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This article is about the British TV series. For the Polish punk rock band, see The Bill (band). The Bill is a Polish Punk rock band formed in 1988 by Artur "Soko" Soczewica in the Polish town of Pionki.
The Bill

The Bill Logo (January 2007 - Present)
Genre Police procedural/Drama (Prev. The police procedural is a sub-genre of the mystery story which attempts to convincingly depict the activities of a Police force as they investigate Crimes Drama is the specific mode of Fiction represented in Performance. Soap)
Created by Geoff McQueen
Starring See current cast
Country of origin Flag of England England, United Kingdom
Language(s) English
No. SOAP (see below for name and origins is a protocol for exchanging XML -based messages over Computer networks normally using Geoff McQueen (July 24 1947 &ndash July 6 1994 was a TV series scriptwriter and dramatist Cast See also The Bill Senior Officers Superintendent John Heaton ( Daniel Flynn) DCI England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States of series 24 (as of 2008)
No.  of episodes 2224 (as of 8 May 2008) (List of episodes)
Production
Producer(s) talkbackTHAMES
(a division of Fremantle Media)
Running time
  • 22-24 minutes
    (commercial ½ hour w/1 break)
  • 42-46 minutes
    (commercial hour w/3 breaks)
Broadcast
Original channel ITV
Original run August 16, 1983 (pilot) – present
Chronology
Related shows
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

The Bill is a long-running British television police procedural, first broadcast on 16 October 1984 and transmitted on ITV, at 20:00 on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The following is a list of episodes in the first 25 seasons of The Bill, as well as the spin-off series "Burnside" Talkback Thames is a British television production company a division of FremantleMedia (part of the RTL Group) FremantleMedia (previously known as All American Television, LBS Communications, and Pearson Television) is the content Independent Television (generally known as ITV) is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters set up under the Independent Events 1384 - The Hongwu Emperor of Ming China, Emperor Dong hears a case of a couple who tore paper money bills while fighting Year 1983 ( MCMLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar) Burnside is a British Television Police procedural, broadcast on ITV in 2000 Murder Investigation Team is a British Police drama series produced by the ITV network as a spin-off from the long running series Beech is Back was a six-part Mini-series Spin-off from The Bill revolving around the corrupt Don Beech played by Billy The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic The police procedural is a sub-genre of the mystery story which attempts to convincingly depict the activities of a Police force as they investigate Crimes Events 456 - Magister militum Ricimer defeats the Emperor Avitus at Piacenza and becomes master of the western Year 1984 ( MCMLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar) Independent Television (generally known as ITV) is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters set up under the Independent

Older episodes of The Bill are broadcast on UKTV Gold regularly.

Contents

History

Main article: History of The Bill

Following the pilot on 16 August 1983 the first episode of The Bill was transmitted on 16 October 1984. The History of The Bill is a long and varied one and many things have happened in the programme's 23 year run " Woodentop " is an episode of the Thames Television series of one-off plays Storyboard. Events 1384 - The Hongwu Emperor of Ming China, Emperor Dong hears a case of a couple who tore paper money bills while fighting Year 1983 ( MCMLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar) Events 456 - Magister militum Ricimer defeats the Emperor Avitus at Piacenza and becomes master of the western Year 1984 ( MCMLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar) Starting with one episode per week, featuring hour long separate storylines for the first three seasons, The Bill went on to be three half hour episodes per week between 1988 and 1998 due to a drop in ratings before going to two hour long episodes per week. From 1998 The Bill became more serialised, especially from 2002 when Paul Marquess took over as Executive Producer. Serials in Television and Radio are series often in a weekly Prime time slot that rely on a continuing plot that unfolds in a serial fashion Paul Marquess is a British Television producer. His credits include Brookside, The Bill and Family Affairs. Under Johnathan Young who took over as executive producer in 2005 the more sensational story lines have been dropped with more focus on crime story lines. Johnathan Young is a British Television producer. His credits include EastEnders, Casualty, Holby City

