ITV to drop One Episode of The Bill per week

From Today's Sun

ITV chiefs are set to slash The Bill to just one episode a week — as ratings fall, TV Biz can reveal.

The cop drama, which has been running for nearly 23 years, is currently screened on Wednesdays and Thursdays in a primetime 8pm slot.

But ratings have dropped by a million to an average of five million. Bosses tried to revamp the cast by hiring ex-EastEnder Louisa Lytton. Hardly one of their better ideas
But insiders fear storylines have gone off the boil. And the show has not been helped by the departure of long-running stars including Trudie Goodwin, whose final scenes were shown in March.

A TV insider said: “We have a big responsibility to make sure ITV primetime stays fresh.

“As part of this we are looking at taking The Bill down to one episode a week.

“ITV are getting a bit bored of The Bill and are keen to try out new dramas at 8pm.”

ITV have recently launched a revamped Jane Austen season and have commissioned a new drama, Rock Rivals, by the makers of Footballers Wives.

The news comes as BBC1’s EastEnders is set to go to five episodes a week to rival Corrie and Emmerdale.

I look forward to my Bill fix on Wednesday and Thursday nights, i hope they don't cut it down as i would hate to loose viewing time on it.

Well I have to admit that I do think that the Bill has gone down hill a bit and I do tend to swap an episode or two for alternative viewing these days, for starters we have gone back to Sam domination.


More Corrie and Emmerdale and yes I'm all for more ITV drama but not Jane Austen pleeeeeassssse!
As for Eastenders going five times a week to rival Corrie and Emmerdale:rotfl: :rotfl:

Here's an idea: if ITV are getting bored of TB why not bring in different scriptwriters instead of cutting it down to 1 episode a week?

Can't say I'm happy about it, its one of the few things I look forward to in the evenings.

I lost interested in the bill a while back i don't know what happened. I last watched properly when Kerry and Smithy were in it and the story where Honey married that weird bloke. Since then i havent really bothered about it.

I reckon if they getviewing figures back up during 1 episode per week and then it may go back to do. I think it's a better idea than trying to compete all the time. Remember Quality not Quantity.

I have to say i lost interest in the Bill a while back. I used to love watching it on a Wednesday and Thursday night, but since Gabriel's exit, i have to confess that i lost interest. I think it's partly because i go out on a Wednesday night anyway, and then i can't be bothered to catch up with it on Thursday and also, i have watched alternative viewing in that Thursday 8pm slot anyway.

Cutting it back to one night a week though i don't think will make much of a difference in my opinion. They need to sort out their storylines and characters as ratings must have fell because people lost interest, and because of the show itself.

I don't really watch the show but I do think this is a good idea and I think ALL the soaps should be taking a leaf out of their book and cutting down, never mind going up. I agree with Katy Quality not Quantity.

Personally I like the way the Bill is going at the minute. I like the way some of the stories are spread out over a series of episodes. Since the departure of Marquess a lot of the sensationalism has gone out of it along with the idiotic storylines. I think its improving although I think its time they had a Police Advisor overseeing the storylining. Its a pity when programmes get cancelled and moved about for the sake of a football match but then thats where the advertising revenue comes from. It will be a shame to see the Bill go to one epsiode a week but I suppose thats better than dropping it altogether. They have great actors on the show who they should make more use of instead of trying to attract viewers with the nonentity that is Lousia Lytton. They have enough people with talent already. As someone said earlier lets not see this develp into The Samantha Nixon sHOW.

i personally have just got back into the bill i used to watch all the time. I feel it would be a shame to cut this down to one night per week as i think this is what it appeals to me its not like eastenders boring you 4 nights a week. Its like watching a mini movie!!

I think the bill has gone downhill anyway recently but it looks like it could get better soon but I dont mind either way whether it is put down to just once a week, but I think the also need to get better script writers as cutting it down wont makethe stories better it will jsut make them drag out more on the double amount of weeks.
Also it would be good if they got rid of the thursday one otherwise when holby blue is on holby city is going to a thursda so I think the bill will lose viewers anyway as I no that im gonna watch holby city instead

i love the bill and dont want to see it go to one night a week, but if it does they better hadnt fill the space with drivel like emmerdale or corrie.tv is soap obsessed enough as it is. fill it with some quality instead.

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Originally Posted by alan45

Personally I like the way the Bill is going at the minute. I like the way some of the stories are spread out over a series of episodes. They have great actors on the show who they should make more use of instead of trying to attract viewers with the nonentity that is Lousia Lytton. They have enough people with talent already.

