The Bill

The Bill is a long-running British police drama shown on ITV1.

The 1998 revamp

The second major revamp of the show took place in 1998, as Richard Handford took over as Executive Producer of the show from Michael Chapman. The show's focus was altered and became more soapy: interactions between the officers became more important. Feeling is very mixed as to whether this was a good idea. The look of the show was also updated: the old titles were thrown out entirely: the opening titles were replaced by images of police things: dayglo jackets, hats, a suspect being interviewed, and a map in CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch) among other things. The theme tune was also completely revamped. Episodes moved to being 1 hour long later in 1998, though for quite a while the times & days the episodes were shown varied, along with the number of episodes a week (for a period in Spring 2002, only one episode was shown a week), but by late 2002, it had finally settled at 8PM on Wednesdays & Thursdays, which is still the case as of September 2005.

Related Topics:
1998 - Richard Handford - Dayglo - Jacket - Hat - Map - Computer Aided Dispatch - 2002 - 2005

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[[Image:Thebill-new.jpg|right|250px|thumb|New Look The Bill.

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From left: DS Vik Singh, DC Kate Spears, Supt. Tom Chandler, DS Debbie McAllister, DC Paul Riley, DI Alex Cullen]]

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In Late 2000, Handford made sweeping changes to the cast. Chief Superintendent Brownlow (Sun Hill's first Sub-Divisional Officer) was removed and replaced by the smooth, enthusiastic Superintendent Tom Chandler.

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DS Don Beech, who was always bent the rules slightly, was given an explosive exit which featured him finally crossing the line. By lying in court in exchange for £20,000 paid by a gangland boss. CIB became aware of his corrupt activities and placed undercover officer DS Stanton at Sun Hill to expose him. Beech came undone when his relationship with arch villain Fallon spiralled out of control. So he fled to foreign climes (which led to his own series, which was filmed exclusively in Australia, home to one of The Bills largest audiences). His corruption led to the suspension of the whole of CID and the resignation of SDO Charles Brownlow.

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PC Eddie Santini also appeared in the dock, charged with murder. He was acquitted (although he had killed the victim accidentally) but was later shot dead in cold blood by another corrupt officer.

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More changes followed in 2001, as Sgt Bob Cryer was forced into early retirement by an accidental shooting - the perpetrator was the now Duty Sgt Dale Smith, at that time assigned to SO19. He was replaced by Duty Sgt Craig Gilmore. Don Beech returned for a showdown with DS Stanton, and PC Des Taviner arrived as the new Area Car Driver: he was to form an odd-couple friendship with long-standing PC Reg Hollis that would provide some of the series' greatest moments.

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Also, a new trend emerged: no more would cases be solved in 25 or 50 minutes: now, they spanned many episodes, and quite often a minor offence dealt with by Uniform a few weeks ago would re-appear as part of the major case in CID. He also refocused the show even more on the officers' personal lives.

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February 2002 saw Handford replaced by Paul Marquess, who immediately sought to make the final major changes of the retooling period. Many would argue that Marquess did more bad than good whilst he was with The Bill. Six officers were killed in an explosion accidentally caused by PC Des Taviner: he would escape for two years before finally being forced to face the music. The titles were changed again to include static cast photographs and the music was remixed to take it back closer to the 1988 Pask/Morgan mix of Overkill. Other changes included the decision not to replace the Chief Inspector, a rank that Marquess found desk-bound and boring, following the unfortunate death of Chief Inspector Operations) Derek Conway (although there is still a space in the station carpark marked 'CI Ops'). Later in the year, Sub Divisional Officer Tom Chandler was replaced by Superintendent Adam Okaro, a black superintendent played by Cyril Nri.

Related Topics:
February - 2002 - Paul Marquess - Photograph - Sub Divisional Officer - Superintendent - Cyril Nri

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Since 2002, the format of the show and its cast has remained reasonably steady: officers still depart and arrive on a fairly regular basis, but the retooling period begun to an extent in 1998 and accentuated by the change of executive producers is now more-or-less complete and the show's format is pretty much fixed for the foreseeable future: mainly combined Uniform-and-CID efforts to solve a big case that spans several weeks, with smaller cases and personal relationships filling the rest of the screen time, with the odd major event such as a large road traffic accident or an in-depth study of the handling of armed robbery and hostage situations. The main titles and music were changed again in 2003 to their current look: more generic police images, but the theme has been totally changed and now resembles a pumped-up version of the original 1984 version of Overkill.

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The ultimate change was made in 2004 when the programme announced the departure of DC Jim Carver. Carver had been in the programme since the start; in fact the show was originally about a new police officer called Jim Carver with Jim saying the first line. Many fans were irate that the show could fire someone seen as indispensible and had caused the birth of the show, but this was the way of the then executive producer Paul Marquess. Mark Wingett has been reported as saying that it was his decision to leave as he couldn't handle the pressure of the show any more.

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Fortunately the show has had the sense not to kill the character, although a return is unlikely, with Carver deciding that he must leave Sun Hill for good in order to sort his life out; he had a major gambling problem, and previously had successfully overcome an alcohol problem.

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In early 2005, the station suffered another explosion, this time caused by disaffected PCSO Colin Fairfax, who drove a van into the front of the station, killing DC Ken Drummond, (who was in the back of the van) SRO Marilin Chambers and PC Andrea Dunbar (a journalist under cover). Shortly after the episode aired, Paul Marquess was signed away by Endemol, the makers of Big Brother, to head their new drama division. His replacement is Jonathon Young.

Related Topics:
2005 - PCSO - Endemol - Big Brother - Jonathon Young

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