I've yet to watch it on the reruns but I remember the Meadows / Skase in France episode from back in the day. I thought it was excellent, especially when Meadows finds out Skase doesn't speak a word of French. Very funny!

Fantastic episode today with the introduction of Cass Rickman, and good interaction between uniform and CID and comic relief from Conway. Such a bad decision in 2002 to get rid of so many well rounded characters.

yeah I just caught up with PC Rickman's first episode. Really enjoyed it and I was on Brownlow's side for once. It makes a difference when you have someone even more slimy and smug as Brownlow!

Nah, that happened in 2000 when they got rid of loads of excellent characters with plenty of mileage in them. Characters like Deakin and Daly still had lots to explore, there was still a lot we didn't know about them. The only character I felt deserved to leave was Brownlow - I think the revamp after Beech left would have worked if only a new Super was brought in and no other new characters.

Sorry to be a bother but what time can I catch The Bill on the Drama channel. I tuned in last week at 8am to find it wasn't on and presumed they took it off, but after reading posts on here it appears to be still on, thanks in advance for any help.

I agree Brownlow wasn't the best character, but then as I think you said last week a lot of the chemistry between the upper ranks was lost when he departed. Really it was a big compromise. It was one of the best storylines the show did and a huge impact to clear out so many characters...but then of course once that's done you've got to pick up the pieces and basically none of the new characters were as good as those they replaced. When you've got half a dozen of them that's quite a big problem.

I thought Borderline was an absolute gem of an episode that I've not fully appreciated before. Loved the conflict between Mannion and Brownlow, always liked Cass as a character and the 'not now Derek' (particularly the 2nd one) had me laughing a lot! I actually think Conway should have been promoted to Super at some point, either immediatley after Brownlow left or once PM had decided to get rid of Chandler; it could have given a different dynamic to an excellent character who had perhaps stagnated a bit by 2001/2002. 9/10

Confessions of a Zookeeper is a good episode but in terms of quirky episodes it's not amongst my favourites. I liked Boyden (as I always do!) and the whole cock-up with the food and it was certainly watchable enough - but I feel I didn't quite enjoy it as much as maybe I should have. 7/10.

But a good week or 2 of episodes definitely; Tinderbox, Foreign Body, Borderline and the excellent Eddie Santini conclusion amongst others!

It's mid-morning now; I think it's about 11 and midday, although it might vary by 10 minutes or so (e.g. 11.15.) I think there's still the late night repeat too (around midnight.)

Thank you Readingfan, I appreciate that, thought they took it off altogether and I was stuck with Down to Earth and Bergerac as a replacement, oh joy ta muchly.

I wonder how far Drama will go up to with showing episodes. I still have all episodes stored on my Freeview+ box since the repeats started in July.

Looking forward to watching Cass Rickman's debut episode again. She was one of my favourite ever characters.

Just finished watching the Santini/Fox/Ortons four-parter. Absolutely fantastic - can't really fault it. Best bank of episodes I've seen so far and gripping throughout. I think this is right up there with the Target trilogy when DS Morgan died, and the Don Beech saga in 2000.

This is also the strongest couple of weeks of episodes I think we've had on Drama. I'd forgotten just how good 1999 was.

I just finished watching the Santini/Fox/Ortons four parter as well. I completely agree - an outstanding set of episodes. Brilliantly written, great pacing and the reveal right at the end of 'Kiss Off' was so well done. Nowadays on TV, I think viewers expect massive explosive reveals, but the reveal of Santini being responsible for Jess's death was so subtly built up and revealed. There wasn't a big rooftop showdown or anything like that, the drama was just allowed to play out naturally and the characters were left to breathe on the screen and provide all the drama for us, without any big stunts or shocking moments.

I loved Rosie's 'Gotcha' at the end and Santini's sinister face! Excellent stuff.

Caught up with Foreign Body - some very funny moments...Rod can be such a plank sometimes. The way Deakin tricked Meadows into taking Rod with him was classic. Thought it ended a bit abruptly...was expecting the final 5 minutes to be back in Sun Hill with Meadows and Skase tieing up the investigation. Nevertheless, great episode. 8.5/10.

Also saw Borderline - superb episode. The conflict with Brownlow and Mannion was great and Cass's first appearance - great stuff. Nice to see Don involved, although Brownlow should have been a bit more wary of his dubious approach towards his policing. 9/10 overall. Mannion reminds me a bit of a young Monroe...would have been a good replacement for Brownlow (maybe if Mannion got demoted from Borough Commander) as he already knows Meadows and Conway. They could have easily softened him up over time like they did with Monroe.

Confessions of a Zookeeper was a good episode although it did drag a bit, there were a few good moments in there. Brownlow and the father in the cell talking about his sick kid was well done; and Boyden's face when the van load of prisoners came was a picture. 7.5/10.

I didn't bother watching Pillow Talk and Heavy Plant Crossing as I'd seen them on Alibi before.

Which leads me onto the most recent episode I've seen - Good Relations. Felt a bit sorry for Reg in this episode...talking about his past and having his plans scuppered by Brownlow. Thought it was a decent little episode although the whole security firm partnership with the police was a bit far-fetched, and I think we're seeing far too much of that journalist, Clive Tarrant...always seems to pop up at the station whenever something happens. Not the best episode so 7/10.

So all this means I'm only one episode behind with Big Fish.

Still loving the repeats. I got a bit behind (13 episodes to catch up on) but had a week off work this week so all caught up now (apart from yesterdays/last nights). Think the poor old wife was hoping I'd take her out somewhere, oh well never mind !

I missed the one where they went to France. Is The Bill not on on a Wednesday now? I went through the planner and couldn't see it so assumed it was down to 4 eps.

