The Bill

[Pussywillow]

Re: The Bill

Yes, I watched The Bill since it's inception in the 80's. A question though, am I right in thinking it was originally on for an hour ? It then changed to 1/2 episodes later.

[Richard1978]

Re: The Bill

IIRC for the first 4 series it was a more conventional police drama, & in the late 1980s it was retooled into the 2/3 times a week 30 minute "police's point of view" format.

[Markxist]

Re: The Bill

That's right Pussywillow, The Bill's original 'Pilot' entitled Woodentop for the Storyboard series was an hour in length and the subsequent 3 series that followed were also an hour each. Come the 4th series in 1988 they changed it to the 2 eps per week at half hour each, a change which saw John Salthouse (Galloway) leave because he felt the series would suffer as a result.

Interestingly, the first series of The Bill does not comply to what would later become the series template of depicting everything from the POV of the police officers - as a result, you see crimes occur before the police become aware of them, and criminals on their own. By series 2 they changed the format to following the regular characters which was more in keeping with Woodentop

[Richard1978]

Re: The Bill

During the series run the Met went from being reluctant to advise to allowing them to use proper uniforms & other equipment, which is quite rare for a TV show.

[darren]

Re: The Bill

When you say an hour do you mean 45 mins with ad breaks.

How many episodes where there per series for those first 3..
Was he right to leave cause he thought the series would suffer as a result.

Great info there mate.

that's right pussywillow, the bill's original 'pilot' entitled woodentop for the storyboard series was an hour in length and the subsequent 3 series that followed were also an hour each. Come the 4th series in 1988 they changed it to the 2 eps per week at half hour each, a change which saw john salthouse (galloway) leave because he felt the series would suffer as a result.

Interestingly, the first series of the bill does not comply to what would later become the series template of depicting everything from the pov of the police officers - as a result, you see crimes occur before the police become aware of them, and criminals on their own. By series 2 they changed the format to following the regular characters which was more in keeping with woodentop

[Arran]

Re: The Bill

The ITV bosses no longer wanted The Bill and its producers had had enough with it which is why it ended rather than was moved to a satellite channel.

I believe The Bill represents the last continuous connection between modern day ITV and Thames Television when they held the London ITV franchise. There were concerns by the public over the future of The Bill when it was revealed that Thames lost to Carlton.

[Markxist]

Re: The Bill

That's right Darren, around 50 mins without ads. The first 3 series comprised of 12 eps per series at this length. I think he was right to leave if the half hour format wasn't personally for him, and I do agree having watched the fourth series that initially the show did suffer as a result and that these eps bear little comparison to the strong eps of first 3 series (especially s2 and 3 which was very strong) but it did eventually find its niche before that fourth run concluded, delivering some quality, tight half hour storylines. In the end I guess it just depends who was writing and whether the story could be told effectively in such a short time slot (because again, without the ad breaks, these eps were usually much shorter than 30 mins, usually around 24 mins)

[darren]

Re: The Bill

I thought at one time it was cause it had lost its appeal it was no longer as popular and its viewing figures had dropped massively.

Im just shocked no channel decided to keep it going like bbc1 or bbc2.
At least ud not have ad breaks.

the itv bosses no longer wanted the bill and its producers had had enough with it which is why it ended rather than was moved to a satellite channel.

I believe the bill represents the last continuous connection between modern day itv and thames television when they held the london itv franchise. There were concerns by the public over the future of the bill when it was revealed that thames lost to carlton.

[Arran]

Re: The Bill

I think changing The Bill from a procedural programme into a soap turned away many of the longer standing viewers and failed to attract many new viewers.

I'm surprised that Casualty still exists. It was supposed to have been quite popular during the 1990s but I don't know anybody who watches it on anything more than an occasional basis nowadays.

I was expecting with the internet that TV bosses could better assess what is really popular and what is not rather than using badly extrapolated viewing figures, but it doesn't seem to be the case.

[darren]

Re: The Bill

Whats the difference between a procedural show to a soap.

Im shocked its still around.

I did watch nearly every week during the nineties but not really anymore.

I get casualty and holby city mixed up at times.

i think changing the bill from a procedural programme into a soap turned away many of the longer standing viewers and failed to attract many new viewers.

I'm surprised that casualty still exists. It was supposed to have been quite popular during the 1990s but i don't know anybody who watches it on anything more than an occasional basis nowadays.

I was expecting with the internet that tv bosses could better assess what is really popular and what is not rather than using badly extrapolated viewing figures, but it doesn't seem to be the case.

[Richard1978]

Re: The Bill

The Bill didn't show much of the personal lives of the regulars when I remember watching it a lot in the mid 1990s.

London's Burning went very soap like in it's later years.

My Girlfriend likes to watch Casulty, though she has had a lot of health problems over the years.

[Markxist]

Re: The Bill

The Bill didn't show much of the personal lives of the regulars when I remember watching it a lot in the mid 1990s.

London's Burning went very soap like in it's later years.

My Girlfriend likes to watch Casulty, though she has had a lot of health problems over the years.

The Bill, Casualty and London's Burning - three great dramas that started out in the '80s that, unfortunately, all ended up becoming soapy dross. I'm a HUGE fan of early Casualty, when it was very political and looked at the issues of the day, but the whole thing has been a bit of a mess since the early 00s

[JimCarver79]

Re: The Bill

Galloway > Burnside > Deakin.

Don Beech also rocked even if he was crooked. Spotted him as another character in a 1989 episode.

[George 1978]

Re: The Bill

I saw Shaun Scott (Deakin) as two different characters before he was a regular as well - one of them was as a pub landlord.

Didn't he also used to appear in the Café Hag adverts as well? - the man who used to appear in them looked uncannily like Scott.

[JimCarver79]

Re: The Bill

Yep, it was him. Recognised him straight away when I spotted him in The Bill.