The Bill


The Bill is a British police procedural television series, broadcast on ITV from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, "Woodentop", broadcast on 16 August 1983. ITV were so impressed with the drama that a full series was commissioned. The title originates from "Old Bill", a slang term for the police and show creator Geoff McQueen's original title for the series.
The Bill focuses on the lives and work of one shift of police officers of all ranks, and the storylines deal with situations faced by uniformed officers working on the beat, as well as plainclothes detectives. Producers initially wanted to replicate the "day in the life" feature of Woodentop, and made sure a police officer was featured in every single scene. The series later adopted a much more serialised approach, and a revamp in 2002 led to more of a soap-opera feel to many of its stories. The Bill began with a regular cast of 13 members, with only two of these being uniformed women. In total, 174 actors have formed part of the series' main cast.
Throughout its 26-year run, the programme was always broadcast on the main ITV channel. In later years, episodes of the show were repeated on ITV3 on their week of broadcast. The series has also been repeated on other digital stations, including UKTV Gold and Drama. It has been broadcast in over 55 countries. The series has attracted controversy on several occasions. An episode broadcast in 2008 was criticised for featuring fictional treatment for multiple sclerosis. The series also faced more general criticism concerning its levels of violence, particularly prior to 2009, when it occupied a pre-watershed slot. The Bill, its cast and crew have won and been nominated for a number of awards, including BAFTAs and a Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award.
In March 2010, following a spell of declining viewership and negative public and media reception, executives at ITV announced that the network did not intend to recommission The Bill and that filming would cease on 14 June 2010. The final episode, titled "Respect", aired on 31 August 2010. The Bill was the longest-running police procedural television series in the United Kingdom, and among the longest running of any British television series at the time of its cancellation.

History

The Bill was originally conceived in 1983 by Geoff McQueen, then a new television writer, as a one-off drama. McQueen had originally titled the production Old Bill. It was picked up by Michael Chapman for ITV franchise holder Thames Television, who retitled it Woodentop as part of Thames's Storyboard series of one-off dramas and broadcast on ITV under the title Woodentop on 16 August 1983. Woodentop starred Mark Wingett as PC Jim Carver and Trudie Goodwin as WPC June Ackland of London's Metropolitan Police, both attached to the fictional Sun Hill police station.
Although originally only intended as a one-off, Woodentop so impressed ITV that a full series was commissioned, first broadcast on 16 October 1984 with one post-watershed episode per week, featuring an hour-long, separate storyline for each episode of the first three series. The first episode of the full series was "Funny Ol' Business – Cops & Robbers". With serialisation, the name of the show changed from Woodentop to The Bill. Series one had 11 episodes and was broadcast in 1984, series two and three had 12 episodes each and were broadcast in 1985–1986 and 1987 respectively. With a full ensemble cast to explore new characters not featured or just mentioned in Woodentop, the focus of the storylines soon shifted away from new recruit Carver and towards Detective Inspector Roy Galloway and Sergeant Bob Cryer.
The series then changed to two 30-minute episodes per week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays in 1988, increasing to three a week beginning in 1993, with the third episode being broadcast on Fridays. In 1998, The Bill returned to hour-long episodes, which later became twice-weekly, with the Friday episode being dropped, at which point the series adopted a much more serialised approach. When Paul Marquess took over as executive producer in 2002, as part of a drive for ratings, the series was revamped, bringing more of a soap-opera feel to many of its stories. Many veteran characters were written out, leading to the Sun Hill fire during 2002. Marquess stated that the clearout was necessary to introduce "plausible, powerful new characters". As part of the new serial format, much more of the characters' personal lives were explored but, as Marquess put it, the viewers still "don't go home with them". The change also allowed The Bill to become more reflective of modern policing, with the introduction of officers from ethnic minorities, most notably the new superintendent, Adam Okaro. It also allowed coverage of the relationship of gay Sergeant Craig Gilmore and PC Luke Ashton, a storyline which Marquess was determined to explore before rival Merseybeat.
In 2005, Johnathan Young took over as executive producer. The serial format was dropped and The Bill returned to stand-alone episodes with more focus on crime and policing than on the officers' personal lives. The year 2007 saw the reintroduction of episode titles, which had been dropped in 2002. In 2009, The Bill moved back to the 9 pm slot it previously held, and the theme tune, "Overkill", was replaced as part of a major overhaul of the series.

