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Goodbye to The Bill

Goodbye to The Bill

To mark the departure of The Bill from our screens we celebrate its 27 year history looking at some of the memorable moments, characters and guest stars.

On Tuesday after 27 years on-air The Bill will bow out on ITV1 – cancelled by the broadcaster following last years failed revamp to turn the drama into a CSI style series. To mark the departure of The Bill from our screens we celebrate its 27 year history looking at some of the memorable moments, characters and guest stars. We start off with just some of the many memorable characters to have walked the beat of Sun Hill over the past 27 years.

Frank Burnside [Christopher Ellison] 1984 – 1993, appearing occasionally after.

Ask someone, of a certain age, to name a character from The Bill and chances are they’ll say Burnside. Frank Burnside was a tough-as-nails copper, who didn’t always follow the book to the word but was a decent copper, if not always likable, that got results. Burnside first appeared in The Bill in 1984 but didn’t become a regular in the show until 1988. Burnside often worked undercover, infiltrating various gangs and leading some to believe he was a corrupt officer working both sides. This was probably due to Burnside’s hard attitude and keeping his cards very close to his chest, not everyone trusted him and they were probably right not to. Burnside wasn’t corrupt but he could smell corruption and had worked, before arriving at Sun Hill, in a unit designed to smoke out corrupt officers. Burnside was a popular character with fans thanks to his ways and returned many times after leaving the show in 1993. The character was so popular that ITV commissioned a spin-off show for the character but it only ran for a season.

June Ackland [Trudie Goodwin] 1983 – 2007

June Ackland first appeared in The Bill in its original one-off drama format, Woodentops. In the drama Ackland was paired with new PC Jim Carver as they patrolled Sun Hill, June was just a WPC back then. Nowadays she’s probably better known as Sergeant June Ackland and was dubbed “Aunty June” by Inspector Gina Gold. June was someone that people could go to with their problems and get a sympathetic ear and know June would try to help them as much as she could. June took the same approach with her job using her sympathetic side to deal with victims of crimes or even suspects. June was an extremely hard working officer and very good at her job and managed her duties well. For most of the time she kept her private life just that, private. But on a few occasions her private life became the source of station gossip, which pained June.

Her affair with DCI Wray was one such occasion and then her troubled marriage to Jim Carver, in the 2000’s, was another such source of problem. June tried to help Jim deal with his gambling and drink problem but their marriage broke down and June tried to become a harder person. She thought people took advantage of her and decided enough was enough. Her past came back to haunt her in the form of Gabriel Kent who claimed to be her son and then revealed he wasn’t at all. The unhinged Gabriel had been jealous of his adopted brother, June’s son, and had sort out June to wreck revenge upon her. After many trials and tribulations, such as her house being burnt down and seeing so many colleagues killed in the line of duty, June decided to retire and leave the force. June left Sun Hill for the last time in 2007 after twenty four years at the station.

Jack Meadows [Simon Rouse] 1992 – 2010

Head of Sun Hill’s CID, Jack has survived many a scandal that has rocked the station from the Don Beech saga to the two Sun Hill fires, of recent times that is, and the suicide of Superintendent Tom Chandler. Jack is one of lives survivors and no matter how bad the situation looks he is always able to turn things around and come out on top. But the scandals he’s been involved with haven’t left him unmarked and his career is tainted and he’s been passed over for the top job several times now. It was the Don Beech saga that really threatened to bring down his career, as it did with some of his colleagues, and he had to fight hard to get new Superintendent Chandler to trust him. Jack was a loyal officer to his colleagues and what back them all the way but if he was betrayed, he’d have no mercy. Jack never really trusted Chandler and with DC Mickey Webb he set out to prove the Superintendent was corrupt which lead to Chandler’s suicide in his office.

Jack’s relationship with Mickey was like a father and son, the two were very close and Mickey trusted in Jack completely. When Jack got involved with escort Rachel Heath it was Mickey who did his best to make sure it didn’t affect Jack’s career. Women were a weakness for Jack and he allowed himself to be used by DS Debbie McAlister who manipulated him much like she did Chandler. Debbie led to Jack, fooling him into believing there could be something between them. Jack’s long marriage ended because of it but nothing really came from Debbie and Jack was left alone, perhaps that’s why he dated Rachel Heath against his better judgement. Despite all of this Jack still runs CID, having taken over in 1992, and he has the respect of his officers at the station.

