The Bill: ITV drops police drama after 27 years

[parkerman]

Oh well, it's all over (although my son is convinced it's all a cynical ploy and that The Bill will be brought back next year and everyone will be so pleased to see it back the ratings will soar).

Actually I thought the last two-part story was quite a decent story with plenty of uniform and CID interaction and not too much DI Manson and DS Carter. It's just a shame they had to wait till it was all over to get a good story. If they'd done this before they might never had had to axe The Bill in the first place.

[alan45]

I didnt watch the last episode of the Bill. In fact I havent watched it for some time. I will mourn its passing. In my opinion it passed away many months ago. It was suffering from a terminal illness and only kept alive by life support systems.

I really enjoyed the documentary narrated by Martin Kemp at 11-00pm last night. It showed some of the old characters and featured Tony Stamp (Graham Cole) and the blessed St June of Sunhill (Trudie Godwin) visiting the set and reminiscing.

There were so many excellent characters on The Bill over the years and its a real shame that ITV mucked about so much with the format of what was really meant to be a Uniform based series and turned it into an almost exclusively CID based drama. I feel that they should leave the Detective stuff to the yanks who are so much better at it.

I suppose we can cling to the vain hope that some other company may in the future pick up the format for the BILL and resurrect it.

Until then I will remember with fondness the likes of Tosh Lines, Jim Carver, Ted Roach, Reggie and Des, Viv Martella, et al and still hold a special place for St June

[parkerman]

Yes, I really enjoyed the documentary as well. I was particularly pleased to see some scenes from what I still consider to be the best story of all time in The Bill and probably in any police series - the Don Beech, John Boulton, Claire Stanton classic.

I thought it was very telling that the narration actually made the point that The Bill was intended in the first place as an antidote to all the CID type dramas and was supposed to be centred around the ordinary unglamorous cop on the beat. Perhaps the producers could reflect on this when they consider why the ratings dropped to the point where the show had to be axed.

[Abigail]

I watched the final episode last night with my housemate. Its the first time I've watched since they changed the format.

I didn't feel it was of the standard the show used to be but I enjoyed the ending. We thought that a bomb would go off or there would be an explosion at the end but it ended with Jack driving away.

[alan45]

I thought it was very telling that the narration actually made the point that The Bill was intended in the first place as an antidote to all the CID type dramas and was supposed to be centred around the ordinary unglamorous cop on the beat. Perhaps the producers could reflect on this when they consider why the ratings dropped to the point where the show had to be axed.

This is in my opinion why the soap formerly known as The Bill failed in its reincarnation as the Max Carter Show

[alan45]

The last ever episode of The Bill was watched by more than 4.4m viewers on Tuesday night, according to the latest audience data.

The police drama, which was axed by ITV in March after 27 years on air, averaged 4.31m (18.8%) for ITV1 in the 9pm hour and 105k (0.5%) on ITV1 HD.

The programme beat a new episode of The Deep, which grabbed 3.72m (16.3%) on BBC One from 9pm, with a further 278k (1.2%) watching on BBC HD.

[BONASERA]

This is in my opinion why the soap formerly known as The Bill failed in its reincarnation as the Max Carter Show

I agree in that moving The Bill to the 9pm was a huge mistake because it made the show into something it wasn't and that in turn made all those people who had loyaly watched turn over (or off) but I don't think becoming more CID orientated was to blame. After all wern't Burnside, Tosh Lines, Don Beech, Viv Martella all CID officers or is my memory playing tricks on me? Which you have just said yourselves were absolutely superb charaters. Lets face it with the exception of Smithy and Stone none of uniform really stood out (I miss Tony Stamp and Reg Hollis nuff said.)I for one do hope it will be back some time down the line truthfully I have a feeling like someone's already said perhaps we haven't seen the last of it in some form or another particularly if ITV suddenly find themselves struggling for ratings it was interesting to read the results of the RT poll that only 2% of voters wanted X factor type shows yet 44% wanted dramas wasn't it? I suppose only time will tell.

