THE BILL, ITV’s police drama set in east London (though filmed south of the river), is to be sent down in the autumn after a run of 27 years.
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“Times change, and so do the tastes of our audience,” said Peter Fincham, the ITV director of television.
The Bill was revamped last year, which saw a switch to a later slot allowing grittier storylines. However, despite critical acclaim and Bafta Awards* the viewing figures suffered.
Before the revamp, The Bill pulled in around 10 million viewers; by last month only 3.5 million tuned in.
In an age of hundreds of channels and the rise of the internet, even those ratings figures are better than they look, but ITV has decided to spend its drama department cash elsewhere.
“We will continue to invest more in drama programming than any other commercial broadcaster in the UK and viewers can look forward to a wide range of high quality drama on ITV1,” said Fincham.
In its time, nearly 2,500 episodes of The Bill have been aired and it has been screened in 55 countries, including Sweden, where it goes by the title Sunhillspolisstation, named, wouldn’t you know it, after Sun Hill Police Station, the show’s cop shop.
* Pic shows Dominic Power (PC Leon Taylor in The Bill) and Lisa Maxwell (DI Samantha Nixon) at the 2009 Baftas.
