Once June and Reg had gone the show lost its shine for me. I had watched it religiously from episode one but it lost me when they added background music and started using the twitchy camera effects. I had managed to get through the "soap opera" period, the dropping of the central characters like June but once Reg went it was the nail in the coffin of the show. Once I heard that "Tony" was going (Graham Cole), that was the end for me. Vale "The Bill".
Best copper on the show EVER! A very human character who had his faults, just like the rest of us, but was fundamentally a good guy who loved his job and had the police in his blood!
Tony Stamp was a brilliant police officer for all those years of having him in The Bill. He was in it a very long time, I wish he could have stayed but I still see him in the older episodes I watch on a channel called Watch. Its good to watch the new and the old version of The Bill cos their both great.
PC Stamp - Legend! The Bill is really crap lately and I gave it up a ages ago, I used to love it 1990-95, it is all about who is sleeping with who now... boring! Bring back the good old days when DI Burnside and co were running the show, good times!
hey there if anyone is looking to watch the bill again you can watch it on drama channel from 11am tell 12pm then another episode from 12pm to 1pm or on w channel
Seems strange Tony calling Smithy "Sir", Smithy was a PC when he arrived in 1999 and 10 years later he's Inspector. Didn't really watch The Bill from 2008 onwards, however, I made sure I tuned into the final episode. However, what a pile of shite, this wasn't what The Bill was about. It stopped being real in about 2002.
I think it went downhill after they won a Bafta for best serial Drama in 2009. It seemed like they tried to make it more like a Hollywood movie by introducing background music and changing the theme tune. In the end it just became too Americanised where the plots were too heavily focused on one characters emotions instead of the overall plot. It tried to move with the 21st century and be something that it wasn't. The stupid background music in the last year or so really put me off, at times it sounded like there was a hive of bees inside my TV. Dreadful. It was an alright show up until about 2006 and then from 2009 onwards it was pure garbage
Up there, but not in the same class as Burnside, Roach, Lines, Dashwood etc. this was the best of The Bill best one liners funny moments greatest episodes but that's just me 😀
Even though it was an extra doing them but I always used to imagine Tony Stamp doing the male's plodding feet in the mid 1990s end credits since he was the longest copper on the Bill at the time.
@sexbox360LIVE- Repeated episodes are on UKTV channel Watch and Watch+1. The episodes that aired today (07/09/2010) were Gina Gold's last episode (An Honour to Serve-part 2) and the first episode with Rachel Weston as Inspector (Hide and Seek), these were originally aired in October 2008.
Once June Gina okaro stampy reg and Stuart Turner and Phil hunter and a few other left I couldnt the show no more and especially when they fucked up the theme tune on series 26 and had really weird camera angles and tooo fast paced camera sequences and then music in between the scenes that was a no no no
@SteFrenchfan-Totally agree with your comment however ITV wanted to reduce the number of episodes and tweek the format, I doubt they told the execs who should remain and who shouldn't. That decision was made by Exec Prod Tim Key, who should hang his head in shame at axing a legend because he arrogantly thought that Graham Cole wasn't up to it for the new format. John Bowler remained as Roger Valentine and Simon Rouse as another legend Jack Meadows both of similar age to Graham Cole.
It seems that the current wave of "just graduated from media school" TV Execs really are determined to ruin established programs. The Bill is utter rubbish nowadays, the re-runs on Alibi are far more netertaining to watch. The old saying applies to TV programs as well "if it ain't broke why fix it?"
IMHO ITV should have kept Roy Galloway and the post 9pm one hour long episode format. That way, it would have still been gritty and maybe would have given the Beeb's Between The Lines a run for its money. And they should have kept on Roach.
