The Bill

The Bill was compulsory viewing for its first decade or so, but its relatively-new executive producer and his team of gossip-writers have conspired to reduce it almost to farce, presumably driven by a desire to attract those who habitually switch off after the serial soaps.

That is sad enough, but even sadder is the fact that even its degraded form, The Bill remains one of the better current offerings on television, purely for the two or three minutes per episode now devoted to the original concept.

Perhaps we should be grateful for those few minutes, which those attracted to the programme for other reasons may ignore while making or taking bets on which of the Sun Hill staff will soon have a child kidnapped, or prove to be corrupt, have a serious problem with alcohol or drug abuse, turn out to be either adopted or the parent of a long-lost illegitimate child, become unfaithful or a bigamist, go mad or murder several colleagues.

If only we'd known.

A few years ago I would not have hesitated to state that this was beyond the shadow of a doubt the most wonderful and high quality show on television. The realistic and hard hitting nature of the show, the believable dimensions of genuine police work that were incorporated into the script, the strict attention to police procedures and protocol in the show and the wonderful and comprehensive portrayal of the characters all made this show a pleasure to watch. The storylines were, more often then not, very intriguing and interesting and the script was second to none. Characters such as DI Frank Burnside, DS Ted Roach, DCI Jack Meadows, DCI Kim Reid and several others provided the show with an intriguing and very gripping dimension and the acting was superb and also second to none. It stood in a category of its own as a police drama and was far better than the American (and even British) police dramas in the same genre

Unfortunately, in recent years, the show has taken a dramatic turn for the worse and now would have to be categorized as one of the worst shows that is presently on TV. For some reason that I'll never quite understand, the TV executives decided that they had to dumb down the show and all of its characters to a primitive soap level and make a perfectly good show into a sleazy and pathetic joke. Now the scripts are appalling, quite a lot of the acting weak and disjointed (probably because good actors are being provided with pathetic scripts), the storylines thoroughly boring and there is almost no serious police work at all in the show. It is exceedingly painful to watch for the reasons outlined above and it unfortunately cannot even be taken seriously as a TV show. Every aspect of the show has become so juvenile and pathetic and I would now have to concede that the American TV police dramas are now much better than the present format of `The Bill' ever could be. It is a disappointing turnaround for such a wonderful show. Whatever happened to high quality television?

I can honestly say that I have never missed an episode bar one, the episode with Honey in the casino about four years ago. During this time I have seen the highs and lows and yes some very 'soapy' episodes. I agree wholeheartedly with people who say it has been at a definite low from about 2002, maybe even a little before that, but even in it's more trashy period it retained my interest. I have cringed at many of the story lines from around 2002 onwards, but while a lot of silly stories were going on there were still some good characters. Gabriel Kent and Cathy Bradshaw were not one of these! I have to say that within the last half a year to a year the show has gone through a dramatic about turn and now more concentration on the very real pressures that the British police have to endure has ensured that an air of quality has returned. if you have stayed away for a few years then now is definitely a good period to return to it. There are characters that stand along side the best of the past, such as Gina Gold, Sam Nixon (gorgeous as she is!), DI Manson, plus there's still a crop of the old stalwarts such as the wonderfully flawed Reg Hollis. I hope the show's producers can keep this current good period going, and if they have to raise the ratings in future, to find a good solid talking point of a storyline, rather than resort to Tabloid style cheap ratings grabbers. These attempts to tempt people in may initially bring in a lot of people who like that kind of thing but they will lose many more of the more discerning audience. May this show go on and on...please!

THE BILL is very hard to come by in the States, and even when it was running on CBC-Windsor, it was impossible to see it this far from the border. No cable CBC around here (do not have it anyway). I got hooked around seven years ago; it was aired one episode per day starting with 1988 episodes, which I viewed from Detroit. Eventually the station ran them all again in sequence.

At very first I avoided it. I never, for example, watched HILL STREET BLUES, which I thought THE BILL would be like. Wrong! Straightaway I was hopelessly hooked, even arranging my day so I could be home in late afternoon.

Keeping in mind that I have not seen an episode newer than perhaps 1995, I thought (think) THE BILL was an excellent programme, calling it my "soap opera." Some friends thought my being so devoted to a "cop show" was out of character, and perhaps yes, but it was the exotic setting . . . yet more: The stories' construction, occasionally running three tales in a mere half-hour, the dialogue, the character development and interactions, all for the most part top notch. I picked up a lot of obnoxious British lower-class slang, too. One also notes how most of the outdoor scenes are uncharacteristically sunny and warm, but surely that cannot be London?

The cheek: I once wrote offering to do a part for nothing if I could depict an obnoxious North American who gets punched out by D.I. Burnside. (P.C. Loxton would be unacceptable.)I was never favoured with a reply.

I have seen negative comment in this forum and else-where that THE BILL is turning into a real "soap," but cannot comment. All I can say to my mates over here is that British "prime time" drama as represented by THE BILL is as good as anything done in the States -- but without the bigger-than-life, distracting, razmatazz. To coin the proverbial phrase, Good Show.

I have followed this series from its earliest episodes and have rarely found it hard going until recently. Although it still delivers good entertainment, the show has lost much of its grittiness (although in many ways it is probably more realistic).Up until the recent dramatic changes (the bombing of Sun Hill and resultant death of many of the main characters)there was little shown of the violence, blood etc that is part and parcel of real police work. The show has suffered considerably for those of us who remember the good old days of Burnside, Tosh Lines et al. Serialising the episodes is not in itself a bad thing, for that makes it more believable than the old concept that each case was tied up in the half hour - or one hour episode, it does however mean that much of the crispness of the show is lost in the process. For the undedicated, the focus on private lives (and romances in the station)turns it very much into a "soap" and less of a serious show. I am still recovering from the first time Jim kissed June - it was a bit like watching someone kiss his sister! I suppose that the Old Bill is gone for good, but it still is good entertainment - and I suppose this is what we watch TV for.