The Bill(TV-Show/Serie, 1984-2010)

The 26th series of The Bill, a British television drama, was the final series of the police procedural programme. The long-running police drama was axed on 26 March 2010 after a dramatic fall in ratings following the controversial revamp the previous summer for the show's 25th series, and what ITV director Peter Fincham described as "the changing taste of viewers". Despite a petition and calls for another network to take on the series, the final episode, Respect: Part 2, aired on 31 August 2010 - 15 days after the 27th anniversary of the pilot episode of The Bill, Woodentop, which was first broadcast on 16 August 1983. In the end, the long-running police drama finally ceased operations for good after a total of 2,425 episodes were made in 27 years. Nearly two years after the final episode, Supt. Jack Meadows was featured in an episode of Leipzig Homicide, which involved him investigating a suspected murderer who has been living in London. In the episode it is revealed that at some point during the year and a half following the events of Respect, Meadows had retired. On 30 April 2014, The Bill Series 26 Part 1 & 2 DVD set was released in Australia. ()

The 25th series of The Bill, a British television drama, was the penultimate series of the programme. This series saw the show transition to a post-watershed time slot of 9pm, dropping from two episodes to one week-by-week as ITV aimed to save up to £65 million. Producers used the post-watershed slot to introduce "darker, more gritty" storylines. DI Samantha Nixon left prior to the transition, after seven years on the show, in a special two-parter storyline that included a cameo appearance by her daughter Abigail (Georgia Tennant), who was a recurring character on the show from 2002 to 2005. A six-part storyline came as part of the end of the twice-weekly episodes, Conviction, that concluded with four cast members leaving, including Superintendent John Heaton; DCI Jack Meadows was promoted into the role. The four characters were part of seven who left as part of the revamp, however the axing of Graham Cole as PC Tony Stamp after 22 years on the show proved controversial, with producers stating Cole was "too old" for the new-look show. In addition to seeing ten characters leave the show, it is the only series in the show's history not to have a new arrival. On 30 April 2014, The Bill Series 25 Part 1-3 DVD set was released (in Australia). ()

The 24th series of The Bill, a British television drama, was the antepenultimate series of the programme. This series was the last to feature the killing of an officer, PC Emma Keane. The death on-screen led to the resignation of the longest serving character, PC Reg Hollis, his controversial exit off-screen after actor Jeff Stewart attempted suicide on set, after being axed by producers following 24 years on the show. Another long-term character, Inspector Gina Gold, left the show after six years as part of the aftermath of the storyline, Gold retiring after becoming increasingly terrified at the thought of losing another officer. In the autumn, The Bill celebrated its 25th anniversary with scenes aired in Germany as part of a crossover with Leipzig Homicide to investigate the abduction of a German national in London. There was also a special documentary hosted by Martin Kemp, "The Bill Made Me Famous”, featuring interviews with the most famous guest stars to have featured on the show including Roger Daltrey, Lynda Bellingham and Les Dennis, along with a number of past and present characters from the show. As part of several multi-part storylines throughout the year, the longest in the show's history aired with the eight-part Witness storyline exploring gang culture after t... ()

Series 23 of British television drama The Bill was broadcast from 3 January until 28 December 2007. The series consisted of 92 episodes, and saw the conclusion of two long running-storylines, the disappearance of schoolgirl Amy Tennant and DC Zain Nadir’s undercover drug sting, prior to the return of single-themed episodes, removing much of the serialiased format formally introduced in 2002 under producer Paul Marquess; episode titles also started appearing on screen again from Episode 20 onwards. Several episodes were aired out of production order, most notably the final parts of the six episodes for the Zain storyline. Despite at the time not even being billed for broadcast, and the 'previously' and 'next time' segments not matching the episodes around them, the episodes were brought forward due to heavy demand from the British viewing public. This also meant that the 'previously' and 'next time' segments on the subsequent episodes had to be re-edited to show this, and that two small additional scenes had to be recorded to be placed into Episode 480 to reference the death of PC Honey Harman. For the DVD release, to avoid confusion, these episodes have been renumbered and now serve as 480 and 481, with the following four episodes renumbered to 482–485 respectively. This s... ()