Bob Cryer [Eric Richard] 1984 – 2001, occasional appearances after

If June Ackland was ‘Aunty June’ [as Inspector Gold dubbed her] then Sergeant Bob Cryer was “father bob”, taking on a fatherly role with his officers. Bob was a tough but fair sergeant who was well liked at Sun Hill and someone the officers felt safe with. If someone had a problem Bob or June were two of the people they could go to for advice and the two worked alongside each other well. Bob was an old school style officer who knew his patch well and could sense trouble a mile off. Bob knew the rounds, knew the criminals and knew who to respond to any given situation. He was well respected by his team and somewhat married to his job, but had a family outside of the station. Changing times at Sun Hill saw Bob sidelined and when he was accidentally shot new Superintendent Chandler had him invalided out of the force. But Bob returned following the fire at Sun Hill in 2002 and then on a few occasions after to help his niece, Roberta Cryer, who worked at Sun Hill for a while.

Gina Gold [Roberta Taylor] 2002 – 2008

Inspector Gold arrived at Sun Hill in the aftermath of the devastating fire of 2002, an explosion had ripped through the station during a race-related riot at the front of the building. Five officers, including the previous Inspector, were killed in the explosion and fire. Sun Hill’s new Inspector was an old-fashioned, tough talking, hard as nails woman who wasn’t about to take any crap from anyone. Inspector Gold quickly made herself feel right at home in Sun Hill and sussed out her officers very quickly. Although Sergeant June Ackland was widely popular, Gina referred to her as ‘Aunty’ June. Although at first Gina was rather disrespectful to June within time Gina would come to respect June and appreciate her as a colleague. Gina also got along well with another of her Sergeant’s, Craig Gilmore. Gina famously told him once to put his ‘pink hat’ on and deal with a homophobic attack, Craig at first thought she was being homophobic herself but quickly found out she wasn’t.

 Gina just spoke her mind and didn’t go in for political correctness. After a failed marriage between two of her officers Gina didn’t Gina and Craig became friends, of sorts but Gina did not approve of his affair with PC Luke Aston. Gina’s attempts at keeping the affair underwraps had unexpected consequences and afterwards she tried not to interfere in the personal lives of her officers unless it affected their work. Before joining Sun Hill Gina had been a DS in a CID department but had decided to transfer to Sun Hill and become an Inspector with Uniform rather than an Inspector in CID. Gina’s CID experience came in good use and she was able to see things from both sides of the coin.

During the Sun Hill serial killer Gina thought hard against DCI Jack Meadows to keep a suspect under arrest but Jack released him when he revealed vital information. Gina’s childhood flirtations with the criminal underworld, and her family’s connections to it, have also helped her deal with the criminals that come through Sun Hill and catch them out. Inspector Gold lasted five years at Sun Hill before deciding the time was right to move on. During that time she lost many of her officers and colleagues who were killed in the line of duty.

Cathy Bradford [Connie Hyde] 2002 – 2004

Dangerously unstable and highly manipulative just don’t do Cathy Bradford any justice. Cathy was very intelligent, fast thinking; cool under pressure, devious, cunning, manipulative and not beyond killing someone if they got in her way. When Cathy joined Sun Hill in 2002, after returning from Hong Kong, none of this was apparent. Cathy seemed to be a hard working, likable individual who knew how to have a laugh. Following the fire in 2002 and the arrival of Brandon Kane all that changed. Cathy become utterly obsessed with poor Brandon and a different side to her emerged. Cathy became totally unhinged as her obsession got worse and worse and more people were took in by her lies. Cathy was a nasty piece of work and Roberta Cryer was the only one to see through it all but Cathy soon dealt with her, by getting her fired. Cathy accidentally murdered Brandon’s wife during an argument and was later responsible for another murder. When Cathy’s lies began to unravel she attacked Roberta Cryer and then kidnapped Brandon’s children and held them hostage under Sun Hill. Finally Sun Hill realised what Cathy was really like and when the kids were rescued Cathy was sectioned.

