BS: The Bill - UK TV cop drama

Subject: BS: The Bill - UK TV cop drama
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 27 Mar 10 - 11:10 AM

Just having a moan really. Heard on the radio last night that "The Bill" ITV's long running TV police drama is being axed. Until about a year or so ago it regaulary drew audiences of > 10 million on it's 2/3 times weekly spot around 8pm. With a often slower pace than some police shows and a reliance on character development as much as some strong story lines it was enjoyed, as proven, by many.

Then, around january 09, it had a makeover. Once weekely. 9pm and so after the 'watershed' it began to rely on grittier plots and more realistic action. The filming took on a 'fly on the wall' docu-drama feel and audiences dropped and dropped and dropped... Until now the regular audience is about 4 million, once a week. SO they are axing the show.

Now, call me simple (most people do!) but when an experiment fails surely you can go back to the old format can't you? Or is there some unwritten TV law that says you can never go backwards? Anyway - It's a pity. I don't watch too much TV, generaly only for films, but the Bill was one I did follow quite avidly.

How about we start a bring back June Ackland anf Reg Hollis!

Cheers

Dave

Subject: RE: BS: The Bill - UK TV cop drama
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 27 Mar 10 - 11:14 AM

...campaign was the missing word. I'll leave the spulling mastikes as they are.

Subject: RE: BS: The Bill - UK TV cop drama
From: MikeL2
Date: 27 Mar 10 - 12:05 PM

Hi Dave

I agree. Like you I don't watch a lot of TV ( other than sport) but The Bill has been something that we watch regularly.

We felt after about two months of the new format that it was not the show it had been.

Two points really -:

1. Why fix something that wasn't broke ?
2. As you said , if the change doesn't work why not go back to where it did?

We will miss even the changed show. It is still good viewing IMHO.

Not sure about Reg though !!

Cheers

MikeL2

Subject: RE: BS: The Bill - UK TV cop drama
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 27 Mar 10 - 12:05 PM

RIP, The Bill.

When it started, as a half-hour per episode police procedural, it was well worth watching. Then, in late-90s/early-noughties, it had to go all trendy, turning into a soap about all the coppers' off-duty lives & affairs in hour-long episodes. Every new producer & script editor seemed to feel obliged to make it trendier. So we regretfully stopped watching, it just wasn't any different from any other soap. I watched an episode a month or two ago, for first time for a while. ~~~ Now it has gone the way of all tv drama: hand-held jumpcuts; plot impossible to follow for all the trendy tricks, and dialogue that sounds as if it has been translated from Esperanto into Martian, incomprehensible even with the subtitles turned on ~~~ all the developments that have made telly into an unwatchable medium. Wonder if it will ever be worth watching again?

Subject: RE: BS: The Bill - UK TV cop drama
From: GUEST,Whovian
Date: 27 Mar 10 - 12:24 PM

Kill Bill !!!!



and Corrie and Eastenders and everything else


that is not Dr Who related.

Subject: RE: BS: The Bill - UK TV cop drama
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 27 Mar 10 - 12:54 PM

To most it is The "Biw".

Subject: RE: BS: The Bill - UK TV cop drama
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 27 Mar 10 - 08:15 PM

They used to take their storylines from the real life happenings at the police stations in East Ham, Stratford, Plaistow and Barking. Many's the episode I watched where I "recognised" local goings on... even down to them getting stuck in match day traffic on the way to a shout... it was never the same after June left.

LTS