Posted March 26, 201015 yr The Bill will end this autumn following ITV's decision to drop the long-running police drama after 27 years. "Times change, and so do the tastes of our audience," said Peter Fincham, the channel's director of television. The move follows a major revamp that saw the drama relaunched as a weekly programme in a post-watershed slot. Producers Talkback Thames said they were "devastated" by a decision that "may result in a significant number of redundancies" for the company. "We are incredibly proud of what the show has achieved," said CEO Lorraine Heggessey. "It is a credit to everyone who has worked on The Bill that the series will be signing out on a creative and editorial high, with both critical and industry-wide acclaim and a loyal fan base who have supported the show throughout." Creative decision ITV said it would invest the money it spent on the programme - first seen on the channel in 1983 - on new peak-time drama commissions. Fincham said The Bill had been "the home of some of the UK's best serial drama storylines and a great showcase for terrific scriptwriting and fine acting talent". "Thanks to a superb production team, it's been one of the great institutions of television drama," he continued. Set around the fictional Sun Hill police station in London, The Bill began life as a one-off drama entitled Woodentop. ITV was impressed enough to commission a weekly series that eventually became a thrice-weekly soap. The channel insisted the move to axe the show was a creative decision and was not done to cut costs. "Whilst The Bill will come to an end in 2010, we will continue to invest more in drama programming than any other commercial broadcaster in the UK," said Fincham.
March 26, 201015 yr Wow, that's quite a step to take! Though I admit I haven't watched it in about 8 years and it hasn't been raved about for quite a while like it used to be.
March 26, 201015 yr ITV got what they wanted, bounced it around the schedules, bumped it off to after the watershed and they got their Brookside outcome :(
March 26, 201015 yr IT hasn't been shown up north for a while. STV [$h!t, sorry Scottish Television] threw it and a lot of ITV's programming of the schedule.
March 26, 201015 yr I've only watched The Bill a few times in the past few years and Im really not suprised this happened. The quality of the show just seemed to constantly be dropping.
March 26, 201015 yr :angry: I'm very angry and upset about this as it's been better than ever since it moved to 9pm Thursday. Is there a Facebook campaign to try and save it yet? Wonder if Five may pick it up as it's now an independant production by Thames anyway. Edited March 26, 201015 yr by Victor Meldrew
March 27, 201015 yr I watched this for the first time in years last night, and it wasn't bad but totally unrecognisable from The Bill as it was bar Meadows and Smithy. Where did Polly and Reggie go?
March 27, 201015 yr I used to love The Bill and would watch it most days...but now I barely watch an episode its just not as good as it use to be.
May 17, 201015 yr That's a shame, but everything has to come to and end I suppose :( well i think its the right decision to take
August 8, 20177 yr Confirmed that from Monday 14th every single episode of The Bill will be aired from start to finish on Drama. I know it's been on the channel for some time but it will be aired regularly, in order and will be available on catch up.
August 8, 20177 yr The ending to The Bill is one of the most iconic images in British television. I recently learned that the version I grew up with in the 90s is actually a shorter version of the original one - which has a middle-8 to it, and the feet disappear off screen! _m68KkR_WtY
August 9, 20177 yr never watched it. Here I am assuming it was to do with waiting on tables in restaurants :P
August 10, 20177 yr Graham Cole, Lisa Maxwell, Mark Wingett, Trudie Goodwin, Chris Simmons and Eric Richard took part in a Facebook Live Video earlier https://www.facebook.com/dramachanneltv/vid...58663970837042/
August 10, 20177 yr never watched it. Here I am assuming it was to do with waiting on tables in restaurants :P o, it was a surrealist drama about the passage of legislation.
November 2, 20177 yr Confirmed that from Monday 14th every single episode of The Bill will be aired from start to finish on Drama. I know it's been on the channel for some time but it will be aired regularly, in order and will be available on catch up. 10 years are being skipped as Drama will be jumping into the middle of 1998 an announcement on Monday which said it was because of 'viewer demand'. I'm really disappointed about this. I have really enjoyed seeing the episodes from 1983-1988.
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