Luke Aston [Scott Neal] 1997 – 1999/2002 – 2003

When Luke first arrived at Sun Hill he was young and straight out of Police training, naive to the world but keen to learn. But his first stint at Sun Hill was a troubled one for Luke, witnessing a suicide on his first day. Later on he failed to stop an attack on PC Dale Smith, who Luke had issues with anyway and then failed to stop a suspect from killing himself. All of this took its toll on the youngster and he quit the force to go travelling. In 2002, following the station fire, a very different Luke returned to Sun Hill. Following his travels Luke was more confident with himself and happier and quickly struck up a relationship with PC Kerry Young. But Luke could not deny his growing attraction to gay Sergeant Craig Gilmore and the pair kissed. Luke denied the kiss meant anything and got engaged to Kerry. On Luke’s stag night he and Gilmore slept together but despite this Luke still married Kerry.

The marriage was not a happy or long one and broke down following Craig’s departure from Sun Hill and Kerry discovering Luke was gay. When Dale Smith returned to Sun Hill in 2003, now as a Sergeant, the issues between them re-emerged especially as it was clear Dale fancied Kerry. Luke sank into depression as he struggled to deal with his sexuality or it being revealed to the other officers on the force. During an armed robbery Luke became suicidal and tried to get himself shot by the robbers.

Although he wasn’t shot and the situation resolved it was the end of the line for Luke at Sun Hill, Kerry pleaded with him not to leave but Luke left once again. His storyline with Craig Gilmore was hugely popular amongst fans and marked the start of a more soapy style of approach to storylines by producers.

Polly Paige [Lisa Geoghan] 1992 – 2004

Poor old Polly Paige didn’t have life easy at Sun Hill during her time on the beat. Although dedicated to her job, hard working and sympathetic her love life was something of a car crash. Although Polly for years managed to keep her personal and work life separated they came crashing together when she fell for colleague Dave Quinnan. However, her brief relationship with Dave wasn’t a success and he transferred away from Sun Hill leaving Polly devastated. When the fireball ripped through the station in 2002 Polly was considering suicide and later confessed this to Sergeant Ackland – Polly was given leave to put her life back together. A year later Polly returned to Sun Hill and joined the Community Safety Unit, run by Sergeant Ackland, and befriended PC Cathy Bradford – it was to be her undoing. Polly didn’t know it but Cathy was highly unstable and helped to send poor Polly down for a murder. Although Polly later appealed and was released she decided, after some soul searching, to start afresh away from Sun Hill.

Don Beech [Billy Murray] 1995 – 2000/appearances there-after

 At times it was harder to work out who was the criminal; Don Beech or the crook he was after. Don didn’t work to the rules – well only his own rules. He got results and to some that’s all that matters. A blind eye was often turned to Don Beech’s way of doings things and if he stepped out of line and was caught doing so, well that was rare. At the end of the day everyone trusted Don Beech but they were very wrong to do so.

In 1998 Beech went too far with his dodgy ways when he took a very big bribe to lie in court and he was put under investigation, unbeknown to him, by CIB. Slowly Don’s world began to fall apart around him as undercover officer DS Stanton arrived and in 2000 it resulted in Don killing his colleague. Beech literally got away with murder though when he fled to Australia. DS Stanton though wasn’t going to give up without a flight and she tracked him down to Australia and brought him to justice. But in 2004 crafty Don Beech once again got the better of the justice system and escaped once more.

Dale Smith [Alex Walkinshaw] 1999 2010

When PC Smith, or “Smithy” to some, arrived in Sun Hill in 1999 he wasn’t the most pleasant, likable or “politically correct” of officers. An ex-squaddie who trained as a copper after leaving the army, “Smithy” spoke his mind about anything and everything. However, he won the respect of Sergeant Bob Cryer who convinced him to join the armed response unit, SO19 – but this would come back and haunt Bob when Smithy accidentally shot him during an incident. In 2003 he returned to Sun Hill as a Sergeant and quickly became involved with WPC Kerry Young who was married to Luke Aston, only Luke was gay. Smithy wasn’t impressed with Luke using a marriage to try and hide his sexuality. His relationship with Kerry though would have serious consequences when she falsely accused him of rape – she later died in his arms after being shot. In 2009 he was promoted once again to Inspector following the departure of Rachel (Claire Goose) from Sun Hill.


