The Bill Favourite Characters

[Ed Winterbury]

Well, think of my joy when I discovered Drama was re-showing my favourite series of all time...

 

I wanted to ask everyone who their favourite regularly appearing character is. Mine is probably one of these three:

 

Kirsty Knight

 

DAC Hobbs

 

Adam Okaro

 

If you're wondering why only the last few years of the show, it's because I feel the later characters had more depth of character compared to the early ones. Early on, it was quite a simple 'cop drama'- investigations, chases and arrests. Towards the end, we discover more, like workplace romances, private lives and personal secrets. Examples include the romance between PCs Lyon Taylor and Kirsty Knight, Sergeant Stone's pursuit of the truth and DS Carter's drug addiction.

 

Tell me what you think.

[Jinty3f]

I stopped watching The Bill when it became more like a soap, with too much emphasis on the love affairs and personal tribulations and dependencies of the coppers. At times it was almost East Enders in uniform. Watching the re-runs over the last fortnight, the characters began to emerge quite naturally - Reg, in only a few lines has revealed himself as a moaner, Cryer as a no-nonsense-but-fatherly sergeant etc. I see your point about the greater, in depth development of individual characters in later series, but watching series one, I don't mind not knowing about their personal lives.

 

Incidentally, in one of the middle series, Reg Hollis is revealed as a secret railway modeller when he skives off from work to buy a new loco!! Much the same as when Coronation St type cast Roy Cropper as the resident railway nerd.

[Oldddudders]

Never watched an episode, but the actor playing the character Tosh was evident in both the Midland Hotel at Derby and on a couple of occasions near St Pancreas. I believe alcohol may not have helped him. 

 

At this moment my wife is rehearsing as Sergeant Penny in Agatha Christie's 'The Hollow' in Torquay. 

[Ed Winterbury]

Well, I suppose by the end it did become a bit of a soap, but where have good-old-fashioned TV series gone? I'd rather see some character involvement but not too much. E.g. Commander Kennedy's son was pulled in for questioning was a good one, however, PC Taylor and PC Knight's romance was one of the worse ones. I somehow thing Stone's father is somewhat a significant one.

[The Lurker]

Well, I suppose by the end it did become a bit of a soap, but where have good-old-fashioned TV series gone? I'd rather see some character involvement but not too much. E.g. Commander Kennedy's son was pulled in for questioning was a good one, however, PC Taylor and PC Knight's romance was one of the worse ones. I somehow thing Stone's father is somewhat a significant one.

Apparently the bloke who lives over the road from my parents has been in the Bill as a desk sergeant. He's better known for a role in Waterloo Road. I've seen neither

[Ed Winterbury]

Oh, interesting.

[Ed Winterbury]

Everyone is welcome to submit their opinions!

[BlackRat]

Bumped into 'Sgt Bob Cryer' at Universal Studios in Florida, we both agreed how good retirement is........Both of us spending far to much of our plod pensions on motorcycles.

[Free At Last]

I never watched The Bill but I know someone who did.

[Oldddudders]

Was the actress Di Davis in the Bill? And maybe Liz Lynne, who subsequently became MP for Rochdale and then an MEP?

[LBRJ]

Best characters?

Frank Burnside and Ted Roach by miles - Rather like a watered-down Sweeney

[Ed Winterbury]

Sounds good. Roach is quite good.

[Ed Winterbury]

Any favourite characters?

[Ed Winterbury]

This column seems to have died down a bit, so I'll ask Mr York to lock it. A similar article may pop up soon by the way.

[45156]

My main recollections of The Bill stem from the days when a lot of it was filmed in Croydon, where many street scenes were filmed, much to the annoyance of the local populace.  I saw many strange events, like people being paid to stay at their tables in a cafe until a scene was in the can, in case it needed a retake and the continuity would have been affected, and on one occasion my wife wandered into shot having come out of Argos with an ironing board, while Burnside (who incidentally seemed to change his name from Tommy to Frank between his first and last appearances) and others screeched to a halt to apprehend some villains.  The luvvie with the radio was far from pleased as it seems that an unscheduled ironing board was not part of the plan/script, and screams of "cut cut cut" were to be heard.

[jonhall]

Reg Hollis was regularly seen on screen reading Railway Modeller in quiet moments whilst manning the front desk, there was a model railway theme to one episode, Hampton Court MRS were asked to stage an exhibition in a church hall in Sutton and spent a day filming - complete with 20 odd middle ages extra's as the visitors. Sun Hill MRS's club secretary had a thing for bashing prostitutes apparently - and the actor got a bit type cast, because in another Bill episode he played the bad guy who buried a prostitute in his back garden!

