He's one of my least favourite characters ever in The Bill. I thought he was a poor attempt to have another Des Taviner / Gabriel Kent type but not as psychotic. I think we have the awful saga with his "gang" of young officers coming up soon, which I'll probably skip. I also found the end of his feud with Leela underwhelming. Yes, he got her out of Sun Hill but she went off to a really good job.

I like Stone

Im just up to where he got rid of Leela, and Jermaines back (Emmerdale), as a copper this time.

Thusitha Jayasundera aka Ramani De Costa is currently appearing in the second series of Humans (Channel 4, Sunday at 9pm) as a government lawyer.

Playing major catchup at the moment. I'm about a month behind.
I've just watched both 2 parters that Drama didn't show.

It's a pity Drama didn't show them as they were excellent storys.
I always found 'Cop Killer' pretty creepy and disturbing. ('The Laughing Policeman' playing on the tape recorder springs to mind) I reckon they could have easily edited out the acutal murder (throat slit) of the new policeman considering they 'butcher' the episodes on a daily basis anyway.

The Skens episodes that saw the departure of Lewis was brilliant. Edge of the seat stuff as the story progressed. I still can't see anything in that story that rendered it unsuitable for daytime viewing though.
Such a shame that some fans might have missed both of those 2 parters.

Just thinking back to 'Sken Massive'. What was all that about?

Thank God Hunter has gone , i might be able to watch without FF now

I think we're nearly at the point when I gave up on The Bill when it was originally shown although I did return for the crossover episodes with that German show and the last dozen or so episode of the final series

Sid Owen will always be Ricky Butcher.

Looks like Drama missing a few more episodes for some reason. Moving Target 3 parter been skipped, presuming the shooting is an issue?

Agree with the point re Stone, I think he's probably my least favourite long running character I can remember. Just seemed to go nowhere really and just really irritating.

Just realised when watching these are the episodes George Galloway threatened to sue saying they were based on hi, wonder if that's the reason for not showing?

They're available on Daily Motion btw.

Weirdly you would never know that they had cut out 3 episodes , i'm sure yesterdays was about limo's with Rickey Butcher , and then todays was about Limo's as well , are they both part of the same storyline ?

Not sure, he's in a couple more episodes though.

BTW, Zain is back next week.

It's funny you say that, the previously bit at the start of Moving Target also bares no relation to the previous episode or even recent ones. In that sense I suspect if you don't watch Moving Target you could skip to 85 which is the next one with Ricky out of Eastenders. It's not the same storyline as 81, but expanding on his character as a limo driver who can feed info etc.

I'm sure I read somewhere that Fremantle pulled those from future distribution because of the threat of legal action. Am I imagining it but were these the ones also omitted from the Australian DVDs for the same reason.

Yes. Those episodes will never see the light of day again. Will have to rely on recordings of the original transmission or uploads.

Thanks

Do you have a link or episode numbers please? I tried searching dm but the episode names dont show up, and without series or episode numbers its impossible to find lol

Couldn't really compared Tarvier to Callum Stone more like a inferior Kent he was.

For 'Moving Target', put into Dailymotion - The Bill s23e82, then e83, e84

Great, cheers.

Lol just watched part 1, i can see why galloway got pissed off. The actor even bears a passing resemblance imo.

Whats going on with Benjamin Gayle the new copper, he sort of hangs around all mysterious , someone speaks to him and he seems moody , has he got a weird past or something that becomes a storyline

Yes, I guess you're right. I never really liked any of the "psycho" cop characters. At least with Cathy Bradford there was some humour which the actress went along with and the over the top storylines suited the show at the time.

Oooooh scary Ricky Butcher

I just can't take him seriously , as someone else said on here, Sid Owen will always be Ricky Butcher.

It must be nice to be in a soap long term as it would give you a very good long term salary , but if you are in a soap for many years, then you leave, it then becomes difficult to be convincing as another character imo

By and large anything that p*sses off Galloway is fine by me

Callum Stone was one of my favourite characters in the later era of The Bill, he had an edge to him but the writers never overdid it, and I thought the actor made his character more interesting the way he played it.