Plot Outline: Episodes follow uniform officers and detectives from an inner London police station as they enforce law and order on a day to day basis. (more)
User Comments:
Good Show But Needs To Improve To Retain It's Fans
(more)
Production Notes/Status:
Status:
Active
Comments:
Status Updated:
16 July 2003
Note:
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Date: 11 December 2002 Summary: Good Show But Needs To Improve To Retain It's Fans
I have been watching The Bill since it started back in 1983. It is always
hard commenting on a long running show because most shows have their good
and bad patches.
The early Bill episodes were fantastic. Unlike the 21st century Bill, the
early Bill focused entirely on the officer's work lives-you never got to see
their private lives except in rare cases where their work impacted on their
private lives. There were several different stories within each hourly
episode usually split between the beat officers, C.I.D. cases and the
politics of being a copper in the Met Police. The stories focused on all
ranks from the constables to the Chief Superintendent. The first Chief
Superintendent was Charles Brownlow, a man more interested in politics and
PR and ensuring that justice was seen to be done. The first head of C.I.D.
was Detective Inspector Galloway, a short tempered and stern cop who didn't
think twice about shouting at his men but who was a good copper underneath.
The early Sergeants were Alec Peters, Tom Penny and Bob Cryer. Bob Cryer was
a veteran copper who the officers looked up to-he didn't suffer fools gladly
but would support his men through and through. The constables included Jim
Carver, a naive young probationer whose heart was in the right place but
ended up putting his foot in it on occasion. Each of the early episodes were
self contained.
In the 80's the Bill switched to a half hour format. Whilst there were some
good stories, half an hour doesn't allow for much character development and
at times, investigations seemed rushed. It would not revert to an hourly
show until 1998.
There have been many memorable characters at Sun Hill Police Station. After
D.I. Galloway left, he was replaced by D.I. Burnside, a copper who did
whatever he could to achieve a result and would happily rough up a suspect
to ensure justice was done. Other great D.I.'s include D.I. Deakin, a
veteran old school copper and the intense D.I. Cullen. Let's not forget the
old school copper Chief Inspector Conway whose job was mainly desk based but
who got his hands dirty when necessary. Conway was killed off in 2002 when a
petrol bomb was thrown into his car.There have been three bosses in the
series, first there was Chief Superintendent Brownlow. He left in 2000 and
was replaced by Superintendent Tom Chandler who seemed the right man to lead
Sun Hill but who left in 2002 after he shot himself dead after being caught
up in a scandal. The current boss is Superintendent Adam Okaro who is set to
clean up Sun Hill and isn't afraid to go out on the streets with the
troops.
The current Bill is far different to the early episodes. The show is now
more of a soap and there are not really any self contained stories. The
show, in my opinion, has suffered due to it's heavy emphasis on the officers
private lives and the constant sexual liasons between officers. Another
thing that has not helped The Bill is the constant axing of popular
characters such as the crooked D.S. Beech, the intense D.I. Cullen and Supt.
Chandler. Whilst their replacements have on the whole been good, The Bill
needs to take more time to listen to it's fans and to give newer characters
a chance before axing them.
Where does The Bill go from here? I definitely think it needs to tone down
on the officers private lives and have less sex and more police work. It
needs to give new characters a chance to find their feet before deciding
they need to go. And it needs to be bold and have the odd self contained
story as well.
All in all, The Bill is a decent enough programme which can steadily improve
it it takes note of the above points. I hope it continues for a long time.
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