For many it’ll be like losing a good friend or a member of the family. ITV has decided to close down Sun Hill Police Station and call the end to long running police drama, The Bill.
Around 90 people are expected to lose their jobs and cast members past and present are in shock at the sudden news of the show’s axing after 26 years.
While blaming falling ratings as the reason for closing the programme, the most recent episode to show on British TV won its timeslot with a huge 4.5 million viewers. Last year The Bill won its first Bafta for Best Continuing Drama.
A number of Facebook groups have already been set up trying to save The Bill and there is expected to be a continuing push by fans to keep the programme running, but it’s not likely to convince ITV who have messed with the show for years, making radical changes which have not been popular with diehard viewers.
During its 26 year run The Bill has featured appearances by such names as Keira Knightley, David Tennant, Spice Girl Emma Bunton, The Who’s Roger Daltrey, Robert Carlyle, Hugh Laurie and many others.
We are devastated that after 26 successful years on ITV, The Bill will be coming to an end. One of the show’s strengths has been its ability to evolve over the years as can be seen with the latest challenge of transforming itself into a 9pm primetime show.
We are incredibly proud of what the show has achieved. It is a credit to everyone who has worked on The Bill that the series will be signing out on a creative and editorial high with both critical and industry-wide acclaim and a loyal fan base who have supported the show throughout. – Lorraine Heggessey, CEO talkbackTHAMES
The Bill has always been very popular in Australia and many of the cast members have visited Australia for promotional visits, theatre shows and even book readings.
A few years ago I had the privilege of talking by phone to Graham Cole who played the role of PC Tony Stamp for 22 years before being sacked by the show’s producers when they wanted to change the style of the long-running drama. You can hear our conversation from February 2007 by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.
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