Trivia / The Bill

• Backed by the Pentagon: The London Metropolitan Police came to support the show and the actors were allowed to wear accurate uniforms and use real police equipment.
• Billing Displacement: For the first three seasons, Eric Richard (as Sgt Cryer) and John Salthouse (Inspector Galloway) were always given top billing in the end credits. Not entirely surprising, as those two characters could probably very legitimately be seen as the central stars in the early years. After Salthouse left the series in its fourth season and the format changed to half hour episodes, the tradition continued for another few years with Eric Richard always receiving top billing, regardless of whether Cryer was actually the central character of that given episode or not.
• Dawson Casting: Although her character Abi Nixon was 14 when she first appeared in the series, Georgia Moffett was actually 18 in reality.
• Doubling for London: In 27 years, it continued to film in the capital, even after other London-set series had moved production to other (cheaper) places. However, it did move out its main set out of Wapping after the News International strike made even being a fake police officer dangerous (actors had encounters with strikers) to Kensington in 1987. They were ordered out for their location in 1989 as the area was being redeveloped and moved to Merton for the rest of the show's run.
• Executive Meddling: The format has been gradually fiddled about with ever since the decision to move to half-hour episodes in 1988, eventually getting to the point where it (arguably) no longer resembled its previous self.
• The Other Darrin: DI Galloway was played by Robert Pugh in the 1983 pilot episode, and by John Salthouse in the series proper.
• Outlived Its Creator: Geoff McQueen, who wrote the original Pilot Episode and created the series, died in 1995. The series he created kept going until 2010.
• Out of Order:
  • The 2001 episode Money Man was either aired or filmed out of sequence, as DCI Meadows has suddenly regained his longer hair nearly three months after shaving his head bald.
  • Two episodes in Series 23 (2007) were aired early due to popular demand, as they featured the climax of a popular and gripping storyline, namely that involving DC Zain Nadir and drugs baron Kristen Shaw, and viewers wanted to see it resolved sooner rather than later. The episodes that should've aired before them were subsequently edited so that continuity wouldn't be badly affected.
• Real-Life Relative:
  • Michael Higgs (PC Eddie Santini) is married to Caroline Catz (PC Rosie Fox).
  • James Lloyd (who played PC Steve Hunter) is the son of Kevin Lloyd ("Tosh" Lines).
• Recast as a Regular:
  • Melanie Hill played Polly Beecher in "The Mugging and the Gypsies" and Lynda Chambers in "Living It Down" before playing Marie Graham for 22 episodes.
  • Roger Lloyd-Pack was Arnie in "The Negotiator" before returning for six episodes in 2002 as Mick Mortimer.
• Screwed by the Network
• What Could Have Been:
  • Rick Wakeman was offered the chance to write the theme tune either for this series or for Lytton's Diary. He chose the latter, believing that it had the best potential of the two to be a long running series. It ran for two seasons.
  • Emily Watson was interviewed for visiting parts a number of times.
  • Cathy Bradford was originally going to be brought into the show as a love interest for Nick Klein; a new producer came in just after her introduction however, and chose to turn her into a villainous character instead.
  • Diane Noble was originally going to return to the show a year after initially leaving as a new sergeant; however, following the decision to Retool the show, it was decided the character could no longer be accomodated, so her return was instead reduced to a one-off episode.
• Working Title: Old Bill, then Woodentop.
• You Look Familiar: A lot of regular cast members previously appeared in the show as other characters, including Russell Boulter (DS John Boulton), Clara Salaman (DS Claire Stanton), Steven Hartley (Supt. Tom Chandler), Rene Zagger (PC Nick Klein) and Chris Simmons (DC Micky Webb).

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