"The Bill" (1984)TV series 1984-????

Creator:

Geoff McQueen

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24

Release Date:

16 October 1984 (UK)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Plot:

Episodes follow uniform officers and detectives from an inner London police station as they enforce law and order on a day to day basis.

Plot Keywords:

Sergeant | British | East End | London England | Police

Awards:

4 wins & 18 nominations

Cast

Graham Cole	...	PC Tony Stamp / ... (448 episodes, 1984-2008)
Jeff Stewart	...	PC Reg Hollis / ... (385 episodes, 1984-2008)
Trudie Goodwin	...	Sgt. June Ackland / ... (381 episodes, 1984-2007)
Simon Rouse	...	DCI Jack Meadows / ... (347 episodes, 1990-2008)
Mark Wingett	...	D.C. Carver / ... (284 episodes, 1984-2007)
Roberta Taylor	...	Insp. Gina Gold / ... (257 episodes, 1990-2008)
Alex Walkinshaw	...	Sgt. Dale Smith / ... (229 episodes, 1993-2008)
Chris Simmons	...	DC Mickey Webb / ... (208 episodes, 1998-2008)
Natalie Roles	...	DS Debbie McAllister / ... (190 episodes, 1993-2004)
Lisa Maxwell	...	DS Samantha Nixon / ... (187 episodes, 2001-2008)
Eric Richard	...	Sgt. Cryer / ... (186 episodes, 1984-2004)
Scott Maslen	...	DS Phil Hunter / ... (184 episodes, 2002-2007)

Runtime:

25 min (1988-1998) | 50 min (1984-1988, 1998-)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Stereo

Certification:

Australia:M | Australia:PG | UK:12 (some episodes) | UK:15 (some episodes) | UK:PG (some episodes)

Filming Locations:

Kew Bridge Steam Museum, Green Dragon Lane, Brentford, Middlesex, England, UK

Company:

Fremantle Media

Trivia:

Emily Watson was interviewed for visiting parts a number of times.

Quotes:

PC Steven 'Steve' Loxton: [on the way to a roadblock to catch a thief who hit Boulton and escaped arrest] He's a dangerous man, Pol. So when we're checkin' these cars I want you to stay nice and close to me!
PC Polly Page: [Gary and George laugh] I thought that's what you meant!
PC Steven 'Steve' Loxton: You may laugh but he's knocked the crap out of CID's finest!
PC George Garfield: Yeah well that's not very hard!
PC Gary McCann: From the description he sounds like a dwarf!
PC Steven 'Steve' Loxton: Well he's a vicious dwarf! He kneed DS Boulton in the orchastra stalls!

Movie Connections:

Version of "Wache, Die" (1994)

Soundtrack:

Overkill

Yes, THE BILL made me into a pathetic television junkie.

THE BILL is very hard to come by in the States, and even when it was running on CBC-Windsor, it was impossible to see it this far from the border. No cable CBC around here (do not have it anyway). I got hooked around seven years ago; it was aired one episode per day starting with 1988 episodes, which I viewed from Detroit. Eventually the station ran them all again in sequence.

At very first I avoided it. I never, for example, watched HILL STREET BLUES, which I thought THE BILL would be like. Wrong! Straightaway I was hopelessly hooked, even arranging my day so I could be home in late afternoon.

Keeping in mind that I have not seen an episode newer than perhaps 1995, I thought (think) THE BILL was an excellent programme, calling it my "soap opera." Some friends thought my being so devoted to a "cop show" was out of character, and perhaps yes, but it was the exotic setting . . . yet more: The stories' construction, occasionally running three tales in a mere half-hour, the dialogue, the character development and interactions, all for the most part top notch. I picked up a lot of obnoxious British lower-class slang, too. One also notes how most of the outdoor scenes are uncharacteristically sunny and warm, but surely that cannot be London?

The cheek: I once wrote offering to do a part for nothing if I could depict an obnoxious North American who gets punched out by D.I. Burnside. (P.C. Loxton would be unacceptable.)I was never favoured with a reply.

I have seen negative comment in this forum and else-where that THE BILL is turning into a real "soap," but cannot comment. All I can say to my mates over here is that British "prime time" drama as represented by THE BILL is as good as anything done in the States -- but without the bigger-than-life, distracting, razmatazz. To coin the proverbial phrase, Good Show.