[alan45]

I agree in that moving The Bill to the 9pm was a huge mistake because it made the show into something it wasn't and that in turn made all those people who had loyaly watched turn over (or off) but I don't think becoming more CID orientated was to blame. After all wern't Burnside, Tosh Lines, Don Beech, Viv Martella all CID officers or is my memory playing tricks on me? Which you have just said yourselves were absolutely superb charaters. Lets face it with the exception of Smithy and Stone none of uniform really stood out (I miss Tony Stamp and Reg Hollis nuff said.)I for one do hope it will be back some time down the line truthfully I have a feeling like someone's already said perhaps we haven't seen the last of it in some form or another particularly if ITV suddenly find themselves struggling for ratings it was interesting to read the results of the RT poll that only 2% of voters wanted X factor type shows yet 44% wanted dramas wasn't it? I suppose only time will tell.

Personally I dont think the move to 9-00pm was the cause of the downfall. I believe it was a combination of factors and not least the fact that practically every new episode was CID orientated with the ubiquitous Max Carter taking the lead. The storylines became darker and of course there was that godawful music as well. Its true that in the past there were CID based stories but at least there was an interaction with the Uniform coppers just as there would be in real life. The CID officers you mention were all great characters but they were never shown at the expense of the Uniform Branch.

Of course there were some crap storylines in the past (but we shall leave Gabriel/David K*nt out of it) and some poor actors but on the whole it worked very well. Paul 'Kiss of Death' Marquess started the rot when he made Sun Hill more like downtown Baghdad or Beirut that a borough of London. There was nearly as much action in 6 months in Sun Hill that there was in 30 yrs in N. Ireland.

We can mourn The Bill and remember with fondness the good old days

[Perdita]

Uniforms used in ITV's long-running drama The Bill have been purchased by the Metropolitan Police to stop them being acquired by criminals.

A spokesman for the London force confirmed that 400kg of clothing had been bought due to fears that people could use the items to pose as police.

Shirts, trousers and pullovers were all purchased, along with 29 body armour covers, 28 high visibility jackets, four inspector Flat Caps and 22 constable bowler hats.

The spokesman would not disclose how much the acquisition had cost, but did say that any unused items would be re-issued to serving officers.

In August, The Bill came to an end on ITV after 2,400 episodes and 26 years on air, with the final episode being watched by 4.4 million viewers.

The show had been given permission by Scotland Yard to dress its actors in genuine uniforms and equipment featuring the London force's crest.

"When the announcement was made that The Bill was to cease production, the Metropolitan Police approached the production company with a view to acquiring all used and unused items of clothing and uniform," said the Met Police spokesman.

"The purpose of this approach was to ensure that Metropolitan Police uniforms did not enter the public domain and give rise to the potential use by unauthorised persons in the commission of criminal activities."

[alan45]

Kiddiecop Loses her Licence

Former Chief Constable of Sun Hill Louisa Lytton has been banned from driving for 14 months after she was found guilty of drink driving.
The 22-year-old, who played Beth Green in the ITV police drama, pledged to 'live and learn' from her mistake after she was fined £350 at the City of Westminster Magistrates' Court yesterday.
Lytton, who was charged under her real name Louise, was arrested in Belgravia in the early hours of January 30 for driving with excess alcohol.

During her court appearance, Lytton was also ordered to pay £85 costs, with an offer to reduce her 14 month ban if she completes the Secretary of State-approved course.
Her manager, Daren Dixon said afterwards: 'She is very remorseful about this, and will move on. She will live and learn from it.
'She will take the course and just get on with it, she wasn't hiding from it.
'She had only had one drink and was just over the limit, but she knows that the law is the law, she understands the severity of it, and that you can't drink and drive.'

'Ahead of her appearance, she wrote on her Twitter page yesterday morning: 'In life we make mistakes... and have to deal with the consequences.'
Lytton rose to fame in 2005 playing Ruby Allen, the spoilt teenage daughter of Walford gangster Johnny Allen (Billy Murray).

After leaving EastEnders, she was partnered with Vincent Simone in the 2006 series of Strictly Come Dancing and ended up in fourth place.
She then joined the cast of The Bill as Beth in May 2007, before leaving two years later.


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