The
show: Fans of 'The Bill' need no introduction to what is now
the longest-running police drama on British TV.
The show chronicles the
professional and personal lives of officers at Sun Hill police station
in east London, and
was first broadcast on ITV1
on 16 October 1984. It remains one of the UK's most popular shows after
more than
2,000 episodes, and is one
of the ABC's top-rating shows in Australia. The pilot episode was called
'Woodentop',
and was broadcast on 16
August 1983 as part of a series of one-off plays called 'Storyboard'. Several
actors in
the pilot went on to become
mainstays of 'The Bill' for over two decades.
The
episode: 'Deadline' was first broadcast on 8 November 1995.
The CID team investigate the kidnapping of a
15-year-old schoolgirl,
Lucy Dean (played by Honeysuckle Weekes, now best known for her role in
'Foyle's War').
The Dean family had been
receiving threatening phone calls. The only suspect is a man named Steven
Clemens
(David Tennant), who lives
near the Dean family and used to work at Lucy's school. Dean is taken in
to Sun Hill
for questioning after he
is found in possession of bottled water, bread and rope (all perfectly
innocent items in the
normal of events, but obviously
not when you are a kidnapping suspect). Clemens initially denies any knowledge
of the kidnapping, but eventually
admits to making the phone calls. It is a race against time for Sun Hill,
because
they know Lucy is being
held in a refridgerated van with a limited supply of air. They know Clemens
is guilty, but
the only way to prove it
is to find Lucy before it is too late. Meanwhile, Clemens becomes a suspect
in a previous
murder. Tennant is brilliant
as Clemens, and the scenes in the interview room are among the best ever
filmed for
the show. Shaun Scott also
gives a superb performance as DI Chris Deakin, the officer heading the
investigation.
Trivia:
Colin Baker appeared in 'The Bill' in 1997, and Sylvester McCoy was a guest
star in 2002 and 2006.
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