Series 22 of British television drama The Bill was broadcast from 4 January until 28 December 2006. The series consisted of 91 episodes, as two episodes from the series remain unaired after the master tapes were stolen in a robbery at the show's recording studios in November 2006. Under new producer Johnathan Young, this series saw the programme begin to step away from the serialised format, and return much of the focus to the actual policing aspect of the programme, removing the more 'soap' feel previously introduced by Paul Marquess. Most episodes consisted of two parallel stories running at the same time, much like the initial transition to hour-long episodes in 1998. However, some episodes feature entirely on one story, beginning the move back to single-themed episodes as part of a plan to completely remove serialisation - which did not take place until 2007. The series also saw a large portion of cast changes in the first few months, with a number of characters previously introduced by Marquess being axed to make way for new blood - many of them support staff and non-police officer characters. Young believed that several of the characters introduced by Marquess did not have the longevity of the more well-known characters in the show, and thus decided to give a number of h... ()

Series 21 of British television drama The Bill was broadcast from 5 January until 29 December 2005. The series consisted of 106 episodes, making it the series with the highest number of episodes in the show's final decade, tied with series 19. Joint-longest serving cast member, DC Jim Carver (Mark Wingett), exited the show after 21 years, having been with the show since its first ever episode; he was the sixth character with over ten years on the series to have exited in the previous three years. It followed the events of the third Sun Hill station fire. As was the case in 1990 and 2002, a redevelopment to a large part of the station set was explained by an explosion, racist PCSO Colin Fairfax driving a van into the station reception to shift the blame for a terror attack onto the local Asian community; the fire led to three characters being killed off. The death of Carver's best friend in the blaze, DC Ken Drummond, came before the revelation that his estranged wife June Ackland had an affair with experienced PC Roger Valentine. Ackland, co-protagonist with Carver in the series pilot Woodentop, was involved in a 30-minute special episode that ended with Carver's exit. Actor Mark Wingett also featured in spin-off documentary series The Bill: Uncovered, exploring Jim's time on ... ()

Series 20 of British television drama The Bill was broadcast from 7 January until 30 December 2004, and continued to use the serialized format introduced by Paul Marquess during Series 18. ()

Series 19 of British television drama The Bill was broadcast from 1 January until 31 December 2003. The series consisted of 106 episodes, being the longest series broadcast during the show's final decade, and also included the show's first live broadcast, "Fatal Consequences". This series built upon the serialized format previously introduced by new producer Paul Marquess in Series 18, with the series following on from the previous series by removing and replacing a mass number of characters. The most high-profile exit was that of Sergeant Matt Boyden, whose death was part of a crossover with new spin-off series Murder Investigation Team. Actor Tony O'Callaghan, who was with the show for 12 years, became the fourth character with over ten years on the show to have been written out in the 18 months since Marquess took over, with three of those four characters being killed off. This series saw the show celebrate its 20th anniversary on air with both a live episode and an episode featuring one of the show's most ambitious stunts to date, where PC Des Taviner is supposedly killed in an explosion in a gas tower after being exposed as the culprit of the Sun Hill fire, which claimed the lives of six officers back in April 2002. This storyline also saw a guest stint by former DI Sally... ()

Series 18 of British television drama The Bill consisted of 86 episodes, broadcast between 3 January and 31 December 2002. This series marked a massive change for the show, after it received a new executive producer, Paul Marquess. Series 18 became the first series to be broadcast in serial format, and generally, only one episode was broadcast per week. The style of the programme also noticeably changes, becoming less police procedural and more "soap opera". This meant that the personal lives of characters were regularly explored for the first time, meaning several characters had family members or partners introduced, casting that rarely happened prior to the Marquess era. The show also dropped on-screen titles for the first time in the show's history, the last of which being the episode 'Quinnan: Part 6'. That six-part plot led to the departure of long serving character, PC Dave Quinnan, as actor Andrew Paul exited the series after 12 years. Unlike Paul, who left voluntarily, many of the early departures were enforced as Marquess dismissed a total of eight characters to make way for a major revamp of the cast as part of the move to a soap-opera style series. The longest serving dismissals were that of Andrew Monroe & Derek Conway, with both Colin Tarrant & Ben Roberts sacked ... ()

Series 17 of British television drama The Bill consisted of 92 episodes, broadcast between 5 January and 21 December 2001. As well as 85 regular episodes, the series also included a spinoff Beech is Back, following a special 90-minute episode in Australia. The story follows ex-Sun Hill officer Claire Stanton, now a DI, as she goes to Australia to try and extradite ex-DS Don Beech for the murder of his colleague John Boulton. The spinoff that follows concludes the Beech storyline, which began in Series 16. Although the idea of making the series into a serial drama did not fully take effect until April 2002, many of the stories in the latter half of the year were multi-part stories, some containing up to six episodes, such as the "Night Games" saga. The two-part episode "Lifelines" is the last two-parter to feature in the series until the return of episode titles in 2007. On 14 August 2013, The Bill Series 17 Part 1 & 2 and The Bill Series 17 Part 3 & 4 DVD sets were released (in Australia). The series saw an exit for Sergeant Bob Cryer, with actor Eric Richard controversially axed after 17 years with the show. His exit storyline saw him accidentally shot by PC Dale Smith, who transferred to SO19 as part of his exit storyline, however he would return two years later; Cryer would... ()

