The Bill (mostly the pre-soap decent episodes) on UK TV play

[Gurke and Hare]

Saw one today with Leslie Phillips playing a character called The Prof, so you knew straight away that it was going to be a good one.

[Fambo Number Mive]

Watched an episode from Series 8 recently with David Cann in it.

[LordMorgan]

I thought the episode with David Tennant playing a nonce/kidnapper/murderer was great when I was a teenager.
Watched it back during lockdown, I thought it stood up really well. Thought he played a very creepy creepser very well.

[paruses]

Had a good comedy episode the other night led by Dave Quinnan. Followed up with quite a touching one starring a very young Danny Dyer. Was good to see someone who has nailed a style so early on and stuck with it.

[Fambo Number Mive]

What was the comedy episode about?

Regarding good comedy episodes, there was the one where Tony and Dave

Spoiler alert

lose a bet with B relief that they will make more arrests and have to dance the conga naked

[close]

.

[Brundle-Fly]

I loved the episode when Tony and Dave(?) strayed out of their district (possibly into Barton Street) to ambush some colleagues with some supersoakers and getting into hot water with the chief.

[Brundle-Fly]

Been watching Series 1 of the original pre-soap run, just spotted Tony Stamp in the background as a non-speaking extra three years before he got cast as a regular!

It's been great so far for spotting familiar faces though, Perry "Billy Mitchell" Fenwick, Liz Smith, Meera Syall, Norman Beaton, June Brown, John Savident, even Sean Bean getting about two minutes of screen time as a robber.

I had a mate who was a regular on The Bill in the mid nineties. He was invited as a one of the guests to appear on Mark Wingett's (DC Jim Carver) This Is Your Life. Trouped on sheepishly during the show with almost the entire cast of The Bill. Wingett slurred to him in the bar afterwards, " Well, that's just spelt out what a boring career I've had. All I've done is fucking Quadrophenia and The Bill. Leave while you can , mate. Don't get stuck like me."

[Fambo Number Mive]

I loved the episode when Tony and Dave(?) strayed out of their district (possibly into Barton Street) to ambush some colleagues with some supersoakers and getting into hot water with the chief.

I remember that one, they were playing a prank on Mike Jarvis as he was a bit smug about joining the diplomatic protection branch.

Intrigued by your mate who was a regular in the Bill Brundle-Fly. He must have had lots of interesting stories to tell. I presume if he was on Wingett's This is your life he must be quite a well known cast member.

[Brundle-Fly]

Intrigued by your mate who was a regular in the Bill Brundle-Fly. He must have had lots of interesting stories to tell. I presume if he was on Wingett's This is your life he must be quite a well known cast member.

Yeah, he was in it for about five years and still mates with Mark (and DC Meadows AKA Simon Rouse). I won't say who it is because I don't want to get him in trouble by me telling what Wingett said in the bar. You know how people like to Google themselves? Mark Wingett has had a great career really and is still regularly working today.

Interesting stories? My mate said it was rather like working in a sausage factory. He did say that the actors loved it when their character got promoted to a higher rank, sometimes forgetting that this was a fictional leg up the ladder. It was a very boozy show to work on and he mentioned seeing the deterioration of Kevin Lloyd (DC Tosh Lines) was heartbreaking. Lloyd would turn up pissed on set at 7:30 am and would sometimes be swigging vodka between takes. The most upsetting tale though was poor Jeff Stewart (Reg Hollis). A brilliant talent but a delicate man who lived and breathed The Bill so much so that when Jeff was dropped from the show, he tried to take his own life in his studio dressing room. He pulled himself together and ended up winning Best Actor award at the Edinburgh Festival, a few years later.

The Bill writers pack was an interesting thing. Script writers were told to always write from the perspective of a policeman/ WPC. That's why you rarely saw any crimes being committed in real time. They also tried to avoid any off duty scenes either except the occasional visit to the section house. These rules eventually went out the window when a new producer came in and 'soaped it up' with more weekly episodes, more famous faces, romantic storylines and crazy plots (ie: psychopathic PC Gabriel) Basically, they wanted to make it EastEnders in uniform. Shame.

Trivia: The theme tune was composed by Andy Pask who used to be in the one hit wonder synth band, Landscape who had a hit with 'Einstein A Go Go'.

[paruses]

What was the comedy episode about?

It was DCI Meadows offering a bottle of scotch to whoever could nick a particular slag responsible for a spate of burglaries. Dave Quinnan had some really good set pieces questioning an errant husband and said slag. He was being ribbed by Tony and in the end rose above it all. Pretty good none-serious ending but capped off with a nice smug look from Tony.

@Brundle-Fly - that's a really interesting post. I did know about Jeff Stewart and thought that was really sad but hadn't realised that better ending to the story. Also like the info about how the episodes were written. 

[Fambo Number Mive]

Thank you for that post Brundle-Fly, very interesting.

There's a podcast where people who starred in the Bill are interviewed:

https://m.soundcloud.com/thebillpodcast

The person who interviews the former Bill actors also wrote a book about the filming of the Bill but it seems to be hard to find.

