The Bill

MagicMarker

As most people will agree, I absolutely loved this growing up. I remember practically all the family in front of the TV, watching Reg, Burnside, Deakin, Cryer, Tosh etc:)

I haven't watched it since though, but I have noticed how it's gone all ''Hollywood'' and I have to say, for something that may at one time been considered ''dated'', it really looks excellent.

So tell me, should I start watching again? Is it as good as it looks?

joeystrider

I rarely geto see it because I am stuck in my college gaff of four channel hell!

However I love it. You get really involved. The characters are always spot on and the stories last as long as they should and develop extremely well. It will always keep you guessing.

And the production standard is great... You should have seen the episode the put out live. I couldn't believe that they managed it!

sdanseo

Yeah I watch it on RTÉ and sometimes on Watch (used to be on what was uktv Gold) - both are behind the current series, RTÉ by about 3 years and Watch by about 18 months or a year.

I have UTV, but on Sky I can't sky+ it or set reminders or the like so I always forget about it

OPENROAD

They are showing repeats on Watch TV , on most days.

Haven't watched it on ITV for a bit, it started to turn into a soap which was a shame, The Bill used to be one of the best things on tv, must give it another go, have to say love watching the repeats though, Don Beach was one of my favs,and of couse Reg was great, wonder is he still in it?

kittensoft1984

Yeah Magicmarker it is brilliant. I would have remembered from when I was younger too.

Granted there are a whole new cast but the storylines are really good.

Mossy Monk

You should watch it.

Brainz

i've been watching this every night it has been on and it is one of my fave programs

storylines are very real life and not dated also takes alot of current problems ie knife crime into the storylines !!

Elmo

I really don't understand this.

ITV go produce a new cop soap opera, stop peddling 20 year old shows, it is indeed dated.

I know I can change channel, TBH I have removed UTV from my channels.

The Bill :mad:

anotherlostie

I also watched it in the early 90's when it was at its peak. When Viv Martella was killed off, the audience was almost 20 million. Today it's about 6 million, and with the rate of character attrition, I doubt the audience increases much when a copper is killed. It became nothing more than a soap for a show that once prided itself on not straying into a character's personal life.

ArmaniJeanss

anotherlostie wrote: »

It became nothing more than a soap for a show that once prided itself on not straying into a character's personal life.

Its no longer a soap, and rarely if ever goes personal anymore.

A new executive producer took over from Paul 'Brookside' Marquess about 2 years ago and de-soapified it. No more lesbian love quadrangles, incestual relationships, long forgotten offspring appearing, wedding-day 'shockers' etc. Theres a small amount of love stuff, but no more than you'd expect where 50 people work in a relatively risky environment. Sure even in the first couple of series June Ackland was doing her fair bit of bedhopping.

Even a lot of the writers from the late 1990s were brought back to write episodes over the last year.

As a negative it has some poor characters at the moment, especially on the uniform side where 4 or 5 of the female PC's appear to have no differing characteristics whatsoever. CID is strong though.

And an honourable mention for Forensics Expert Eddie, always ready to treat the females to an achingly unsuitable chatup-line, or treat the guys to a quip about the havoc last nights curry is causing in his digestive system.