Merseybeat

I only vaguely remembered Merseybeat, the BBC's answer to The Bill, and don't recall ever having watched it, so when it popped up on UK Play I thought I'd give it a go.

Bearing in mind that this was a prime time evening show on what was the main BBC channel I was expecting it to be at the very least watchable.

I was wrong.

Right from the outset it lacked promise. The character building was poor, I mean really poor and really hackneyed.

The storylines were weak and the whole production reminded me not so much of The Bill, which by this point had itself become a glossy soap opera pastiche of its former self, but of one of the BBC lunchtime dramas, Doctors springs to mind, designed as background noise for new mothers and the housebound.

To be honest I'm amazed it lasted for as many episodes as it did.

I gave up after 3...

Some idiot on BBC teletext today said that this show was realistic. It was anything but. It is set in Runcorn on the River Mersey. This is the only large Police station in the UK without a C.I.D.!! Most of the Police Officers are female and the two main male characters are totally out of control. The Male inspector is suddenly promoted to Superintendent without even an interview, leaving all the Chief Inspectors in the Force, gnashing their teeth. There is, of course, an obligatory senior female officer. All Police drama are unrealistic to a degree but this load of rubbish really takes the biscuit. The programme has been rightly discontinued.

I used to enjoy watching Merseybeat and feel it's a shame that it ended however it wasn't of the same standard of other similar programmes in this genre i.e. The Bill. The show was focused around a police station and followed the lives of the people that work there both professionally and personally. Like The Bill (although The Bill works better) it made a mistake in being too much about the staff rather than the criminals. Overall I'm glad the series ended although it was a shame really because they could have turned things around and made improvements here and there. It wasn't dire like some of the programmes that try to be like The Bill.

When Mersey Beat was announced it invited comparisons with its contender The Bill on ITV. the bill was at a low point when merseybeat came out in 2001 and Merseybeat followed. it had lackluster story lines, poorly thought out characters and in general seemed to be a poor copy of the bill. When the Bill changed its format in 2002 so did Mersey beat. by taking a closer look at the officer's personal lives (the superintendent's rape and family troubles) and introducing a CID unit it was thought it would gain more viewers. it failed badly. Mersey beat was soon cancelled and with good cause. a mere footnote in British television history. it will be the sort of obscure thing that shows up on television trivia in a decades time.

Believable characters face the challenge of work alongside their everyday lives and the process of finding a balance between being a police officer on the beat and coping with a life outside of uniform runs as the main theme throughout this drama. Brilliant scripted storylines and great filming with a superb cast, including the wonderful Haydn Gwynne (as Superintendent Susan Blake), make Merseybeat one of the best cop dramas on the TV.