The Bill - Impact and Legacy

Impact and Legacy

The Bill was Britain's longest running police drama.

It has been compared to Hill Street Blues due to the similar, serial, format that both series take. However, The Bill has seen little direct competition on British television in the police procedural genre over its twenty-five-year history, though the BBC has twice launched rival series. The first was Merseybeat, which ran from 2001 but was cancelled in 2004 due to poor ratings and problems with the cast. The second, HolbyBlue, launched in 2007, was a spin off of successful medical drama Holby City (itself a spin off of the long running Casualty). It was scheduled to go "head to head" with The Bill, prompting a brief "ratings war", however HolbyBlue was also cancelled by the BBC in 2008, again, largely due to poor ratings.

When The Bill started, the majority of the Police Federation were opposed to the programme, claiming that it portrayed the police as a racist organisation, however, feelings towards the programme have now mellowed to the extent that Executive Producer Johnathan Young met with Sir Ian Blair, then Commissioner of the Met in 2006 and it was decided that the editorial relationship between the police and the programme was sufficient. However, Young stressed that The Bill is not "editorially bound" to the police.

Despite better relations with the police, The Bill has still not been without controversy. The Bill has been repeatedly criticised for the high levels of violence portrayed in its scenes, especially prior to 2009 when it occupied a pre-watershed timeslot. Specific story lines have also come under fire in the media, such as that surrounding a gay kiss in 2002, as well as an episode broadcast in March 2008 which featured a fictional treatment for multiple sclerosis, leading the MS Society to brand the plot "grossly irresponsible". In May of the same year, George Galloway, MP issued legal proceedings against The Bill for defamation after an episode, viewed by six million people, which featured a corrupt MP who smuggled antiques out of Iraq before the war, which Galloway alleged was a portrayal of him.

The series has also been criticised by the tabloid press for the replacing of the iconic theme tune as part of a revamping effort.