2007-2009: Crime Based Stories
During 2006/ 2007 Johnathan Young began retooling the programme which led to noticeable changes in The Bill. Whilst personal storylines remain, they are of less abundance than before, and more time is spent on crime-based Stories. The episode titles were reintrouced beginning with Episode # 490 which was titled Sweet Revenge - broadcast on 21 March 2007, which saw the serial format dropped. A spokesperson for the programme commented on how the titles summed up the 'essence' of an episode. Sensational storylines have also been dropped since 2007. The deaths of officers are far less frequent and the focus of the more dramatic storylines is largely on the crimes being dealt with, and not on the personal lives or conduct of the officers. Arguably the most memorable storyline of the Young era so far was DC Zain Nadir's undercover operation.
By mid-2007, The serial format remains in place, the storylines are generally more self-contained and are often dealt with in two or three episode blocks and there is little to no sensational stories or stories about the characters private lives.. An example of this might be the recent Closing The Net two-part storyline and Witness, a storyline which spanned out over eight episodes . The Bill has more frequently featured self-contained episodes, focusing on one or more crime storylines wrapped up in one hour. In this way, the programme more closely resembles the earlier period helmed by Richard Handford.
Jonathan Young also axed a few characters in his first few months in the job;
- PC Lance Powell
- PC Steve Hunter
- SRO Julian Travel
- CAD Officer Dean McVerry
On 3 January 2007 to bring in the new year, the episode opening titles were revamped once again, paying homage to the original 1984 titles. The 2007 ones have shots of London, interspersed with police work and shots of Sun Hill Police Station. The break bumpers and music were also updated.
Because of the more compact and less serialised format adopted under Johnathan Young, episode titles were reintroduced, beginning with Episode # 490 which was titled Sweet Revenge - broadcast on 21 March 2007. A spokesperson for the programme commented on how the titles summed up the 'essence' of an episode.
Read more about this topic: History Of The Bill
Famous quotes containing the words crime, based and/or stories:
“How could passion run so deep
Had I never thought
That the crime of being born
Blackens all our lot?”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Justice in the hands of the powerful is merely a governing system like any other. Why call it justice? Let us rather call it injustice, but of a sly effective order, based entirely on cruel knowledge of the resistance of the weak, their capacity for pain, humiliation and misery. Injustice sustained at the exact degree of necessary tension to turn the cogs of the huge machine-for- the-making-of-rich-men, without bursting the boiler.”
—Georges Bernanos (1888–1948)
“Fairy tales are loved by the child not because the imagery he finds in them conforms to what goes on within him, but because—despite all the angry, anxious thoughts in his mind to which the fairy tale gives body and specific content—these stories always result in a happy outcome, which the child cannot imagine on his own.”
—Bruno Bettelheim (20th century)