Country of origin United Kingdom Original network ITV | No. of episodes 106 | |
Original release 1 January –
31 December 2003 | ||
Series 19 of British television drama The Bill was broadcast from January 1 until December 31, 2003. The series consisted of 106 episodes, being the longest series broadcast during the show's final decade, and also included the show's first live broadcast, "Fatal Consequences". This series built upon the serialized format previously introduced by new producer Paul Marquess in Series 18, and also saw the introduction of several new members into the cast following the departure of many long-standing cast members in Series 18.
This series saw the show celebrate its 20th Anniversary on air with both a live episode and an episode featuring one of the show's most ambitious stunts to date, where PC Des Taviner is supposedly killed in an explosion in a Gas Tower, after being exposed as the culprit of the Sun Hill fire, which claimed the lives of six officers, back in April 2002. This storyline also saw the return of former detective Sally Johnson (Jaye Griffiths), who ultimately exposes Taviner and also manages to bully DC Danny Glaze into tendering his resignation, in fear of his part in the plot to frame murder suspect Jeff Simpson being revealed. This series also saw the death of long-standing character Sgt. Matthew Boyden, whose death was the subject of the first episode of the series' new spin-off Murder Investigation Team.
For the live broadcast, a storyline was devised whereby DC Juliet Becker (Rae Baker) was held hostage in the back of a police cruiser at knifepoint. Despite only being in the show for five months, the storyline paved the way for Baker's exit. This episode also featured a live stunt in which DC Gary Best's father (Ian Puleston-Davies) is thrown from the roof of the station after getting into a fight with his son. All but three of the current cast members featured in the live broadcast, and thus, due to its success on the night, a second live broadcast was commissioned for 2005, to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of ITV1.
On October 16, 2013, the complete series was released on DVD in Australia as a Region 0, playable anywhere in the world. The DVD synopsis uses the original episode numbering system, rather than the Episode names which from 2002-2007 wasn't used