He played the gay cop now supposed to either be a hunk or lying cheat on women in EE

The Bill on watch at moment was the updated one with cameras in every angle and not many of the cast left. I didn't really like the new version

The revamping of the show is what finally killed it. They Americanised it, giving it a 'film look' and adding background music. In fact, the sound was awful!
Simon Rouse (Meadows) made his views very clear, describing the changes 'unnecessary'.
There's a true saying - 'If it works and is successful, don't change it'.

Did anyone here see the final episode on Watch Was it any good

It was a shame how it ended

The sooner Shirley does one the better. Can't stand the character, whining and screeching all the time. The actress who plays her is appallingly bad, she seems to think shouting her lines all the time is acting.

With you on that, I don't think she is in it for much longer.

I know what you mean what caused The Bill to end was ITV in Scotland dropped it because ITV England dropped Taggart in 2010 Scotland wasn't best pleased, then what any channel does then was to move the programme about viewing figures drop then they say not enough people are watching so it has to go sad or what? IMHO ITV regret doing that even today The Bill used stories that happend in life from the papers etc so there was no need for it to go yes get new people in because things do change ITV won't say they made a mistake will they? no they won't. They should do the same with Corrie move that about then drop it for the same reason just me being Devilish not a bad idea though

I didn't see the final episode on Watch but, I can remember watching it on ITV many moons ago. I know I enjoyed the story but, as previously posted the "gritty glamourisation" of the show was its downfall added to (if I remember correctly) the change in the time slot.

Good!

Watching the episodes today made me laugh, the bit when Kerry got shot was hilarious And when Manson told Thatcher to shut up about the Radfords it made me chuckle some of us on here are sick of hearing the name. They must be leaving soon surely!

I remember much of what is happening right now because I had a brief stint watching the show again in late 2004. At the time the Radford story and its conclusion was really gripping. A lot it hasn't aged well at all - Kerry's death and Kent's antics are unintentionally hilarious. The writing and credibility certainly went downhill as 2004 developed.

Personally, I feel producer Paul Marquess should have been replaced about a year before he actually was. Saying that, I did watch the final episode on Watch yesterday - it was awful, only bearable if placed on mute. I prefer the soapy sensationalism to the filmic wannabe gritty and stylized cop show they tried to turn it into.

ITV should have reverted to 30 minute episodes (every day) from 2008 onwards, in my opinion.

I think 2008 was a really strong year for the show, but I do think it would have been interesting if they reverted back to 30 minute episodes from 2009, instead of doing the 9pm revamp. ITV could have brought in a new producer too with fresh ideas. Johnathan Young had been exec producer since 2005, the 5 year stint he did was a very long stretch for a producer and I think maybe a new producer with fresh eyes could have been brought in.

They could have still put the show at 9pm, but had it on Tuesday and Thursday for 30 minutes. They could have returned to telling self contained gritty stories, similar to the stories they told in the 90s. The 1994 episodes I'm watching now are really gritty, but it's not style over substance - It's just well written storylines with no special or jazzy effects. The 2009 revamp was too much style over substance.

Regarding the demise of The Bill - imo it was always going to end in 2010, no matter what happened.

While the show was popular during the era currently airing on Drama, ratings wise at least, ITV took the bold decision of renewing The Bill until 2010. This happened in either 2004 or 2005 iirc.

By 2010, ITV no longer wanted the show on air, but were contractually bound to do so. ITV didn't own or produce The Bill, so it was probably more cost effective to not renew it and instead replace it with their own homemade crap.

The revamp that came with the 9PM move, was just sheer desperation from the producers.

Ultimately, it was the era currently airing on Drama that fatally wounded the show. It just took some years to finally die.

I'm starting 2008 on the DVDs soon, so I hope you're right lol.

I'm finding 2007 to be extremely inconsistent. I was never a fan of the 2 separate police cases per episode approach either, made the episodes feel disjointed.

