History of The Bill - 1998-2002: Hour Long Episodes Return

1998-2002: Hour Long Episodes Return

After 1998, the original foundations of Geoff McQueen's writing was relaxed to include some characters private lives, but still remained that an incident would not be seen without a member of cast involved. The old title sequences were entirely removed, in favour of displaying things that are seen to be associated with policing, such as reflective jackets, a suspect being interviewed, and a map in the CAD room. The theme tune was also revamped, with a change from the irregular time signature.

During 2000, the programme witnessed one of the largest cast changes in its history. This was due Detective Sergeant Don Beech's corrupt activities which led to the storyline known as the Don Beech Scandal. The scandal was brought about by Beech entering into a corrupt business relationship with a local crime boss, Howard Fallon, who frequently paid Beech to delay investigations and lose evidence. Unknown to Beech, fellow Detective Sergeant Claire Stanton was an undercover officer from the Complaints Investigation Bureau (CIB) who had infiltrated Sun Hill CID to expose suspected corruption. Don Beech also killed Detective Sergeant John Boulton who was in a relationship with Claire Stanton. After killing Boulton, Beech fled to Australia giving way to two spin-off programmes, Beech on the Run and Beech is Back. Don Beech's actions led to seven CID detectives removed from Sun Hill and introduced six new characters.

During 2001, Sergeant Bob Cryer was forced into early retirement after he was mistakenly shot during an armed siege by Constable Dale Smith, who was at the time attached to SO19. Cryer was replaced by Sergeant Craig Gilmore. The title sequence was changed to include static photos of the cast and the music was remixed to include the "Overkill" theme tune, last featured in 1988. The series was also broadcast in widescreen ratio, for the first time.