Series 16 of British television drama The Bill consisted of 86 episodes, broadcast between 4 January – 26 December 2000. As well as 83 regular episodes, the series also included a two-part recap special, Kiss Off, featuring a condensed broadcast of the Series 15 episodes "Lone Ranger", "Old Flame", "Push It" and "Kiss Off", prior to a special episode, The Trial of Eddie Santini, which provides closure to the Santini storyline from 1999. On 5 June 2013, The Bill Series 16 Part 1 & 2 and The Bill Series 16 Part 3 & 4 DVD sets were released (in Australia). On screen, it was revealed in the spring that DS Claire Stanton, introduced in the previous season, was working as a mole in CID for the Complaints Investigation Bureau to bring down DS Don Beech. The storyline stretched five months and reached a denouement when DS John Boulton was murdered by Beech. The climax, however, wouldn't happen until the following series when Beech surfaced in Australia. The storyline saw CID obliterated, with DCI Jack Meadows and DCs Duncan Lennox, Danny Glaze and Mickey Webb the only characters left in CID. Chief Superintendent Charles Brownlow also exited during the Beech saga, ending a 16-year stint on the show for actor Peter Ellis; however he would go on to make a guest appearance in 2002. Elli... ()

The fifteenth series of The Bill, a British television drama, consisted of 87 episodes, broadcast between 7 January and 31 December 1999. The series saw a notable change, as female officers were no longer introduced by the W acronym in ranking, with the last mention of this when Liz Rawton was introduced as a WDC in Follow Through. By the following episode, Walking on Water, female characters were simply introduced as PC/DC etc. On 5 June 2013, The Bill Series 15 Part 1 & 2 and The Bill Series 15 Part 3 & 4 DVD sets were released (in Australia). The series was primarily dominated by individual, stand-alone episodes, but serialised plots were also included after being introduced by Richard Handford when he arrived in the previous series; while some of those were multi-part plots that ran over 2-4 episodes, the serialised element of series 15 saw some plots last a majority of the year. They included a brutal stabbing attack on PC Dave Quinnan in the spring, which led to the introduction of Nurse Jenny Delaney, whose love triangle with Quinnan and PC George Garfield led to the exit of Garfield after Huw Higginson's 10-year stint in the role; Quinnan's stabbing was also re-visited almost a year after his stabbing in series 16. Also carrying into the following year was the arrest o... ()

The 14th series of The Bill, a British television drama, consisted of 121 episodes, broadcast between 1 January and 31 December 1998. For the first half of this series, the episodes were filmed in 1997, but aired in 1998. ()

The thirteenth series of the British television drama The Bill was broadcast from 2 January to 30 December 1997. The series consisted of 152 episodes, including three-hour-long specials. There were just two cast departures in the series after four the year before; actor Tom Butcher left the role of PC Steve Loxton after seven years on the show, however he would return in two episodes in 1999 as a guest at Dave Quinnan's wedding. The other departure was that of Alan Westaway, who left his role of PC Nick Slater after two and a half years. Their characters were replaced by PCs Luke Ashton and Sam Harker, with actors Scott Neal and Matthew Crompton appearing as guest actors on a number of times, both of the actor's most recent guest stints coming the previous year. The series also saw DC Tom Proctor, introduced into CID. Actor Gregory Donaldson revealed in a 2018 interview on The Bill Podcast that the role came after impressing producers in a guest stint earlier in the series, portraying burglary suspect Andy Melford in an hour-long special, "In the Dark". On 3 April 2013 the complete series was released as a two-part region-free DVD box set in Australia. The DVD artwork depicts DSs Don Beech (Billy Murray) and John Boulton (Russell Boulter). ()

