The bill canceled

[Captain Shaw]

I don't know if their is anyone here that still watches the show i have not watched it for years but after 27 years the bill is to end.
Wonder if they will burn the place down again.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/mar/26/the-bill-itv?CMP=AFCYAH
They should have never gotten rid of Raggae baby

 

[Pingfah]

I stopped watching it about 26 years ago.

 

[Hermiod]

True fact - in the UK you are not allowed to list your profession as "Actor" unless you have appeared in The Bill.

 

[Captain Shaw]

True fact - in the UK you are not allowed to list your profession as "Actor" unless you have appeared in The Bill.

I also think Casualty lets you become a true actor.

 

[Hermiod]

^Yeah, but The Bill's easier.

 

[Starbreaker]

Never heard of the show... but 2300 episodes is a lot.

 

[wamdue]

given the recent change to 9pm, and the changes made to the show at that time, ITV has got no one but itself to blame.

 

[Holdfast]

They should bring back DI Burnside to knock a few heads together in the finale.

(The Bill was at its best when it was a 30 minute, twice-weekly, show. I stopped watching soon after it switched to the one-hour format. I guess that was at some point in the mid-nineties.)

 

[John Clark]

(The Bill was at its best when it was a 30 minute, twice-weekly, show. I stopped watching soon after it switched to the one-hour format. I guess that was at some point in the mid-nineties.)

Ditto. I'd heard it had changed a lot recently and that ratings may have slipped. I am surprised that it went so quickly though.

 

[Marc]

given the recent change to 9pm, and the changes made to the show at that time, ITV has got no one but itself to blame.

The Bill should of been put out it's misery 10 years ago.

Used to be very good then they turned it into a soap opera.

Interesting they they took it back to the 9pm time slot. When it first started it had that timeslot which gave the producers a bit more lee way. There was one episode where they raid a premesis being use for producing a porn movie. Nudity and language. You can here the crowd ouside chanting "cuntstable" - and that's long before the the c-word made it Sex and the City.

 

[stoneroses]

That is a shame it was ok and popular. More reality ant and Dec trash here we come

 

[diankra]

The Bill ended 15-odd years back, when they dropped the original format (every scene features an on-duty police officer) in favour of a soap opera set in a police station (where most of the crimes were committed by psychopathic police officers who get away with serial murder until the actor decides to leave).

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Are there any original characters left? I'm sure Carver and Ackland are both gone, I think Reg Hollis* is as well (AFAIK, the actor who played Reg was so distraught over being let go that he attempted suicide ). Is there anyone else still around from the old days?

*I know Reg didn't appear onscreen in the original Woodentop but we do hear his voice over the car radio.

 

[wamdue]

Jack Meadows is still around

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ I meant *original* characters, from the very first season. Meadows has only been on since '90 and wasn't a regular until a couple years after that.

 

[wamdue]

^ I meant *original* characters, from the very first season. Meadows has only been on since '90 and wasn't a regular until a couple years after that.

oh sorry, you are right, my bad.

 

[diankra]

The absence of original characters is actually realistic: ISTR that outside of senior ranks (DCI and beyond), British police get retired after 30 years service. So anyone who was around in 1984 was coming up on end of term by now (particularly if they weren't new recruits).

 

[John Clark]

^ I meant *original* characters, from the very first season. Meadows has only been on since '90 and wasn't a regular until a couple years after that.

I think the closest may have been Tony Stamp and even he was only 1987-2009 if I remember correctly. June Ackland (One of the real originals) went in 07 I think

 

[Lonemagpie]

The Bill ended 15-odd years back, when they dropped the original format (every scene features an on-duty police officer) in favour of a soap opera set in a police station (where most of the crimes were committed by psychopathic police officers who get away with serial murder until the actor decides to leave).

damn right.

Given that it's made by a freelance company, you'd think the BBC or Sky would have the nous to step in and grab it, restoring it to the proper format... (It has happened in the past - Men Behaving Badly got axed by ITV after one season but then got made into a huge hit by the BBC)

 

[ATimson]

Given that it's made by a freelance company, you'd think the BBC or Sky would have the nous to step in and grab it, restoring it to the proper format...

I'm not sure the BBC can afford it right now, even if they wanted to...