The Bill

The Bill is a British police procedural television series that was broadcast on the ITV network from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. It revolves around the fictional incidents dealt with by the Metropolitan Police Service. The programme originated from a one-off drama, entitled Woodentop, which was broadcast in August 1983.

In its final year on air, The Bill was broadcast once a week, usually on Tuesdays or Thursdays, in a one-hour format. The programme focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work. The Bill was the longest-running police procedural television series in the United Kingdom until its cancellation, and was among the longest running of any British television series. The series was originally produced by Thames Television; later, after a company merger, this changed to Talkback Thames. The title of the programme originated from "Old Bill", a slang term for the police. This was also Geoff McQueen's original title idea for the series.

The Bill (series 21)

Series 21 of British television drama The Bill was broadcast from January 5 until December 29, 2005. The series consisted of 106 episodes, making it the series with the highest number of episodes in the show's final decade. This series saw the programme change hands as executive producer of three and a half years, Paul Marquess, stepped down to make way for new producer Jonathan Young. Subsequently, this resulted in the removal of much of the 'soap' feel which was introduced by Marquess, and the main focus turning towards the actual policing aspect of the programme. The majority of this series however remained serialised, with the transition back to single-hander episodes being phased in slowly, following into Series 22.

This series saw the highest number of cast changes in the latter series of the show, with a significant number of key characters axed following the conclusion of several long-running storylines. This series also saw the departure of the show's longest serving cast member at that point, DC Jim Carver (Mark Wingett), who had been with the show since its pilot episode in 1983. As a dedication, a special half-hour 'two-hander' episode was recorded, featuring Carver and Sgt. June Ackland (Trudie Goodwin), who also appeared with Wingett in the show's pilot in '83. This series also featured the final episode of The Bill: Uncovered, a series of special documentaries following the lives and events of particular characters or groups of characters. This particular special, however, was never broadcast in the United Kingdom and was subsequently only shown on terrestrial television in Australia.

The Bill (series 18)

Series 18 of British television drama The Bill consisted of 86 episodes, broadcast between 3 January and 31 December 2002. This series marked a massive change for the show, after it received a new executive producer, Paul Marquess. Series 18 became the first series to be broadcast in serial format, and generally, only one episode was broadcast per week. The style of the programme also noticeably changes, becoming less police procedural and more "soap opera". As well featuring 80 regular episodes, the series featured a six-part serial based around PC Dave Quinnan, to mark his departure from the series. This series also saw another major cast change, with departures of several central characters. This made a total of 13 cast members to leave the show, the most in any season with season 25 in second, where 11 cast members left, and season 16 in third, which had 10 cast members leaving. On 14 August 2013, The Bill Series 18 Part 1 & 2 and The Bill Series 18 Part 3 & 4 DVD sets were released (in Australia).

Big Brother 1 (UK)

Big Brother 1, also referred to as Big Brother 2000, was the first series of the British reality television show Big Brother. The show is based on an originally Dutch TV series of the same name created by producer John de Mol in 1997. The series premiered on 18 July 2000, and lasted for a total of 64 days. It concluded on 15 September 2000 when Craig Phillips was crowned the winner. The series revolved around a group of strangers living in a custom built house with no contact with the outside world. Each week, the housemates are required to nominate two people for eviction. The two or more people with the most votes were nominated to leave the House. The viewers then decided which of the nominees should leave, with the selected person leaving during a live show. This process continued until only three housemates remained, at which time the public voted for which of them should win the £70,000 prize.

Development

Big Brother 5 (Australia)

Big Brother Australia 2005, also known as Big Brother 5, was the fifth season of Big Brother Australia, and was aired on Network Ten in Australia, and TV-2 in New Zealand with a four-week delay. The series started on 8 May 2005, with housemates going into the House the day before, and finished on 15 August 2005, lasting 101 days. The theme of the series was "single, sexy, and competitive". Auditions for housemates were held in March 2005. In a departure from usual procedure, candidates were not required to send in videos of themselves as had been the case for prior auditions. Instead, the producers toured major Australian cities and conducted interviews. They searched for sexy singles that were willing to have sexual relations on camera. Promos for the show suggested that Big Brother would be different this year, and phrases such as "Assume Nothing, Expect Anything", "Let's Play", and "Think Again" were used throughout the series, especially during Opening Night. The winner announced on the finale was watched by 2.282 million Australian viewers.

Big Brother 9 (UK)

Big Brother 2008, also known as Big Brother 9, was the ninth series of the British reality television series Big Brother, that aired on Channel 4 and E4. The series launched on 5 June 2008, and ran for 13 weeks until 5 September 2008.

The winner was Rachel Rice, who beat bookies' favourite Michael Hughes in the final vote with 51.3%. At the time of the series, Big Brother 9 was the least watched summer series in Big Brother's history, until the following series, with an average of only 3.6 million, down on Big Brother 8's by 0.3m.

No housemates in this series were represented in Ultimate Big Brother, a mini-series to mark the end of Big Brother on Channel 4. However Rex, Kathreya and Stuart entered to take part in tasks.

Broadcasts