Loved yesterdays, especially Reg not checking the ID of the 2 cops. Good to see DI Deakin back too

The Bill's on every weekday.

A bit of a mixed bag this week. Nothing too memorable although all perfectly watchable.

My favourite one was the Good Relations one with Reg and the mobile unit - was nice to see a different side to Reg. 7.5/10

Pillow Talk and Heavy Plant Crossing were fine although not a great fan of the Dave/Jenny/George stuff (later to become Dave/Jenny/Polly.) There was some good conflict between Boyden and Beech in the latter. 7/10 for both.

Nice to see Deakin in Big Fish - he had some great lines about the speaking clock and the tape playing music was hilariosu! Interesting idea for a storyline and interesting too to see Len Collin appearing as an actor - he was one of the best Bill writers in my view. 7/10

Haven't seen Smithy's first ever episode yet. But what a contrast between PC and Inspector!

Have been watching quite a few Youtube ones this week too, such as Conway's first episode as Acting Superintendent from 1994 and one where Reg lost the Fed Rep vote in around 1992. I'd definitely recommend them!

I love Foreign Body! This will definetly go down as one of my favourite Bill episodes ever! There was a perfect balance between comedy and drama. The main storyline was really strong and there were some brilliant comic moments. I loved it when the penny dropped that Jack nor Rod could speak French! And Rod trying to use Jack as a pillow

Rod Skase is rapidly turning into one of my favourite characters - he's such a loveable idiot! I'm not sure how many more episodes he's in?

Great introduction for Cass Rickman as well. I remember being a fan of her debut episode from first watching it years ago. It's dangerous to use the whole "new character has a tough first day and is thrown in the deep end" as it's quite a cliche, but the storyline she was involved in was a strong one and she was a really likeable character from the off, so this episode pulled it off. Nice to see the conflict between Brownlow and Mannion mounting as well.

Could you put the link in for those episodes? Would be much appreciated.

And saw Big Fish. Didn't realise that was Len Collin the writer as the fake NCS officer. He is a fantastic writer as is JC Wilsher, Edward Canfor Dumas, Tom Needham to name a few. I thought the episode was good...nice to see Deakin cocking things up for once - quite interesting to see how he dealt with big cock ups. 7.5/10.

Found the episodes on YouTube. Watched 2 episodes from 1996...seems the quality was quite hit-and-miss at times.

Episodes seemed to only focus on 2 characters, some episodes were very pedestrian and dull and the crime stories were often quite weak - the writing was not as good as it was when they reintroduced the hour-long format. Sometimes the plots are too thin for half-hour and sometimes too long for half an hour. I do feel the hour-long format on reflection, that we are watching now, is a lot better...much better balance between soapy and crime stories.

Despite this, there are some real gems but every so often, there were some real stinking half-hour episodes. The hour-long format meant more consistency - lots of excellent episodes but no dreadful lows.

The Bill suffered from a steady decline, most noticeable from 1993 onwards (but imo, the first cracks appeared in 1991) and culminating in 1996-1997, 2 of the dullest years of the old 30 min era.

Character development & general continuity fell by the wayside, in favour of standalone run of the mill & formulaic procedural stories. There are the occasional gems, but yes the period from 1993-1997 is extremely hit and miss, with a lot more misses by 1996/1997.

1997 did improve towards the end though, around the time that Richard Handford took over as Executive Producer.

I think the cracks started appearing when the show went three times a week. Some dreadful half-hour episodes in the 1994-97 period. Some episodes were very predictable - you knew exactly who the criminal would be because one narrative would somehow be linked to another. I thought 1995 was a good year for The Bill, some decent stuff in 1996, bit dull in 1997 and the very last half-hour episodes in 1998 were very very poor.

No surprise that the steady drop in quality from 1993 onwards coincided with the steady decline in viewing figures, most noticeable in 1997 and the first half of 1998 when figures dropped off a cliff. Handford gave the show a new lease of life. If the show had stayed the way it was before he came in, it might have been axed or shipped off to Channel 5 long before it actually was.

I think the issue with the half-hour era is that we just didn't know anything about the characters. It was still pandering to an 80s audience but 90s audiences wanted more soapy stuff to balance the heavy realism. That, and there were too many middle-aged viewers watching the show. Nothing wrong with the crime side of it, but relying on that alone isn't enough. There needed to be more continuing plots - crime and a bit of soapy stuff. If Handford came in as producer earlier and kept the half-hour format, it could have been very effective.

I like the 30 min era, as much as I do the hour-long era but there were some opportunities missed.

Well Handford did keep the half hour format for the first 9-10 months that he was in charge and we did start getting continuing stories and character development. They were also less predictable.

But yeah, his hour long episodes were much improved, allowing greater scope and gave us a couple of really good years.

Will the Drama repeats stop at the point that the Watch ones started??

While true, I hated those 9-10 months from early 1998. The half-hour episodes during this time were dire. Some episodes were excellent but there were some terrible episodes. The last half-hour episodes were particularly poor. It's as if they were just burning up the last half-hour eps and not putting any effort into them, in anticipation for the revamp later on.

I watched Pillow Talk and Heavy Plant Crossing this evening. These two episodes aren't as good as the other episodes we've seen recently, but still perfectly watchable. I've never been keen on George, but I have felt sorry for him in these past two episodes.

I'm going to start watching some half hour episodes on YouTube.

I think the reason the show got better was that it became a continous drama rather then standalone episodes where a copper (one week Quinnan, next week Stamp etc) would solve a crime. We started learning more about the different characters.

Unfortuntaley, later producers went too soap with love lifes and soap actors hired for their looks. You will never beat the older team who were lest face it "normal looking" and what you'd expect.