The twelfth series of The Bill, a British television drama, consisted of 156 episodes, broadcast between 2 January and 31 December 1996. On 6 February 2013, The Bill Series 12 Part 1 & 2 and The Bill Series 12 Part 3 & 4 DVD sets were released (in Australia). The show aired the death of PC Cathy Marshall early in the series, actress Lynne Miller departing after seven years in a mysterious plot that saw her drown whilst chasing a suspect, but it was never confirmed if she was pushed or slipped off a riverside barge during the pursuit. The death followed that of DS Jo Morgan in a four-part special towards the end of the previous series, with the first three of the four episodes rebroadcast in the summer as part of a single special episode, Target. There was also an exit for PC Donna Harris, as the role of collator was replaced by a computerised system. Two other characters departed, with Robert Perkins leaving his role as Sergeant Ray Steele after almost three years, with WPC June Ackland taking the role of Sergeant after six months as an Acting Sergeant. Tom Cotcher also left the role of DC Alan Woods, being replaced by WDC Liz Rawton, with actress Libby Davison joining the show permanently just four months after making a guest appearance as Briony Richards. Rawton's arrival to... ()

The eleventh series of The Bill, a British television drama, consisted of 149 episodes, broadcast between 5 January – 29 December 1995. Cast members Jaye Griffiths (DI Johnson) and Martin Marquez (DS Pearce) both left their roles as series regulars, being replaced by Russell Boulter & Billy Murray (DSs Boulton and Beech), with Beech taking the place of DS Chris Deakin after he was promoted to DI. Griffiths would go on to return eight years later for a storyline in 2003, while Marquez returned a year later to make one final appearance as a guest actor. While not notable at the time, Murray's character Beech would go on to be the show's longest-running full-time villain in the years that followed. Mark Spalding joined the cast as Chief Inspector Paul Stritch, following the exit of Philip Whitchurch as Chief Inspector Philip Cato; however, Spalding left the series before its conclusion after just seven months on the show. Alan Westaway & Andrea Mason joined as probationary PCs Nick Slater and Debbie Keane, while Mary Jo Randle made a brief return as WDS Jo Morgan in the autumn before her character was killed off in a four-part story arc in which a hitman targeted WPC June Ackland. On 6 February 2013, the complete series was released on DVD in Australia. ()

The tenth series of The Bill, a British television drama, consisted of 156 episodes, broadcast between 4 January and 30 December 1994. On 3 October 2012, The Bill Series 10 Part 1 & 2 and The Bill Series 10 Part 3 & 4 DVD sets were released (in Australia). Audio Commentaries have been recorded for the episodes "Bin-Men", "Blackout", "Instant Response" and "Taken on Trust", released exclusively on The Bill Podcast Patreon channel. ()

The ninth series of The Bill, a British television drama, consisted of 155 episodes, broadcast between 5 January – 31 December 1993. The series was released on DVD for the first time on 3 October 2012, in Australia. As of the year's first episode, the series increased its weekly output to three 30-minute episodes, having been twice-weekly half-hour episodes since 1988. The series saw a number of high-profile exits, including a shooting murder for WDC Viv Martella, the dismissal of DS Ted Roach for assaulting Inspector Andrew Monroe and the mysterious at the time exit of DI Frank Burnside, whose exit reason would not be revealed until he returned in 1998. Characters from previous years joined the series including DS Danny Pearce, who appeared as a DC from another station the previous year. In addition, Chief Inspector Philip Cato and DI Harry Haines joined with new names after past guest stints; Haines, like Pearce, appeared the year before but was named DS Ken Haines, while Cato had appeared in 1990 as Inspector Twist at Barton Street, the man who ended the career of Sergeant Tom Penny. Cato was given Twist's backstory despite the name change, leading to animosity from the Sun Hill officers in several of his scenes. Audio Commentaries have been released for the episodes "No ... ()

The eighth series of The Bill, a British television drama, consisted of 105 episodes, broadcast between 2 January – 31 December 1992. The series was released on DVD for the first time on 6 June 2012, in Australia. It features the above artwork, which features images of PC Steve Loxton and DC Mike Dashwood. ()

The seventh series of The Bill, a British television drama, consisted of 105 episodes, broadcast between 1 January – 31 December 1991. The series was released on DVD for the first time on 6 June 2012, in Australia. It features the above artwork, which features images of Sgt. Alec Peters and WDC Viv Martella. A number of cast and crew commentaries for Series 7 episodes have been recorded, available exclusively for subscribers of The Bill Podcast Patreon Channel. These include "The Chase", "Cry Havoc", "Lest We Forget", "The Negotiator" and "They Also Serve". ()