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I agree, alan. I think The Bill manages to keep a very high level of consistency with some good storylines. I imagine the reason viewing figures are down is partly due to the fact the way it gets mucked about in the viewing schedules. Why anyone should think that Louisa Lytton is the answer to falling numbers is completely beyond me. Maybe she gets murdered in her first episode...that might help push up viewing figures.

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Originally Posted by parkerman

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Originally Posted by alan45

Personally I like the way the Bill is going at the minute. I like the way some of the stories are spread out over a series of episodes. They have great actors on the show who they should make more use of instead of trying to attract viewers with the nonentity that is Lousia Lytton. They have enough people with talent already.

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I agree, alan. I think The Bill manages to keep a very high level of consistency with some good storylines. I imagine the reason viewing figures are down is partly due to the fact the way it gets mucked about in the viewing schedules. Why anyone should think that Louisa Lytton is the answer to falling numbers is completely beyond me. Maybe she gets murdered in her first episode...that might help push up viewing figures.

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I'm with you both on that. Over the past year there have been some great storylines - Zain/Kristen, Amy Tennant (although it did drag a bit, good viewing when they found her though) and the recently concluded Emma/Matt. I think it's good to have a long running storyline, like the Zain one, to keep viewers interested and make them tune in every episode.

There are a few weeks where the episodes and storylines are pretty boring but you can't have brill storylines every single week with lots of drama and suspicion because it'll just get boring.

I think it's because Holby City is going out now on Thur. Night, that new Holby one is on Tue. and it wont put the Bill against Holby.

I dont think thats anything to do with it. People will choose which one to watch live and either record the other or watch the repeats on BBC or ITV

Holby is only going to be on on a Thursday for 8 weeks then it'l be going back to it's usual slot. I'll watch Holby on Thursday and TB on Tuesday on ITV3.
Talking of ITV3, are there any plans to keep or scrap the repeats on Mondays & Tuesdays at 8pm?
Wrong thread, but is Holby repeated any other time except during early hours of Saturday morning?

if they didn't keep rescheduling the bill for football it would help! the bill has had some great storyline's recently but if they really think that's the problem they need to get new story's not change the amount of time it is on!

from digital spy:

ITV: "No plans" to cut back on 'The Bill'


Contrary to tabloid reports last week, ITV has denied that there are any plans to slash The Bill to just one episode a week.

The police drama, which is currently broadcast on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8pm, has seen its ratings drop to five million as well as losing a number of long-running stars, including Trudie Goodwin who, until recently, played Sergeant June Ackland since the show's pilot episode in 1983.

However, former EastEnders actress Louisa Lytton - who played Walford's Ruby Allen - joined the cast earlier in the year in a bid to boost the show's flagging fortunes, while ex-Hollyoaks actress Ali Bastian also landed a role in the ITV police drama after quitting the Chester-based soap after five years as troubled teacher, Becca Dean.

Despite the newspaper claiming that the broadcaster is "getting a bit bored" of the long-running programme, an ITV spokeswoman today dismissed the allegations.

She told DS: "There are currently no plans to reduce the number of episodes of The Bill to one per week. The Bill will, however, inevitably lose some episodes during the year due to ITV's other scheduling commitments such as major sporting events."

Sorry but I cant see Louisa Lytton boosting the viewing figures. She doesnt look old enough to be a Police Cadet even

I hope the papers have got it wrong,i enjoy the bill,i also think their writers do a better job than the writers for EE and corrie.

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Originally Posted by alan45

Sorry but I cant see Louisa Lytton boosting the viewing figures. She doesnt look old enough to be a Police Cadet even

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Indeed. Anybody who hasn't seen her in EE probably won't know who the chuff she is. I don't think she's only enough for a part in TB, she's only 18.

It's good that ITV aren't going to drop an episode.

You're not the only one with that view; from The Tv Mag:

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/9...5d6aof1.th.jpg

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Originally Posted by alan45

Sorry but I cant see Louisa Lytton boosting the viewing figures. She doesnt look old enough to be a Police Cadet even

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She looks younger than the lifespan of a Police dog.

Apparently she has an 18 month contract...so she'll be older by the time she leaves!:)

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Originally Posted by parkerman

Apparently she has an 18 month contract...so she'll be older by the time she leaves!:)

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Yes she will probably look about 14 then:rotfl:

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Originally Posted by alan45

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Originally Posted by parkerman

Apparently she has an 18 month contract...so she'll be older by the time she leaves!:)

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Yes she will probably look about 14 then:rotfl:

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Give her some credit, she looks about 14 already to me :)