Cast

Main article: List of The Bill characters

Senior Officers

Police Sergeants

Detective Sergeants

Police Constables

Detective Constables

Police Staff

Upcoming character changes

Setting

The Bill is set in and around Sun Hill police station in the fictional London borough of Canley in East London. Inspector Rachel Weston is a fictional character in ITV's serial drama The Bill. Claire Goose (born 10 February 1975 is a British actress. She was educated at Wisbech Grammar School. Police Constable 148 Melanie Ryder is a fictional character in the ITV drama The Bill. Rhea Bailey is an English actress She is the younger sister of singer Corinne Bailey Rae, and was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire to a Kittitian Trainee Detective Constable William Fletcher is a Fictional character in the long-running ITV drama The Bill. Gary Edward Lucy (born 27 November, 1981 in Chigwell, Essex) is an English Television PC 171 Reginald Hollis was a Fictional character in the long-running ITV drama The Bill. Jeff Stewart (born 28 October 1955 in Aberdeen) is a Scottish actor probably best known as PC Reg Hollis in the ITV Sun Hill is a fictional London suburb which is the setting for British police television drama series The Bill. The administrative area of Greater London contains thirty-two London boroughs. Other police stations within the Canley Borough Operational Command Unit (BOCU), mentioned but (usually) unseen, are Barton Street, which is the location of Borough Headquarters, Stafford Row and Spicer Street. A Basic Command Unit (BCU is the largest unit into which territorial British Police forces are divided Canley is approximately contiguous with the real London Borough of Tower Hamlets, but filming takes place all over London, mainly in South London and particularly the London Borough of Merton, where the Sun Hill set is located (on Deer Park Road, SW19). The London Borough of Tower Hamlets ( is a London borough to the east of the City of London, England and north of the River Thames in East London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. South London is the southern part of London, England. The area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes The London Borough of Merton ( is a London borough in south west London. Sun Hill is a fictional London suburb which is the setting for British police television drama series The Bill. The main locations used when the show is filmed on an estate are the Cambridge Estate, in Kingston, south west London and the High Path Estate, in South Wimbledon, south west London (approx 10 minutes walk from the main set). Other main estates used are Durand Close, in Carshalton, and Roundshaw estate opposite Mellows Park in Wallington, London. Carshalton is a suburb of London part of the London Borough of Sutton, located 10 miles (16 Wallington is a town in the London Borough of Sutton situated south south-west of Charing Cross. Sometimes scenes are filmed in East London and notably the London Docklands standing in for Canley. East London is the name commonly given to the north eastern part of London, England on the north side of the River Thames. Docklands is the semi-official name for an area in the east of London, England, comprising parts of several boroughs ( Southwark, Tower Hamlets Canley is also the name of a real district within the city of Coventry, some 100 miles north of London. Coventry ( is a city and Metropolitan borough in the County of West Midlands in England.

The Bill is unusual among police shows: it takes a serial format and it does not focus on one particular area of police work. Police are agents or agencies usually of the executive, empowered to enforce the law and to effect public and social order through the legitimatized use of force Serials in Television and Radio are series often in a weekly Prime time slot that rely on a continuing plot that unfolds in a serial fashion The show focuses on the work and lives of patrol and response officers on one relief in the uniform division, and the work of the CID. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID is the branch of all Territorial police forces within the British Police and many other Commonwealth police In its current serial format, some stories are cleared up in an episode or two, whereas others can stretch over months or even in some cases approaching a year.

It started as a one-off drama for ITV entitled Woodentop; this pilot show starred Mark Wingett as PC Jim Carver and Trudie Goodwin as WPC June Ackland on Carver's first day on the beat at Sun Hill police station. Independent Television (generally known as ITV) is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters set up under the Independent " Woodentop " is an episode of the Thames Television series of one-off plays Storyboard. Mark Wingett (born January 11 1961 in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire) is an English actor James Michael "Jim" Carver is a Fictional character, a Police officer in the long running ITV drama The Bill. Trudie Goodwin (born 13 November, 1951 in London) is an English actress best known for playing Sergeant June Ackland was a Fictional character in the long running ITV drama The Bill. It was originally devised by Geoff McQueen, and it impressed ITV so much that they decided to make a series out of it. Geoff McQueen (July 24 1947 &ndash July 6 1994 was a TV series scriptwriter and dramatist Independent Television (generally known as ITV) is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters set up under the Independent Wingett left the cast in early 2005, while Goodwin's last episode was broadcast on 8 March 2007 (coincidentally the last episode since the serialised format was introduced by Paul Marquess to be broadcast without an episode title). Events 1618 - Johannes Kepler discovers the third law of planetary motion. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.

