Micky hasn't left the series maybe a short break but he hasn't gone. It might seem that way that's It's just the writers, Gonna have to look at the dvd's we have because we are at the same point as Drama at the moment. Just found this link Micky is back in the 2004 series http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0524835/...m_flmg_act_111

Not sure if any of you are on Twitter, but I follow the Drama channel account and they have tweeted they have done a countdown of their top 6 favourite Bill title sequences. At Number 1, is the title sequence for Series 23 (2007).

I quite liked that one, but my favourite is probably the 2001 title sequence. I loved the theme tune on that one, it was pretty catchy.

Thats good then, thanks

I've answered my own question, inadvertently ... by watching the Dailymotion videos (I didn't know these existed )

Bob Cryer finally returned in September 2004 in an episode concerning the death of old timer Ted Roach.

Yeah, I know. But I didn't want to reveal that because this thread is at Drama pace. Oh well

Okay, apologies, but it never occurred to me that saying a character who has retired returns for an episode at some point would be giving away anything of importance. It's not as if he's missing presumed dead or anything. And somebody above had just posted similar about Mickey Webb.

I wasn't having a go, just merely stating I didn't want to give away the 'surprise' that might still be relevant to first-time viewers of this period of the show.

And as you quite rightly point out, quite a few people - including myself - have mentioned plot-points further ahead, but I use the spoiler tag option so someone like yourself who knows of future storylines can read the spoiler, whilst people who are watching for the first time can read the thread without fear of spoiling it for themselves.

Seems to be a bit all over the place at the moment, as when did Bradford get with that Max ?, last we saw of him, was when June went to see him, and was on about him going to see Polly in prison, as they were together, next we see of him, hes turning up at the station, asking Bradford if she'll marry him, as now they are together, although she just got banged of that knob Thatcher.

When did Polly get with Max, I'm sure he wasn't on the scene when she was with the Doctor and all of a sudden she is living with him!

They got together when she went to his chippy about her cousin who was getting stalked.

The editing is awful and at times makes you think it is not worth watching as so much is missed, they may think it is insignificant but a lot of the time it is not. If it is about content why not show it later in the evening if it is about fitting ads in then why not make the slot longer as they do with some BBC made programmes, such as Call the Midwife which Series 2 Ep8 had a running time of 60 mins and on Drama has a slot of 80 mins , for some reason they keep The Bill at one hour and hack it to pieces.

Remember it's the "live" ep Thurs.

Don't Cathy attack Robbie soon?

I've been watching the Dailymotion vids (and not getting anything else done!). Nick gets some cracking lines. I love his pairing with Cass. Two great actors, very natural.

How do you work that out? These eps aired 12 years ago on ITV

Yes, but the thread title clearly says at Drama Pace, ie if it hasnt been shown on Drama then it should not be mentioned (or at least have spoiler tags). Some people for whatever reason did not watch the original show.

the "previously" clip at the start of this makes little sense cos the episode before was hacked to bits

If you mean about when episodes will air it is pretty easy, you can see on for instance Wiki the lists of eps and work out roughly if they show all of them when Drama will be showing them based on the epsiode they are currently at .

Some people are seeing them for the first time. Some weren't old enough to watch them first time round!

I've been looking through the website BARB for viewing figures for The Bill.

The conclusion of the Don Beech Scandal in October 2000 attracted 10.4 million viewers. I can understand that as I was gripped by the show from 1998 on-wards, liked Billy Murray in everything he starred in, and enjoyed the slow build of the character's downfall.

The Sun Hill Fire attracted 8.1 million viewers. It should have been more for such an iconic stunt, but the show seemed to fall onto the back burner after the CID clear out.

Chandler and Rickman's final episodes attracted 9.6 and 9.2 million viewers, respectively. The fan of serial drama and sensationalism would have loved this stuff; helps that storylines were months in the making and really quite gripping for a fan of the pre-soap direction such as myself.

I didn't watch it originally but the live episode, which I assume will feature the full revelation for Taviner and the fire pulled in 10.4 million viewers. These episodes we're watching right now was the last zenith, in terms of viewership at least, for the show before a gradual decline.


What I find surprising is that in October 2006, 2007 and 2008 it held steady at 5-6 million viewers. In October 2009 it was down to just 3.5 million. What the hell did they do to his show to cause it to lose 25 percent of viewers in one year?

There's a few reasons for this:

1. STV (Scottish Television) by July 2009 were going through a phase of broadcasting their 'own' shows (mainly American and Australian imports ) instead of ITV produced dramas. Unfortunately, when The Bill initiated it's last and final revamp, it too became a casualty. So, immediately The Bill lost a massive viewership in Scotland. Yes, there were the ITV 3 repeats and people with Sky were still able to tune into ITV London, but I imagine there still would have been a large casualty of views who were either unaware of the ITV 3 repeats or didn't have Sky.

2. The revamp was - well, what can I say? It basically in all but name extinguished the true essence of what made The Bill. They dropped 'Overkill' (the iconic theme music to the show since 1984); most of the revamp had a much stronger focus on CID whereas uniform merely became background extras; and they insisted on having horrible incidental music which didn't really add to the drama.

3. With the massive changes to the show over the years, it was no surprise that come the last revamp, it was down as low as 3.5 million. I've discussed this with a lot of fans and we usually agree that what happened is basically you had the 'Old Bill' fans who watched regularly through the 80s and 90s. By the early 00s, the 'Old Bill' fans were becoming tired especially after the Beech saga, and by the time the Sun Hill fire took place and the soapy elements came to the fore, most of the 'Old Bill' fans had jumped ship. However, some 'New Bill' fans came on board who enjoyed the more sensationalist style of the show. But, once Paul Marquess left and Jonathan Young took over and brought the show back to its roots, weeding out the silly sensationalist plots, the 'New Bill' fans found this style to be boring so they now jumped the ship. But who was left aboard? Only the hardcore followers such as myself. Not many 'Old Bill' fans returned because of the ridiculous period of the show. And over this era circa. 2006 until 2008, although the viewership remained steady enough, it just wasn't pulling in the same numbers as it once did. That's why in 2009, when it took a major hit due to what I described in in my previous two points, it really was the final nail in the coffin and thus ITV were only too happy to declare it unloved, unwanted, and no longer fit for purpose...

Hacked to pieces again today, it is really getting rather annoying.

ITV Scotland dropped The Bill because ITV dropped Taggart a bit stupid IMHO so yes it was the death nell for The Bill.

Does anyone know the name of the actor playing the SO19(?) officer in today's episode or what he's been in? I recognise him and it's really bugging me!

Cathy Bradford is really winding me up, however Connie Hyde is a top-class actress.

Something else I picked up on is that even if Polly was not questioned for murder, wouldn't they look at assisting a suicide because that is also a crime? It just struck me how it's not been brought up but murder immediately assumed.

Great storyline but I hate that Polly , she is a fantastic character and I do feel they ruined her by doing this.