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The Bill (view source)

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Originally a [[Police Procedural]] whose strict aim was to show the dull minutiae of policing, its modus operandi was not unlike that of ''[[Hill Street Blues]]''. The use of [[Leave the Camera Running|long single camera takes]], shooting the series on raw videotape rather than glossy film, and the ubiquitous use of [[Steadicam]] gave viewers a genuine insight into what it must be like to work inside a real police station. The series became widely seen as a [[Crime Time Soap]] as the years went on, however, especially after Paul Marquess took over as Executive Producer in 2002. Marquess left the series in 2005, after which the show moved considerably back towards being a [[Police Procedural]].
 
It began as a series of twelve [[Dramatic Hour Long]] teleplays in the literal sense of the word - the original pilot episode was written as a one-off televised "play for today", and there was [[Backdoor Pilot|no immediate intention]] of creating a series out of it. It switched to [[Dramatic Half Hour|half hour long]] episodes in 1988 following [[Executive Meddling|network pressure]], and it was in this format that it became widely known. However, in 1998 it changed back to [[Dramatic Hour Long|hour long]] episodes again, whereafter it reformatted itself to become a [[Television Serial]]. Its this kind of flexibility to change and adapt with the times that had been largely attributed to its long term success. From 1988 to 2009 it ran throughout the year with approximately 90 episodes per annum (mostly two per week, but other major TV events, i.e. football, ''[[BritainsBritain's Got Talent (TV)|Britains Got Talent]]'' or award shows meant that many weeks had just one), a rate of production matched in the UK only by the major soaps. This might be a large reason why it eventually came to be regarded as a soap opera, even before [[Crime Time Soap|the more soap orientated plotlines]] started to come into effect later in its life.
 
For most of its life the show went out at 8pm, before the [[Watershed]] - which had affected specific on-screen content. However, in 2009 it was moved to a once weekly 9pm slot, which meant a cut in episode numbers per year to about 50, and an increase in the amount of violence it may show on-screen. It also ditched the classic [[Theme Tune]], added a "film effect" filter over the action (as part of a move to broadcast it in high definition for the first time), and acquired regular background incidental music, although [[Narm|Narmish]] examples had occasionally appeared in some past episodes. The overall effect was described by some as making things feel a little too ''[[CSI]]''-like.
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* [[Recycled Title]]: several times. There were two different episodes titled "Whose Side Are You On?" for example, broadcast nearly a decade apart from each other, each with an entirely different plot to the other.
** A complete list can be found [http://thebill.wikia.com/wiki/Episodes_with_the_Same_Title here].
* [[Required Spinoff Crossover]]: The first episode of the 2003 [[Spin -Off]] series ''Murder Investigation Team'' followed the titular team while investigating a murder in Sun Hill, complete with requisite cameos from six of the then recurring members of the parent series' cast, and also the use of the regular Sun Hill police station sets and locations.
** For two of those regular characters, Sergeant Matt Boyden and PC Nick Klein, it was actually their final appearances. Boyden appears as a corpse (but is still being played by the original actor), while Klein is shown in a secure rehab unit, in recovery from his drug's habit.
* [[Retool]]: Again, many times over the course of its [[Long Runner|long lifespan]]. The most recent retool was in 2009, begining with the episode "Live By The Sword".
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* [[Spoiler]]
* [[Shown Their Work]]: A lot of the earlier episodes are particularly realistic about the day-to-day minutiae of police work. One episode in particular (featuring little-remembered DS Alistair Greig interrogating a local hard case) was so accurate about technique that it was used to teach police cadets how to question suspects effectively.
* [[Spin -Off]]: The short-lived ''Burnside'', and the slightly-longer-lived ''MIT: Murder Investigation Team''. Whether ''Beech Is Back'' counts as a spinoff or as a slightly differently packaged set of regular episodes is up for debate.
* [[Spiritual Successor]]: The series was very much a spiritual successor of ''[[The Sweeney]]'' (it shared common production personel with it in the early days). And of ''Z Cars'' and ''Dixon of Dock Green'', to a lesser extent.
* [[Television Geography]]
** Play spot the Southwark street with this show. Or, if you know [[National Rail]], spot the out-of-place train. Or, a scene clearly filmed south of the Thames.
* [[Title Drop]]: a regular trope of the earliest episodes was that the episode title ''always'' popped up somewhere in the dialogue of that particular episode.
* [[Transplant]]: Detective Constable Eva Sharpe was moved over to the [[Spin -Off]] series ''Murder Investigation Team'' during that programme's second (and, as it turned out, [[British Brevity|final]]) series.
* [[Trash the Set]]: At least twice, but not always when the location had to be moved.
* [[Undercover Cop Reveal]]
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