bill will end this autumn following ITV's decision to drop the long-running police drama after 27 years.

"Times change, and so do the tastes of our audience," said Peter Fincham, the channel's director of television.

The move follows a major revamp that saw the drama relaunched as a weekly programme in a post-watershed slot.

ITV said it would invest the money it spent on the programme - first seen on the channel in 1983 - on new peak-time drama commissions




Times change but the audience did not. What happened was that they handed over the scripts to some luvvies who hadnt a clue about the fanbase of The Bill and more importantly they knew nothing about police work. Assholes thought they had the ability to make a gritty drama like The Wire, The Shield or Dark Blue when in reality they hadnt a clue what they were doing. The Bill was a hugely successful show with a loyal fanbase before the idiots tried to make it into something which was neither needed or wanted. The rot started when Paul Marquess took over and introduced the appalling David Kent aka The Chimp and was further compounded with the ridiculous Beth Green. Marquess' fondness for explosions and rapes also didnt help matters. Sun Hill was becoming more dangerous than Bagdhad.

This muppet is now in charge of Hollyoaks so we can expect it to become ridiculous before eventually disappearing.

Where will all the ex soap actors go now

Its a shame as it used to be really good, i loved the bill in the past, my favourite time that i remeber was Sheelagh and Des, and als Des and Regs relationship they were so funny tgether.

they killed it when they moved it, they alienated the audience and basically runied it,

all the people who got the axe from hollyoaks but be really upset............future work just dried up! eek

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tammyy2j

Where will all the ex soap actors go now

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Holby City :lol:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by alan45

The Bill will end this autumn following ITV's decision to drop the long-running police drama after 27 years.

"Times change, and so do the tastes of our audience," said Peter Fincham, the channel's director of television.

The move follows a major revamp that saw the drama relaunched as a weekly programme in a post-watershed slot.

ITV said it would invest the money it spent on the programme - first seen on the channel in 1983 - on new peak-time drama commissions




Times change but the audience did not. What happened was that they handed over the scripts to some luvvies who hadnt a clue about the fanbase of The Bill and more importantly they knew nothing about police work. Assholes thought they had the ability to make a gritty drama like The Wire, The Shield or Dark Blue when in reality they hadnt a clue what they were doing. The Bill was a hugely successful show with a loyal fanbase before the idiots tried to make it into something which was neither needed or wanted. The rot started when Paul Marquess took over and introduced the appalling David Kent aka The Chimp and was further compounded with the ridiculous Beth Green. Marquess' fondness for explosions and rapes also didnt help matters. Sun Hill was becoming more dangerous than Bagdhad.

This muppet is now in charge of Hollyoaks so we can expect it to become ridiculous before eventually disappearing.

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No point in beating around the bush: TT let idiots loose with the scripts and this is the end result. We all knew it was just a matter of time and I'm surprised The Bill is lasting until the end of the year. Somebody made a huge mistake with the "re-vamp," it's a shame TB is finally coming to an end.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bad Wolf

they killed it when they moved it, they alienated the audience and basically runied it,

all the people who got the axe from hollyoaks but be really upset............future work just dried up! eek

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Hollyoakes cast have good cause to be worried. Paul Marquess who ruined Brookside and the Bill has now taken over at Hollyoaks. Time to look for a career change