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 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

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.

Double-Take Software

Double-Take Software, Inc. was acquired by private equity firm Thoma Bravo in 2010. It develops software that reduces downtime and protects data for business-critical systems in Microsoft server environments and also more recently on Linux and VMWARE ESX servers.

The company was founded in 1991 as NSI Software, Inc. and changed its name in March 2006 to Double-Take Software, Inc. The company is headquartered in Irvine California with primary R&D offices in Indianapolis, Indiana. Other offices are located in Waltham, Massachusetts, Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois; Worcester, England; and Paris, France.

Double-Take Software acquired Sunbelt System Software in May 2006,TimeSpring Software in December 2007 and emBoot, Inc. July 2008

Double-Take filed for IPO in August 2006, and began trading on December 15, 2006 with 7.5 million shares released to the public at $11 per share.

On May 17, 2010, Double-Take entered into a definitive merger agreement to be acquired by Vision Solutions, Inc., a portfolio company of Thoma Bravo, LLC. The acquisition was finalized on July 23, 2010.

Double Take (2001 film)

Double Take is a 2001 action comedy film starring Eddie Griffin and Orlando Jones. Double Take was inspired by the 1957 drama Across the Bridge, which was in turn based on a short story by Graham Greene; the supporting cast includes Edward Herrmann, Gary Grubbs, Garcelle Beauvais, and Daniel Roebuck.

Plot

Daryl Chase (Jones) is a successful investment banker who handles international accounts for a major New York firm. Chase discovers to his surprise that one of his biggest clients, a company from Mexico, is actually a front for a cartel of drug smugglers; he realizes too late that he's been framed for money laundering and the murder of two cops, and is now wanted by the FBI.

Chase is soon approached by a CIA agent, who thinks Chase's relationship with the Mexican drug kingpins might prove useful, but when his local contact disappears, Chase has to make his way to Mexico in order to save his skin and hopefully clear his name. Needing a new identity to get out of town and across the border, Chase obtains a stolen passport— and soon learns the man whose name he's using is in even deeper trouble with the law than himself.

Double Take (Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw album)

Double Take is an album by trumpeters Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw recorded in November 1985 and released on the Blue Note label. It features performances by Hubbard, Cecil McBee, Carl Allen, Mulgrew Miller and Kenny Garrett. The album was Hubbard's first for Blue Note since recording The Night of the Cookers (1965) twenty years previously.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow states "Hubbard still gets the edge (his range is wider and he cannot be surpassed technically). Although Shaw tended to play more harmonically sophisticated lines and is remarkably inventive, they are both trumpet masters". The album was followed by a second Hubbard/Shaw collaboration The Eternal Triangle in 1987 and the two volumes were combined for the double CD release The Complete Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw Sessions (1995).

Track listing