Country of origin United Kingdom Original network ITV | No. of episodes 11 | |
Original release 16 August 1983 –
22 January 1985 | ||
The first series of The Bill, a British television drama, produced by Thames Television, consisted of eleven episodes, broadcast between 16 October 1984 and 22 January 1985.
Contents
Background
This series was commissioned to be shown on the ITV network following the success of the pilot one-off play Woodentop, originally broadcast a year earlier, on 16 August 1983, as part of the Storyboard series.
Commissioned during September 1983, with the aim of production commencing within six months, the series would be called "The Bill", similar to "Old Bill" - creator Geoff McQueen's original title for Woodentop.
Filming began in March 1984, running until June that year. The series was due to contain a total of twelve episodes, but only eleven were completed, due to industrial action by technicians at Thames Television.
The first series was transmitted on the ITV network at 9.00pm on Tuesdays, with a break in episodes of four weeks during December.
Originally scheduled for transmission on 23 October 1984, Episode 3, "A Friend in Need", was not shown that evening as industrial action by technicians at Thames Television prevented the ITV network from receiving programmes made by the company. This episode was instead shown in February 1985, two weeks after the transmission of Episode 11 "The Sweet Smell of Failure".
Artichoke Hill - Sun Hill Police Station Set & Location Filming
Whilst Wooodentop used a traditional three-wall set built at Thames Television's studios at Teddington, for the series, Sun Hill Police Station was created by converting the premises of a two-storey former cigarette packing company on the corner of Artichoke Hill and Pennington Street, in Wapping, East London.
The police station was significantly smaller than subsequent versions, with almost-all of the interior offices being seen on-screen - Only the original packing/warehouse area alongside the rear yard not featuring. Production offices doubled with some of the sets, with the canteen being used by cast and crew, and notably Chief Superintendent Brownlow's office actually being that of producer Michael Chapman. When shooting was taking place upstairs, the production team were unable to continue typing or to take phone calls.
Located in the shadow of the towering wall that surrounded the then-disused Tobacco Dock, and alongside the cobbles of Pennington Street, the nondescript 1950's building was very much in an East-End setting. Fronting onto the short stretch of road called Artichoke Hill, road signs were simply covered with those reading Sun Hill when exterior filming was taking place.
The use of real buildings instead of traditional sets within TV studios was very unusual at that time, with Channel Four's "Brookside" being one of the few others then to do so. Hand-held video cameras allowed the actors to move from within the building directly onto the street - Something that was just not possible with traditional studio-based production and created a new degree of realism for the viewer.
Many of the crew enjoyed the autonomy of working at Thames' East London outpost, however transport links to the area were then very poor and many of the Teddington-based staff disliked the cross-city journey from West London. This remained a constant at Artichoke Hill, and may have been a factor in the choice of a West-London location when the filming base was forced to move for Series 3.
Cast
Although the series is a continuation of the one-off play, a number of casting and character changes were made.
The character of Sergeant Wilding changes name to Sergeant Cryer, and is recast with Eric Richard replacing Peter Dean. Since transmission of "Woodentop", Dean had secured the role of Pete Beale in "Eastenders", following the re-casting of the original choice, Leslie Grantham, as Den Watts.
Robert Pugh who had appeared as DI Galloway decided shortly before production was due to begin that he did not want to commit to a series and the role was recast with John Salthouse.
The senior uniformed officer character of Inspector Deeping is replaced with Chief Superintendent Brownlow, played by Peter Ellis. Ellis had auditioned originally for one of the CID characters, but was felt to be too old.
PC Morgan’s name is changed to PC Edwards, although still played by Colin Blumenau.
Original casting was the responsibility of Keith Andrews and there is a strong link between some of the original male cast appearing in successful plays at The Royal Court Theatre in London during early 1983. John Salthouse and Eric Richard took the lead roles in the Martin Allen play “Red Saturday” and Gary Olsen, Mark Wingett and Robert Pugh all appeared in “Welcome Home”.
DVD releases
The series was first released on DVD on 6 June 2005, in the United Kingdom, before being made available as part of a three-season box set on 10 May 2006 in Australia. It was later released on 5 June 2007 in the United States, and was made available as a separate season in Australia on 3 August 2011. The above DVD artwork is taken from the most recent Australian release. It features an image of PC Reg Hollis. The British artwork features a collage image featuring PCs June Ackland and Jim Carver, and DI Roy Galloway. The American artwork adds Sgt. Bob Cryer and Supt. Charles Brownlow into the image. The original Australian three-season box set features a sole image of Sgt. Bob Cryer.