Memorable Moments

No drama that spanned 27 years could do so without producing many memorable moments and storylines across its run and The Bill is no exception to that rule. Over the years the police drama tackled many storylines and social issues from abortion, teenage pregnancy, rape, human trafficking, homosexuality, drug addiction, gambling and alcohol addiction, murder, incest and rape to name but a few of the issues covered not just through the various investigations conducted by the Officers but also some experienced by the Officers of Sun Hill themselves.

Luke Aston (Scott Neal) struggle to accept his sexuality and doomed marriage to Kerry Young was one memorable storyline from the early 2000s. A love triangle between Luke, Kerry and Sergeant Craig Gilmore gripped millions of viewers and produced the first on-screen gay kiss between two uniformed officers on British television. It’s interesting to the note the storyline partly came about because of producer Paul Marquess’ desire to have such a kiss before BBC rivals Mersey Beat – in the end though the Liverpool based BBC cop-drama never did produce such a moment. Poor Kerry Young wasn’t exactly bless with luck though; she married a gay man, had a miscarriage, was raped by the deranged Gabriel Kent (Todd Carty), falsely accused Dale Smith (Alex Walkinshaw) of raping her and was shot & killed – dying in Smithy’s arms.

The beat of Sun Hill must be the most dangerous anywhere in the world as the number of officers killed in the line of duty in The Bill is very high – though the majority are from the past decade. One of the earliest officers to be killed on duty was in 1990 when PC Melvin was killed when a booby-trapped bomb exploded in a car outside the station. In 1993 Viv Martella was shot dead by armed robbers in an episode watched by 18 million viewers! In 1995 DC Jo Morgan was also shot dead while in the late 1990s PC Dave Quinnan was stabbed by youths – though he did survive the attack. As previously stated it was the 2000’s when the officers began dropping like flies with 2002 seeing Chief Inspector Derek Conway, PC Sam Harker, WPC Cass Rickman, WPC Di Worrell, DC Kate Spears, PC Paul Riley, PC Ben Hayward and Inspector Andrew Moroe are killed off with the subsequent years seeing characters such as Des Taviner, Juliet Beckett, Tom Chandler, Lance Powell, Marilyn Gates, Andrea Dunbar and Ken Drummond all killed off as well – and that isn’t even the complete list!

The rampage of PC Cathy Bradford (Connie Hyde) was also a memorable storyline with her murderous antics keeping viewers entertained for months as the storyline unfolded. The mentally unhinged Cathy could lie her way out of any situation – she was the master of it. Just some of the lies Cathy told included being HIV positive and having been viciously attacked – though it was usually Cathy who dished out the vicious beatings. Amongst her victims were Bobby Cryer who she hospitalised and the ex-wife of Brandon Kane who she murdered. Cathy, despite being thoroughly racist, was attracted to the Asian Officer to the point of obsession and it all came to a head when she kidnapped his children and held them hostage underneath the station. Cathy was later sectioned as she was quite clearly a Yorkshire pudding short of a full Sunday roast!


Memorable Guest Stars

Over the years The Bill has attracted a wealth of talent not just in terms of actors who have taken on regular characters in the show but also in the form of guest-stars. To many appearing in The Bill is considered a right of passage; just as appearing in Casualty and Holby City is. In its 27 year history the series has attracted many guest-stars and we remember but a few of them now.

Alex Kingston made two appearances in The Bill in the 1990s. Her first was in 1991 playing a Doctor while her second was in 1995 playing an undercover police officer posing as a high-class escort. The actress went on to find fame in the American medical drama E.R and has continued to enjoy high profile roles since leaving the series appearing in Lost in Austen, Flashforward, Hope Springs and Doctor Who. Actress Anita Dobson has also appeared in The Bill twice appearing in a 1997 episode and more recently in 2005 as Lynn Hunter; the mother of DC Phil Hunter (Scott Maslen) and PC Steve Hunter (James Lloyd). Dobson is, of course, known for playing Angie Watts in EastEnders in the 1980s. Dobson’s on-screen husband in EastEnders Leslie Grantham, who played Dirty Den in the BBC soap, has also appeared in The Bill. In 1998 he appeared in four episodes as Jimmy Smith – his first episode also guest starred Hugh Laurie. In 2007 the actor made another appearance in the drama as Jimmy Collins.