Cancellation

On 26 March 2010, ITV announced that it would be cancelling the series later that year after 27 years on air in 26 series. ITV said that this decision reflected the "changing tastes" of viewers. The last episode of The Bill was filmed in June 2010 and broadcast on 31 August 2010 followed by a documentary titled Farewell The Bill. Fans of the show started a Save The Bill campaign on Facebook to persuade ITV to reconsider the cancellation, and BBC Radio 1's Chris Moyles promoted the campaign on air.
At the time the series ended in August 2010, The Bill was the United Kingdom's longest-running police drama and was among the longest-running of any British television series. The series finale, "Respect", was aired in two parts and was dedicated to "the men and women of the Metropolitan Police Service past and present". The finale storyline concerned gang member Jasmine Harris being involved in the murder of fellow member Liam Martin who died in the arms of Inspector Smith after being stabbed. Jasmine is then gang raped because she talked to the police, and when Callum Stone found the person responsible he was held at gunpoint. Of the finale's title, executive producer Jonathan Young said "It's called "Respect" and we hope it will respect the heritage of the show". The finale episodes featured all the cast and the final scene was specially written so all cast members would be featured. The final character on screen was Superintendent Jack Meadows, by then the show's longest serving character, having first appeared in 1990; he is shown exiting the front door, getting in his car and driving off. Following the final episode, ITV aired a documentary entitled Farewell The Bill which featured interviews from past and present cast and crew members. The finale was watched by 4.4 million viewers, with Farewell The Bill averaging 1.661 million viewers.

Possible revival

On 17 April 2021, various media outlets began reporting that the series may be set for a reboot. Writer Simon Sansome was understood to have bought the rights to the original series, and was planning a revival, dubbed Sun Hill, alongside Holby City creator and former EastEnders writer Tony McHale who had previously written episodes of The Bill and one of its spin-offs, Beech is Back. Sansome had been in talks with various cast members during a 2020 reunion and discussed possible appearances for show legends Mark Wingett, Trudie Goodwin and Graham Cole. However, no official date had been set for a return, nor had the mooted Sun Hill project been picked up by any TV network. On 18 April, Mark Wingett confirmed this on his Twitter account, stating they had been "approached" by production companies but the Sun Hill project had not been given the green light.

Broadcasting and production

Filming locations

Throughout the series, there have been three filming locations for Sun Hill police station. From the first series, the police station consisted of a set of buildings in Artichoke Hill, Wapping, East London. However, these buildings were next to the News International plant and during the winter of 1985–86 there was much industrial action which resulted in some altercations between the strikers and actors working on The Bill who were mistaken for real officers. Working conditions got so dire that the production team realised they needed to find another base to set Sun Hill police station.
The second location was an old record distribution depot in Barlby Road, North Kensington in North West London. Filming began here in March 1987. In 1989, the owners of the Barlby Road site ordered The Bill out, due to their redevelopment plans for the area. After an extensive search, two sites were selected, the favourite being a disused hospital in Clapham. However, this fell through and the second option was chosen—an old wine distribution warehouse in Merton, South West London. The move was made in March 1990 and was disguised on screen by the "ongoing" refurbishment of Sun Hill police station and then finally the explosion of a terrorist car-bomb in the station car-park, which ended up killing PC Ken Melvin.
Filming for the series took place all over London, mainly in South London and particularly the London Borough of Merton, where the Sun Hill set was located. Locations used when the show was filmed on a housing estate included:
Scenes were often filmed in east London, most notably the London Docklands, with other scenes filmed in Tooting, Greenwich and Croydon. In 2008, the episode "Demolition Girl" was filmed in The Gorbals, Glasgow.
The set of Sun Hill police station at Wimbledon Studios remained until mid 2013 when it was finally dismantled.