Just watched the pilot episode of The Bill which was one of the longest running police dramas of all time (1983-2010). We are introduced to the world of the police mainly through a new officer, Jim Carver, as he starts his first day on the force. This is an easy way to introduce numerous characters in as an efficient way as possible. The Bill's pilot is pretty much run of the mill police work with a couple of kids being rousted for trespassing and possible doing a bit of B&E. And then we also get a storyline with a corpse in a council house but this isn't murder, it is suicide. So not a lot of legwork or sweat box action here. But it is an interesting look at what the police in England would have been going through on a day by day basis. Frankly, the show almost seems to have taken cues from the American show Hill Street Blues by focusing on the meat and potatoes police work mixed with a bit of soap opera characterization.
One of the great charms of the episode was the location work on the streets of London where we see shops and streets as they were almost thirty years ago. I was particularly taken by a doubledecker bus that has adverts for Bowie's Let's Dance album plastered on the front end.
Also, it is hard to watch this and not think of Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes. How would Gene Hunt fit into this universe? The DCIs in The Bill seem pretty gung-ho and macho, which would fit cowboy boot wearing Gene to a tee. They both have a fair amount of boy's club thinking and looking down on the uniforms. As far as the evolution of Gene is concerned, the playing more by the rules approach in Ashes would fit the methodology of The Bill's brand of coppers who all seem to longing for the old days when you would just box a kid's ears and send him packing instead of running him into the station.
Not a bad bit of TV, all in all. Considering they aired approximately 2400 episodes over the course of the series, I don't think I'm gong to nearly scratch the surface of this one.
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