Comedy actor Leslie Phillips, whose numerous roles also include several Carry On films, appeared in a 1996 episode of The Bill. Jesse Birdsall had a recurring role on The Bill in 2002/2003 as Ron Gregory, a small time criminal mastermind with fingers in many pies. The actor first came to wide-spread attention for his role of the gangster Marcus in the 90s soap Eldorado and his other roles have included As If and Footballers Wives. Dempsey and Makepeace actress Glynis Barber appeared in a 1999 episode; the actress is also known for her roles in Blakes 7, Night And Day, Emmerdale, The Royal and is currently appearing in EastEnders as Glenda Mitchell. For several months in 2004 actress Lynda Bellingham played Irene Radford – a “godmother” style character subject to an undercover operation. Although famous for her role in the 1980s/1990s series of Oxo Adverts the actress other credits included General Hospital, At Home With The Braithwaites and All Creatures Great and Small. Bellingham is also a panellist on the ITV topical chat-show Loose Women.

Just some of the other many guest stars to appear in the show over the years include Sylvester McCoy, Paul O’Grady, Samantha Bond, Linda Robson, Kathy Burke, Stefan Dennis, Roger Lloyd-Pack, Linda Lusardi and Molly Sugden.


Spin-Offs

The success of The Bill has lead ITV to try and replicate it with several spin-off attempts that ultimately failed. The first such spin-off was in 2000 with the six-part drama Burnside which featured the fan favourite character of DCI Frank Burnside (Christopher Ellison) now in charge of a small team of the National Crime Squad. Also in Burnside was Shane Richie, Paul Nicholas, Tony Selby, Zoe Eeles and Justin Pierre. The six-part drama launched with nearly 8 million viewers but ended with just under 6 million – meaning the spin-off was not re-commissioned by ITV for a second series.

 In 2000 a special one-off episode The Trial of Eddie Santini concluded the story of the corrupt copper who had raped colleague WPC Rosie Fox (Caroline Catz). The episode sees both Santini (Michael Higgs) and Fox killed off during the course of it. In 2001 another special one-off episode was written; Beech on the Run. The episode continued the story of DS Don Beech (Billy Murray) who had fled Sun Hill following his murder of colleague DS John Boulton (Russell Boulter). The episode was set in Australia where Beech had fled too but he was being perused by Claire Stanton (Clara Salaman) and eventually faked his death to throw the copper off his trail. A six-part sequel quickly followed; Beech is Back which followed the character’s antics back in the UK. Once again Beech is being pursued by Claire Stanton and at the end of the six episodes he is caught and arrested. In 2004 the character returned for a brief stint in the parent series The Bill where he once again escaped and fled Sun Hill.

 In 2003 another spin-off series was launched from The Bill; MIT: Murder Investigation Team. The first episode featured a crossover storyline with the main show as the murder team were called to Sun Hill to investigate the shooting of Sergeant Matthew Boyden (Tony O’Callaghan) with several of the other officers at Sun Hill being suspects in his death. The remaining nine episodes of the spin-off featured no further crossover elements with The Bill. The first season of the spin-off focused mainly on two female detectives; DI Vivien Friend (Samantha Spiro) and DC Rosie MacManus (Lindsay Coulson). Ratings were good enough for ITV to order a second series but with changes; the episodes were cut down to four 90 minute stories and half the cast were written out. While Lindsay Coulson, Michael McKell and Richard Hope remained part of the team newer characters played by Meera Syal, Will Mellor and Hugh Sachs were introduced. The character of DC Eva Sharpe (Diane Parish) was brought over from The Bill for the season. The second season was also simply named Murder Investigation Team but its delayed broadcast, until 2005, meant ratings were low and so it was not re-commissioned.

In 2008 there was a special crossover storyline between The Bill and German police-drama SOKO Leipzig with characters from both dramas appearing in respective episodes relating to the storyline. In Germany a drama series based on The Bill, using some scripts from the series, had aired on RTL from 1994 and 2006 and was titled Die Wache.

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