PsychoTherapist is correct. I remember back in 07/08 ITV's intentions slipped out and were quite clear that once the then current contract expired in 2010, they would not be renewing it. And, well, that's exactly what happened.

It's a shame that they could never quite return to the essence of what made the programme so great originally. Even though the 'Young years' had a good run, I'd often find some of the writing rather unimaginative and the newer characters a bit cardboard. Perhaps if they had reduced it to 1 hourly episode a week, or as others have suggested, back to the 30 min format, its lifespan would have increased a bit more.

As for the last ditch attempt at the revamp, I felt the stylistic change wasn't necessary. I could see what they were trying to do in reinventing the show by changing it's overall identity by dropping the theme tune and giving it the CSI look, as well as an abysmal score. I have to admit though, in the latter half of that series (2010 onwards), some of the writing did become better and the stories I found quite gripping - even though the uniform cast had been reduced to background extras for the most part.

I think the show did well to go beyond its intended lifespan, and I truly believe if it had been given a bit more TLC, it would still be going strong today. After all, Casualty is still limping along over on BBC 1...

Although I don't particularly disagree with you and do understand ITV started to implement some huge changes (as a business), I feel it's bold to say the current era fatally wounded it. The viewership demographics and audience expectations would have gone haywire as it changed from sane police drama to increasingly stylized (1998 to 2001) to crazy bonk mad soap opera (2003 - 2005), before becoming relatively sane again. But ratings were holding steady at the 4.5 to 5.5 million as recent as Autumn 2008. Theoretically it could have continued to this day, if like Casualty and Holby City, it found its niche by staying in the same time-slot every week (8pm worked best for The Bill) and operating as a a mixture of character/police show . Or they could have gone the route of Emmerdale and Coronation Street by operating as daily 30 minute soap opera, with the occasional murder, stunt, affair, new arrival (repeat ad nauseum). Basically what it is now, with a different pace.

"Gabriel throwing a Gwyneth"

I loved that line!

Zaccadelli is one my favourite ever minor TV characters. He should be a Bond villain.

Drama series 20 episode 78. Smithy vs Kent at the wake ruined the episode for me. The sub-plots are getting as much out of hand as Jim Carver's debt.

Really enjoyed Debbie McAllister doing some proper police work and getting results.

I'm watching those years for the first time on DVD at the moment, currently nearing the end of 2007 and I'd tend to agree with that. The writing is rather poor at times, with largely predictable plots and some uninteresting characters. Some episodes are incredibly dull, reminds me a lot of the 1996-1997 era, but with worse writing and laughable police procedural errors.

However despite the faults, they're an improvement over the mad soap era. Just not quite as good as what came before.

Sitting snogging Meadows is not police work , the debt/bookies storyline is keeping me watching tbh, and i am looking forward to see how Jim gets out of it all

I thought 2008 was brilliant because it had some excellent multi parters and two parters, Witness and Gun Runner being my favourites. I also thought the CID team was the best it had been in a long time. And there was Callum Stone who was one of my favourite characters from the later Bill era.

On Drama channel we have reached 4 November 2004.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bill_%28series_20%29

I didn't see The Bill the first time round. According to Wikipedia, 2004 was broadcast at 2-per-week and we are watching at 5-per-week so we should see 2008 in well under 4-years time.

This assumes that Drama are rebroadcasting all episodes in chronological order and that I don't lose that "cliffhanger feeling" at the end of each episode.

On Drama. The Samantha Dixon looking for her daughter Abigail Dixon is really dragging on.

I did enjoy the hunt for Samantha Dixon when she got kidnapped by a psycho some episodes back.

Please, have sympathy for us who watched the original transmission back in '04. It went on for a lot longer at 2 eps per week!

Please dont crucify me for this but can I ask a question...

Kent has been identified as the father of Kerry's baby, Kerry was in a relationship with Radford for some time prior to death.

MIT know about Kerry/Radford...why not ask Kent about how he felt that G/Friend was shagging known criminal..

Jeez, the phrase plot and buses come to mind