[monkfromhavana]

I won't say who it is because I don't want to get him in trouble by me telling what Wingett said in the bar. You know how people like to Google themselves?

The words no-one wants to hear - "I won't say who it is".

If it's that one I posted upstream but can never remember the name of, i've already forgotten his name.

[Brundle-Fly]

The words no-one wants to hear - "I won't say who it is".

If it's that one I posted upstream but can never remember the name of, i've already forgotten his name.

Easy Rod! ; )

[Fambo Number Mive]

Rewatched

Spoiler alert

Viv Martella's

[close]

final episode yesterday. Burnside could be a real arsehole sometimes. I think he slapped

Spoiler alert

Martella's

[close]

bottom once.

Even before the Bill became a soap, quite a few characters were killed off.

[Fambo Number Mive]

Also whoever your friend played Brundle-Fly he did a great job as I don't think there was a single dud actor on The Bill during the nineties. Even when it became a soap the acting was still good, it was what the characters became that was the issue.

[Brundle-Fly]

I'll let him know. He'd be chuffed to hear it. I wonder if this revival will get off the ground.

[thr0b]

I'll let him know. He'd be chuffed to hear it. I wonder if this revival will get off the ground.

It will not.

Budgets and audiences are too small these days to do it properly (e.g. the pre-soap format), and there are too many soaps for it to make a dent as a "new" soap.

[Fambo Number Mive]

I have to admit this was the first time I'd heard of the revival:

https://www.entertainmentdaily.co.uk/soaps/the-bill-is-returning-in-2021-but-which-originals-will-feature-and-what-is-the-new-name/

...Actors Trudie Goodwin, Graham Cole and Mark Wingett are in talks to reprise their roles with the team behind the comeback.

They would return as June Ackland, Jim Carver and Tony Stamp – but not as police.

Instead they would be consultants drafted in to help newer police officers with an increase in murders in Sun Hill...

I'd watch this to see Ackland, Stamp and Carver back in action - although I'm not sure why Ackland and Stamp would be chosen as consultants by the Met if they have no CID experience.

And it won't be called The Bill – instead it will be known as Sun Hill, in honour of the police station in the original.

[paruses]

That sounds terrible, I am sorry to say. Maybe June and Jim given the brief but Tony left to become an advanced driving instructor at Hendon, didn't he? Maybe there are a lot of murders in cars the revival.

[monkfromhavana]

I'd love to see Tony Stamp down the ends with the mandem spitting bare UK drill bars to get the local gang member onside and end the postcode wars.

[Brundle-Fly]

They should realistically produce a Big Finish type audio episodes of this revival, perhaps?

[Stone Cold Steve Austin]

Started dipping in to these again, 1996 episodes. Can't stop cracking up whenever Gary McCann speaks, it's the exact same cadence as Dean Learner

[Fambo Number Mive]

Watching one from Series 13 and Gwynth Strong has turned up as Mrs Painter, who has had her child kidnapped.

Filming the Bill must have been a big logistical challenge. I remember one episode when a vehicle had been driven into a shop, probably a ram raid. Wonder how they set that one up.

[paruses]

The famous or not-yet famous faces come in waves. I keep meaning to post the ones that excite me but invariably forget.

Ewan Spud from Trainspotting has just been in one as an older man (20s) with a 15 almost 16 year old girlfriend. The system just can't keep them apart and it's not how it looks.

I seem to remember that this storyline comes up a few times in 90s Bill and is treated sympathetically presumably as various producers and directors have at some point had to explain "it's a mistake anyone could make".

[Gurke and Hare]

Paul Ritter, with a full and lustrous head of hair.

[paruses]

I am having a renewed admiration for Jack Meadows / Simon Rouse. Watched one where he deals with a serial confessor to murder but things aren't as they seem. He plays hard, sympathetic, and comic by turns throughout the episode.

Nice put down of Carver's impression of him that he's "no Mike Yarwood". Even in 1996 that would have been a beautifully dated reference.

[paruses]

Also Suzy Croft's wardrobe screams mid-90s horror - boxy pinafores, waistcoats, jumpers under dresses...

[Fambo Number Mive]

Tom Georgeson from Between the Lines popped up in one of the episodes I watched today, playing a chief inspector who claimed a sergeant disobeyed one of his orders. Mannion (who is an interesting character, more of a political animal than Brownlow who he often has spats with) and Brownlow were on the discipline board hearing about this.

I think Tom Georgeson's been in the Bill at least one other time but can't recall what episode this was.

Also watched the episode where Rod Skase gets assaulted - nice bit where Beech and Deakin share a look as they gently try to get information out of a villain's grandparent.

[Stone Cold Steve Austin]

I think Tom Georgeson's been in the Bill at least one other time but can't recall what episode this was.

he was in an one as a man who was out on license for killing his wife and being harassed by their son

[Gurke and Hare]

They seem to have removed a number of episodes from UKTV Play yesterday - the earliest episode now is what they call Series 14 Episode 1, which is what imdb thinks is Series 12 Episode 65. I've got away with it a bit, only had to skip about 10 episodes.