TV classics - The Bill

By Jason Wright (Entertainment Expert)

ITV started the eighties with a bit of a drama crisis.  Popular programmes Minder and The Sweeney had been consigned to the history books, so it fell to Thames Television to produce a selection of one-offs to try and launch a new show.  They all failed bar one.  1983 saw the airing of a police drama called Woodentop and ITV were for once impressed.  They commissioned for it to return the following year as The Bill.

     The Bill’s humble beginnings were a basic half-hour show, dealing with general issues in the fictional Sun Hill branch of the Metropolitan Police.  Although not cutting edge as many drama shows that ITV showed at the time, it paid off and soon translated into a twice weekly show.  Eventually, the episodes grew into an hour and it was also very lucky to be one of the few shows to survive on ITV after Thames lost its regional broadcasting franchise.

BEAT: The coppers outside Sun Hill police station

     Some of the most popular figures to grace Sun Hill were either usually around for a long time or memorable for deadly deeds.  Characters such as June Ackland (Trudie Goodwin), Bob Cryer (Eric Richard) and Tony Stamp (Graham Cole) were often at the height of the gripping storylines that the show was common for.  In the late nineties/early Noughties, the dodgiest copper was no doubt Don Beech (Billy Murray), who set up a secret second life by running a corrupt business and when unmasked, resulted in the death of a fellow officer.  He soon disappeared to Australia but was eventually tracked down and justice was done.

     The turn of the 21^st century saw The Bill make the move into the dark side.  It had covered typical crime stories but now it felt it was ready to tackle more extreme plots.  This was best represented in 2002 with a constant vendetta battle with gangs in the area.  First, veteran Derek Conway (Ben Roberts) was killed when his car was blown up in a petrol attack.  Then the same people responsible for this crime came back weeks later in a petrol bomb attack that exposed Des Taviner (Paul Usher) as a corrupt cop.  Sun Hill erupted in a fireball and the lives of another six officers were lost.

     As the years passed, darker storylines were introduced and several characters paid with their insurances, and most of the recruits were killed off soap stars including Lucy Speed, Ali Bastian and Todd Carty.  Although two live episodes in 2003 and 2005 respectively garnered much praise, the new attitude alienated viewers and ratings declined very sharply.  Surprisingly, ITV didn’t even seem to care about it.

     Eventually, ITV did announce that autumn 2009 would bring a major shakeup, reducing the programme to once a week and move it into the post-watershed slot at 9pm.  Granted, most of the issues raised now were certainly not suited to the 8pm slot but what ITV didn’t get right was the new style of it all.  The new dramatic format took the edge away that it had been famous for and also the famous theme tune was ditched by something that seemed to written more for a funeral.

     Truly the decline of The Bill was now indeed complete.  As ratings shredded even further, ITV had engineered its own downfall so it decided to engineer its death and the police drama quietly slipped away in August 2010.  It was a sad but rather timely demise for a show that had gotten ahead of its time.

     The Bill though did change the conception of drama programmes on ITV.  It made the risks that worked first but then, the repetitive uses of these meant the public got bored and criticised it for its lack of faith.  It will though be always remembered for the quality it delivered.