Trivia

Character Deaths

Reappearing actors

Notable guests

DVD releases

Australia (Region 4)

The Bill is currently being released in Australia in a 12 disc wallet format, the first 5 series have been released with the 6th series to follow. DVD (also known as " Digital Versatile Disc " or " Digital Video Disc " - see Etymology)is For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics.

UK (Region 2)

In the UK, The Bill has, so far, been released in a volume per season, with seasons 1 to 3 also released in a collected edition. " Woodentop " is an episode of the Thames Television series of one-off plays Storyboard. Events 1291 - Scottish Nobles recognize the authority of Edward I of England. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1060 - Béla I of Hungary is crowned king of Hungary 1240 - Mongol invasion of Rus: Kiev Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1220 - Sweden is defeated by Estonian tribes in the Battle of Lihula. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1492 - The Ensisheim Meteorite the oldest Meteorite with a known date of impact strikes the Earth around noon in a Wheat Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 193 - Septimius Severus is proclaimed Roman Emperor by the army in Illyricum (in the Balkans) 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 314 - Roman Emperor Licinius is defeated by his colleague Constantine I at the Battle of Cibalae, and loses 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The series 4 DVD release is now being released in volumes.

U.S. (Region 1)

The Bill was also released in the US with the first series, sadly at the moment no further series are planned for release. Events 1508 - Maximilian I Holy Roman Emperor, is defeated in Friulia by Venetian forces; he is forced to sign a three-year Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 539 BC - King Cyrus The Great of Persia marches into the city of Babylon, releasing the Jews from almost Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 585 BC - A Solar eclipse occurs as predicted by Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes is battling Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 350 - Roman usurper Nepotianus, of the Constantinian dynasty, is defeated and killed by troops of the Usurper 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1095 - The Council of Clermont, called by Pope Urban II to discuss sending the First Crusade to the Holy Land Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the

Theme Music

Rick Wakeman was offered the chance to write the theme tune either for this series or for "Lytton's Diary" (1985). Richard Christopher Wakeman (born 18 May 1949 in Perivale, London) is an English Keyboard player best known as the He chose the latter, believing that it had the best potential of the two to be a long running series. It ran for two seasons. The job went to Andy Pask and Charlie Morgan who wrote "Overkill".

There are several versions of this theme. The first, used between 1984 - 1987, featured a guitar riff, with synthesizer, bass and drum accompaniment, with "middle-eight" sections performed on synthesisers. The second is a remix of the first, used between 1988 - 1998. Instead of the guitar riff, it was replaced with a more bouncy saxophone riff, and is better known than the original. Both versions were written in the irregular time of 7/8 with the exception of the "middle-eight" sections which were written in 4/4. The current arrangement is by Lawrence Oakley.

Controvercies and reception

Overseas broadcast

The Bill has been broadcast in over 55 different countries

Novels

A series of six novelisations of The Bill were published between 1985 and 1992, by Thames/Methuan Publishing (under the Mandarin imprint). Each book was written by John Burke, and adapted from television scripts by Geoff McQueen, Barry Appleton, Ginnie Hole, Christopher Russell, Lionel Goldstein, Al Hunter, Nicholas McInnery, JC Wilsher, Jonathan Rich and Robin Muckherjee.

The format of the books differed from the original scripts in minor details: the episodes are presented in a more serialised style, with the narrative events of separate episodes moving into and out of each other, not unlike the format used on the television series itself at present. An example of this in Book 1 is the events of the episode "The Drug's Raid", where the first part of that episode is shown to take place midway through the book, while the last part takes place several chapters later (ostensibly after DI Galloway has received new evidence several weeks later). As such, what were separate episodes on television are woven into a single narrative in the books, with completely new linking material between events in one episode and events in another.

Also, an early taboo of the series itself (whose format firmly established that we never went home with the officers to see their private lives) was broken by, for example, showing DI Galloway at home with his wife and his daughter during the first two books.

When the novels began to adapt the half-hour episodes (Book Three onwards) there is a noticeable jump in continuity, as the sudden influx of a larger cast of characters meant that not every "first episode" of each character could be adapted, so several characters can be seen suddenly appearing half way through with little or no introduction as to who they are or where they came from.

