SpecialsTarget Disturbing yet enthralling

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Maddyclassicfilms The Bill was created by Geoff McQueen. The series ran from 1984 to 2010. When I was in high school, this was a series me and my friends watched all the time, us girls all loved Smithy and there were so many gripping story lines. The series has been rerun for a while now here in the UK and if you have never seen it you should check it out. If you're a fan and miss it, give it a rewatch.The series was at it's best from 1984 to around 2002, after that too many beloved characters left and the series became more of a soap opera than a gritty police series. Even at it's worst though The Bill was still a must watch series, the characters and stories meant it was difficult to give up on the series all together.The series is set in the fictional borough of Sunhill in London.The episodes focus on the cases of the uniformed officers and the CID teams. Many episodes will follow one team entirely, some episodes have split story lines following officers from both uniform and CID teams.My personal favourite episodes are the ones mostly featuring uniformed characters , many of my favourite characters (Smithy, Gina Gold, Vicky Hagan, Reg Hollis, June Ackland, Roger Valentine and Tony Stamp)are among these characters, plus I find the uniformed cases to be more interesting.The CID focused episodes are very good too though and often have long running story lines that pop back up every few episodes.There have been so many characters in this over the years that everyone will have different favourites. Characters that the majority of fans love include, Reg Hollis, Tony Stamp, Jack Meadows, Mickey Webb, Tosh Lines, June Ackland, Smithy and Bob Cryer.One of the great things about this series is the relationship between characters, be it romance or friendship. Reg Hollis and Des Taviner are so funny together and it was nice to see Reg have a really close friendship with someone for once. So sad how that one ended.I love the friendship between Mickey Webb and Jack Meadows, they are sort of like father and son and they are always there for one another. The scene between them by Mickey's mums grave when Jack learns about Mickey's attack is so moving and beautifully performed by both actors.The will they wont they relationship between Samantha Nixon and Phil Hunter is great to watch. Hunter the tough badboy and Sam the driven Sergeant.There were many bad officers too such as the corrupt Don Beech, working under his colleagues noses for years. There are some downright scary ones too Gabriel Kent, Cathy Bradford and Superintendent Chandler are three of the most evil and insane characters ever seen on TV. Gabriel's long running torment of poor June is unforgettable.Another good thing The Bill does is make you change your first impressions concerning certain characters. Neil Manson is a good example, starting off as a man seemingly only after good statistics and concerned with looking good, you come to realise he is actually a good man and just wants things to be done by the book. Jim Carver starts off as likable but then you come to despise him for his treatment of June and his descent into gambling. Cathy Bradford starts off as a strong character who won't stand for nonsense from criminals, she turns into one of the most frightening and deranged TV characters ever.A great series that I wish would be brought back, if they focused less on the private lives of the characters and a bit more on the cases this would no doubt be as successful as it used to be.

pgrandrup I loved this show. Quite a few years ago it aired on one of the US channels - I think it was on late at night - every night. Myself and my Mom got hooked. We were on a story line where they were about to catch a rapist terrorizing one area, but when we tuned in to watch them FINALLY reveal who it was it didn't come on. The network had pulled it from the lineup with no warning and it never came back. Don't you hate when they do that! Overall a very exciting series though. I'd love to watch the whole thing but it's been on for years so it would be a lot of videos to buy. As a rule I find British drama and comedy programs very good - and worth watching. But some British shows didn't even air once a week during their original run so they have limited episodes.

Simon D. I can honestly say that I have never missed an episode bar one, the episode with Honey in the casino about four years ago. During this time I have seen the highs and lows and yes some very 'soapy' episodes. I agree wholeheartedly with people who say it has been at a definite low from about 2002, maybe even a little before that, but even in it's more trashy period it retained my interest. I have cringed at many of the story lines from around 2002 onwards, but while a lot of silly stories were going on there were still some good characters. Gabriel Kent and Cathy Bradshaw were not one of these! I have to say that within the last half a year to a year the show has gone through a dramatic about turn and now more concentration on the very real pressures that the British police have to endure has ensured that an air of quality has returned. if you have stayed away for a few years then now is definitely a good period to return to it. There are characters that stand along side the best of the past, such as Gina Gold, Sam Nixon (gorgeous as she is!), DI Manson, plus there's still a crop of the old stalwarts such as the wonderfully flawed Reg Hollis. I hope the show's producers can keep this current good period going, and if they have to raise the ratings in future, to find a good solid talking point of a storyline, rather than resort to Tabloid style cheap ratings grabbers. These attempts to tempt people in may initially bring in a lot of people who like that kind of thing but they will lose many more of the more discerning audience. May this show go on and on...please!

idiosyncratic_anomaly Two decades on from its launch and last Thursday night (30 October 2003) witnessed The Bill's first foray into live drama with a special live-to-air episode in celebration of the show's 20th anniversary.During the last 10 years, greater proliferation of television channels in the UK and the audience fragmentation which ensues, has inevitably meant that for any terrestrial television serial to survive in a prime time slot, the screen has to keep moving. And, while Britain's most enduring police drama may ordinarily be renowned for its car chase sequences and location shoots in and around London - thereby depicting a gritty, social realism of modern policing - the logistics of a live broadcast dictated that this episode's action be primarily concentrated to a select number of studio sets, thereby posing a dilemma for programme chiefs in maintaining audience interest. Clever direction, however, using multiple mobile camera units, coupled with shorter-than-usual scenes, enabled the drama to build pace despite these limited confines.When the programme makers behind TV's Coronation Street "went live" some three years earlier, there was little by way of a plot, while numerous actors fluffed lines and a small number of technical glitches were in evidence. Contrast this with the polished professionalism of The Bill and its powerful script, witnessing the murder of DS Juliet Becker (Rae Baker) and marking the reappearance of the wayward Des Taviner (Paul Usher). In the episode's closing stages, the apparent killer of PC Gary Best's father was also seen to fall to his death from the station roof, possibly the first time a major stunt of this nature has been performed live on television. And, for any who doubted the programme's "live" status, the script even included a cheeky reference to the birth of Sir Paul McCartney's daughter which was prominent in that day's news.For the viewer, this episode was a triumph, seemingly passing off flawlessly with fine performances all round from a word-perfect cast. This was testament to its 40 per cent audience share. Indeed, if ever two actors were worthy of greater recognition, they are Mark Wingett (Jim Carver) and Trudie Goodwin (June Ackland).I raise my glass to all at Sun Hill. It's clear there's still plenty of life left in the old woodentops yet.