The sixth series of The Bill, a British television drama, consisted of 104 episodes, broadcast between 2 January – 27 December 1990. The series was first released on DVD as part of the Collection 5 and Collection 6 DVD boxsets in Australia, made available on 9 April – 8 October 2008, respectively. The series was later reissued as two-half series boxsets in Australia, released on 7 March 2012. The above artwork is taken from the most recent Australian release. It features images of DC Tosh Lines and DI Frank Burnside. The original Collection boxsets contained sole images of PC Reg Hollis and DS Ted Roach. In the UK, the first nine episodes were released on DVD under the title Volume 7, on 2 September 2013. Series 6 marked a significant period of change on the series, the most notable being the move to its third and ultimately final set at Merton, accounting for the move with a station fire plot, the first of three on the series. PC Ken Melvin was killed as a result of a car bomb as one of several high profile exits, with original characters PC Taffy Edwards and Sergeant Tom Penny departing after six years: Penny’s exit came as part of a plot that was split into two, giving evidence in the case of rival station Barton Street custody sergeant assaulting a prisoner, the same... ()

The fifth series of The Bill, a British television drama, consisted of 104 episodes, broadcast between 3 January – 28 December 1989. The series was first released on DVD as part of the Collection 3 and Collection 4 DVD boxsets in Australia, made available on 8 August – 7 November 2007, respectively. The first four episodes of the series were later issued on DVD in the United Kingdom, under the title Volume 4, on 15 March 2010. The next thirteen episodes of series 5 were released on DVD in the UK, under the title Volume 5, on 11 July 2011, the next 48 episodes of Series five were released on DVD in the UK under the title Volume 6, on 15 October 2012 and the remaining episodes were released on DVD in the UK under the title Volume 7, on 2 September 2013. The series was later reissued as two half-series boxsets in Australia, released on 7 March 2012. The above DVD artwork is taken from the most recent Australian release. It features images of DC Jim Carver and Sgt. Bob Cryer. The British volume artwork features a collage image featuring a variety of characters from across the season. The original Collection boxsets contained sole images of PC Pete Ramsey and PC June Ackland respectively. ()

The fourth series of The Bill, a British television drama, consisted of forty-eight episodes, broadcast between 19 July – 29 December 1988. This series was the first to adopt a half-hour format, and the theme tune had its first of several updates. The making of every episode broadcast in 1988 is covered in the guidebook Witness Statements: Making The Bill (1988), featuring in-depth interviews with 60 cast and crew, production notes, locations, viewing figures and rare behind-the-scenes photographs. The series was first released on DVD on 4 December 2006 in Australia, incorrectly packaged as Seasons 4 & 5, when in fact the set only contained the entire series four. The series was later issued in four separate volumes in the United Kingdom, available on 30 June 2008, 2 March 2009, 11 May 2009 and 15 March 2010. It was later reissued in Australia on 31 August 2011. The above DVD artwork is taken from the most recent Australian release. It features an image of DS Ted Roach. The British volume artwork features a variety of collage images featuring characters from across the season. The original Australian box set features a sole image of DI Frank Burnside. ()

The third series of The Bill, a British television drama, consisted of twelve episodes, broadcast between 21 September and 7 December 1987. The series was first released on DVD as part of a three-season box set on 10 May 2006 in Australia. It was later made available as a separate season in the United Kingdom on 28 May 2007 and in Australia on 3 August 2011. The above DVD artwork is taken from the most recent Australian release. It features an image of Ch. Supt. Charles Brownlow. The British artwork features a collage image featuring DI Roy Galloway, PCs Nick Shaw and Viv Martella, and DC Mike Dashwood. The image right is the Australian three-season DVD box set features a sole image of chief superintendent Charles Brownlow. Many of the cast and crew shared their memories of making this third series for the book Witness Statements, including stars John Salthouse, Eric Richard, Trudie Goodwin, Mark Wingett, Peter Ellis, Nula Conwell, Jon Iles, Larry Dann, Colin Blumenau, Robert Hudson, Mark Powley, Sonesh Sira and Graham Cole; along with writers Barry Appleton, Lionel Goldstein, Edwin Pearce and Christopher Russell, producer Peter Cregeen and director Michael Ferguson. ()

The second series of The Bill, a British television drama, consisted of twelve episodes, broadcast between 11 November 1985 and 10 February 1986. Many of the cast and crew shared their memories of making this second series for the book Witness Statements, including stars John Salthouse, Eric Richard, Trudie Goodwin, Mark Wingett, Peter Ellis, Nula Conwell, Jon Iles, Larry Dann, Colin Blumenau, Robert Hudson, Ashley Gunstock and Ralph Brown; along with writers Barry Appleton, Lionel Goldstein, Ginnie Hole and Christopher Russell, producer Peter Cregeen and directors Michael Ferguson and John Woods. ()

The first series of The Bill, a British television drama, consisted of eleven episodes, broadcast between 16 October 1984 and 22 January 1985. ()