All the novelisations were published in paperback editions. The first two books were also published in rarer to find hardcover editions. The stories from Series Three of the tv series never received a novelisation because of various unavoidable production problems with that series.

Spin-offs

The Bill has spawned three spin-off productions. A spin-off (or spinoff) is a new Organization or Entity formed by a split from a larger one such as a Television series based on a pre-existing

The first of these was known as Burnside. Burnside is a British Television Police procedural, broadcast on ITV in 2000 It lasted a single series of six episodes, the first of which debuted on 7 July 2000. The series focused on the newly promoted DCI Burnside as a member of the National Crime Squad. It was created and produced by Richard Handford.

The second spin-off debuted in 2001, and also lasted only six episodes, although was more of a break away from the regular Bill (it was shown in the Bill timeslot) than a complete spin-off. Beech is Back focused on dodgy ex-DS Don Beech, still on the run from Claire Stanton who wants him brought to justice for the murder of her boyfriend DS John Boulton. Beech is Back was a six-part Mini-series Spin-off from The Bill revolving around the corrupt Don Beech played by Billy Don Beech was a Fictional character in the TV series The Bill. John Boulton is a Fictional character in the long running British television series The Bill. None of the episodes were given a title, with each being part of a single six part serial. At the end Beech is brought to justice and sent to prison, although he would return in The Bill three years later.

In 2003, ITV debuted the third spin-off of the show, entitled MIT: Murder Investigation Team. Independent Television (generally known as ITV) is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters set up under the Independent Murder Investigation Team is a British Police drama series produced by the ITV network as a spin-off from the long running series The first episode investigated the drive-by shooting of Sgt. Matthew Boyden, who had been at Sun Hill for eleven years. Sergeant 79 Matthew Boyden is a Fictional character in the long-running ITV drama The Bill. The first series consisted of ten one-hour episodes. The second series was filmed in 2004, but not shown until mid 2005, and consisted of four ninety-minute episodes. It featured Eva Sharpe (Diane Parish) from The Bill, who had transferred to MIT. Diane Parish (born 20 January 1969 in London, England) is a British actress of Caribbean descent (Before it was broadcast, it was also rumoured to feature Chris Simmons as Mickey Webb, who had recently departed from The Bill, but these rumours turned out to be false). The series was created by Paul Marquess. Paul Marquess is a British Television producer. His credits include Brookside, The Bill and Family Affairs. The second series was produced by Johnathan Young. Johnathan Young is a British Television producer. His credits include EastEnders, Casualty, Holby City

A German version of The Bill, utilising original Bill scripts was produced for RTL Television from 1994 to 2006. RTL (formerly RTL plus) is a German commercial Television station distributed via cable and satellite along with DVB-T It was called Die Wache. The Bill is a long-running British Television Police procedural, named after a slang term for the police. [9] [10]

References

  1. ^ a b Silver, Rachel (1999). The Bill: The Inside Story: Behind the Scenes of Britain's Top Police Drama. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Police are agents or agencies usually of the executive, empowered to enforce the law and to effect public and social order through the legitimatized use of force London: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-00-257137-1.  
  2. ^ Tibbals, G. (2006) The Bill: The Official Case Book London: Carlton Publishing
  3. ^ Nathan, Sara; Colin Robertson. "The Bill's master tapes stolen", The Sun, 2006-11-10. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1444 - Battle of Varna: The crusading forces of King Vladislaus III of Varna (aka Ulaszlo I of Hungary and Wladyslaw Retrieved on 2007-06-04. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 781 BC - The first historic Solar eclipse is recorded in China.  
  4. ^ Bill, The - Seasons 1-3 (12 Disc Super Wallet) @ EzyDVD
  5. ^ Bill, The - Seasons 4 And 5 (12 Disc Super Wallet) @ EzyDVD
  6. ^ Bill, The - Collection 3: Episodes 49-96 (12 Disc Super Wallet) @ EzyDVD
  7. ^ Bill, The - Collection 4: Episodes 97-144 (12 Disc Super Wallet) @ EzyDVD
  8. ^ Bill, The - Collection 5: Episodes 145-192 (12 Disc Super Wallet) @ EzyDVD

External links

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