 

Jon

[kevinlms]

My main recollections of The Bill stem from the days when a lot of it was filmed in Croydon, where many street scenes were filmed, much to the annoyance of the local populace.  I saw many strange events, like people being paid to stay at their tables in a cafe until a scene was in the can, in case it needed a retake and the continuity would have been affected, and on one occasion my wife wandered into shot having come out of Argos with an ironing board, while Burnside (who incidentally seemed to change his name from Tommy to Frank between his first and last appearances) and others screeched to a halt to apprehend some villains.  The luvvie with the radio was far from pleased as it seems that an unscheduled ironing board was not part of the plan/script, and screams of "cut cut cut" were to be heard.

But many of the actors played one off roles in The Bil, often as villains, then a few weeks later appeared as serving police officers, sometimes in high ranking positions.

 

If you remember, Bob Cryer hated Burnside to start with, because he thought Burnside was bent, as he Burnside had been under cover and apparently had done something dodgy.

 

http://thebill.wikia.com/wiki/Episode:Just_Call_Me_Guvnor

 

 

Burnside was one, whose first appearance was with a different name, as explained at the bottom.

 

http://thebill.wikia.com/wiki/Burnside,_Frank

[monkeysarefun]

Why did they always yell out "Oi! Come back here!" at the commencement of every foot chase?

 

I don't remember seeing any suspect (or "IC1 male" or whatever they always called them) actually stopping and coming back, so you'd think they'd have given that up by series 2.

Edited September 18, 2017 by monkeysarefun

[John M Upton]

They never used to film episodes in broadcast order either, in one episode PC Stamp smashed up the Area Car (a Ford Sierra Cosworth) and in the next episode there it was still in one piece!!  My wife comes from the Sutton area where a lot of it was filmed.  Apparently the Sun Hill Police Station building is still there (or at least it was couple of years ago) and was still used for filming Police scenes for other shows and tours.

[Ed Winterbury]

Sound interesting...

[kevinlms]

Why did they always yell out "Oi! Come back here!" at the commencement of every foot chase?

 

I don't remember seeing any suspect (or "IC1 male" or whatever they always called them) actually stopping and coming back, so you'd think they'd have given that up by series 2.

Also some young 20 something fitness fanatic, would get yelled 'Oi' at, from across a busy street or something and thus get a good chance at making a break for it. But no, a much older & not that fit (PC Stamp again, for instance), would be gaining on them by the first corner and catch them 100 yards later.

 

The same applied for cars, they would approach the scene with lights & sirens going, with the thugs still fighting, instead of running off, as soon as they heard the sirens.

 

Surely they ought to have better odds, getting as close as possible, without drawing attention to themselves?

 

 

I had a discussion just yesterday, on the subject of the weight of all the gear they carry around on their belts etc, here. My friend was talking about a 5'2" female officer he knows, who has to stand up against a wall to fit her belt. Due to that mass, they can't run that easily to give chase.

[kevinlms]

 still used for filming Police scenes for other shows and tours.

Sounds like the court where they film Neighbours. A late taxi driver friend, used to get British tourists who wanted to visit the location. They all knew where it was. A security guard was apparently placed at the court entrance, frequently.

Edited September 18, 2017 by kevinlms

[Ed Winterbury]

Sounds like the court where they film Neighbours. A late taxi driver friend, used to get British tourists who wanted to visit the location. They all knew where it was. A security guard was apparently placed at the court entrance, frequently.

 

 

PC Stamp again, for instance

Your late taxi driver friend did the Knowledge, probably a '21 point' - a small point of interest.  PC Stamp chasing successfully, in full police gear, whilst DC Mickey Webb couldn't catch up with one of those ultra-fit 20-somethings in plain clothes! In case you're interested, this was in Riccochet, the last football riot to feature in The Bill.

[Bert Cheese]

Sounds like the court where they film Neighbours. A late taxi driver friend, used to get British tourists who wanted to visit the location. They all knew where it was. A security guard was apparently placed at the court entrance, frequently.

Pin Oak Court in Melbourne...we made a sort of pilgrimage there during my travels in 1998!

It was out in the suburbs and involved a couple of trains and a bus, but we were hopeful of seeing "Annalise" or "Sarah Beaumont" at the time...

The reality was that no filming or glamorous actresses were to be seen that day, and the only people present were around twenty more or so sheepish looking tourists who of course mostly turned out to be English...our final humiliation was provided by the bus driver going home who took the mick by loudly telling us that Neighbours was made in revenge for Dad's Army and Coronation Street...cheeky git.

[monkeysarefun]

Now that Australia gets a mention, I like how back in the day if an  English TV series got popular down here the producers cashed in with a special set in Australia.