The Bill (series 10)

The 10th series of The Bill, a British television drama, consisted of 156 episodes, broadcast between 4 January and 30 December 1994. On 3 October 2012, The Bill Series 10 Part 1 & 2 and The Bill Series 10 Part 3 & 4 DVD sets were released (in Australia).

Cast changes

Arrivals

Departures

Episodes

The Bill (series 5)

The fifth series of The Bill, a British television drama, consisted of 104 episodes, broadcast between 3 January – 28 December 1989. The series was first released on DVD as part of the Collection 3 and Collection 4 DVD boxsets in Australia, made available on 8 August – 7 November 2007, respectively. The first four episodes of the series were later issued on DVD in the United Kingdom, under the title Volume 4, on 15 March 2010. The next thirteen episodes of series 5 were released on DVD in the UK, under the title Volume 5, on 11 July 2011, the next 48 episodes of Series five was released on DVD in the UK under the title Volume 6, on 15 October 2012 and the remaining episodes was released on DVD in the UK under the title Volume 7, on 2 September 2013. The series was later re-issued as two half-series boxsets in Australia, released on 7 March 2012. The above DVD artwork is taken from the most recent Australian release. It features images of DC Jim Carver and Sgt. Bob Cryer. The British volume artwork features a collage image featuring a variety of characters from across the season. The original Collection box-sets contained sole images of PC Pete Ramsey and PC June Ackland respectively.

The Bill (series 17)

Series 17 of British television drama The Bill consisted of 92 episodes, broadcast between 5 January and 21 December 2001. As well as 85 regular episodes, the series also included a series of seven special episodes featuring former Detective Sergeant Don Beech, and the newly promoted Detective Inspector Claire Stanton, one of which was filmed in Australia, which concludes the Beech storyline, which began in Series 16. Although the idea of making the series into a serial drama did not fully take effect until April 2002, many of the stories in the latter half of the year were multi-part stories, some containing up to six episodes, such as the "Night Games" saga. The two-part episode "Lifelines" is the last two-parter to feature in the series until the return of episode titles in 2007. On 14 August 2013, The Bill Series 17 Part 1 & 2 and The Bill Series 17 Part 3 & 4 DVD sets were released (in Australia).

Cast Changes

Arrivals

Daydream Believer

"Daydream Believer" is a song composed by John Stewart shortly before he left the Kingston Trio. The song was originally recorded by The Monkees, with Davy Jones singing lead vocals. The single hit the number one spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in December 1967, remaining there for four weeks, and peaked at number five in the UK Singles Chart. It was the Monkees' last number one hit in the U.S. In 1979, the song was also recorded by Anne Murray, whose version reached number three on the U.S. country singles chart and number twelve on the Billboard Hot 100. The song has been recorded by others including John Stewart himself.

The Monkees version

Background

Producer Chip Douglas was friends with John Stewart and ran into him at a party in Hollywood. Douglas told Stewart that he was now producing the Monkees and asked if he had any songs that might work for the group. Stewart offered "Daydream Believer" (which had already been turned down by the We Five and Spanky and Our Gang). When Douglas heard the song he knew it could be a hit, but, according to Stewart, RCA Records (Colgems Records distributor) had a problem with the word "funky" (the original lyric in the second stanza was: "You once thought of me as a white knight on a steed, Now you know how funky I can be"). RCA wanted to change the word to "happy" and Douglas asked Stewart if he could live with that. At first Stewart refused because the change made no sense in the context of the song, but realizing he might have a hit song on his hands, he relented.