- Source: The Bill series 22
Series 22 of British television drama The Bill was broadcast from 4 January until 28 December 2006. The series consisted of 91 episodes, as two episodes from the series remain unaired after the master tapes were stolen in a robbery at the show's recording studios in November 2006. On 5 February 2014, the complete series was released on DVD in Australia as a Region 0, playable anywhere in the world.
Theme
Under new producer Johnathan Young, this series saw the programme begin to step away from the serialised format, and return much of the focus to the actual policing aspect of the programme, removing the more 'soap' feel previously introduced by Paul Marquess. Most episodes consisted of two parallel stories running at the same time, much like the initial transition to hour-long episodes in 1998. However, some episodes feature entirely on one story, beginning the move back to single-themed episodes as part of a plan to completely remove serialisation - which did not take place until 2007. To maximise the ability of the cast and their prior experience during the soap era, multi-part plots used by Marquess were retained to ease the transition into the changes that would follow in the coming years. This meant there were long-running plots established including the disappearance of schoolgirl Amy Tennant, DC Zain Nadir going undercover as a bent officer inside a drugs ring and Sergeant June Ackland's romance with a school headmaster, all of which did not conclude until the following year. 2006 itself also had focus on long-term plots including Sergeant Dale Smith falsely going to jail for murder, PC Tony Stamp trying to ease the final days of his terminally ill father and PC Roger Valentine fighting his own prejudices as he struggled with PTSD. The show also focused on modernising their set as the entire station was redeveloped: CID was the first to change as it was moved to the zone above the front office, the old community safety unit demolished to accommodate a larger CID, new briefing room and expanded DI's office; the admin offices for Superintendent, DCI and intelligence that were next to CSU were later moved to where CID was previously located on the other end of the upper level. Throughout the year, the station was repainted a lighter shade of blue, the uniform briefing room and CAD spaces were overhauled, the sergeant's office was expanded and the custody suite was completely redone; the work was completed the following year.
Cast changes
One of the most prominent characters to leave was Superintendent Adam Okaro (Cyril Nri), whose promotion to Borough Commander saw him replaced by new Superintendent John Heaton (Daniel Flynn). The series also saw a large portion of cast changes in the first few months, with a number of characters previously introduced by Marquess being axed to make way for new blood - many of them support staff and non-police officer characters. Young believed that several of the characters introduced by Marquess did not have the longevity of the more well-known characters in the show, and thus decided to give a number of highly recommended up-and-coming actors roles on the show, such as Kidulthood star Aml Ameen. However, several experienced guest actors were cast including John Woodvine, Andrew Sachs and Les Dennis, while established actress Gillian Taylforth was cast as Sergeant Nikki Wright to both add experience to the young cast and return Sun Hill to its original quota of three sergeants, dropped in 2004 after the show had three core uniform sergeants dating back to its first series proper episode in 1984.
Despite a number of high-profile exits, it was the first year since 2001 that a police officer character was not killed off; however, a handful of recurring non-police characters were killed off, including Sgt. Dale Smith's girlfriend Louise Larson and PC Tony Stamp's father Norman (John Woodvine). Young did state at the start of his tenure that he had no intention to axe any of the staple characters, such as veterans of over 20 years Tony Stamp and Reg Hollis, however, it had already been announced in the autumn of 2005 that Trudie Goodwin would be quitting her role on the series as Sergeant June Ackland at the end of her contract.
Episodes
= Unaired episodes
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References
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