Fatal Consequences (The Bill)

Last updated

"Fatal Consequences"
The Bill episode
Episode no.Series 19
Episode 87
Directed bySylvie Boden
Written byTom Needham
Original air date30 October 2003 (2003-10-30)
Running time60 minutes
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Better Late Than Never"		Next →
"What's The Scoop?"
The Bill (series 19)
List of episodes

"Fatal Consequences" is a live episode of the British television drama series The Bill , broadcast on ITV1 on 30 October 2003. The episode marks the 20th anniversary of the pilot episode "Woodentop", and was the first episode of The Bill to be broadcast live. It was written by Tom Needham, directed by Sylvie Boden and produced by Susan Mather and Donna Wiffen.

Contents

Plot

DC Juliet Becker and PC Cathy Bradford are being held hostage by a drunk called Mark Nevett (Charles Dale). Nevett demands Cathy gets in the boot of a car, which she refuses, so he drags Juliet over to a carrier van. Despite Cathy's protestations, Juliet opens the door and Nevett pushes her into the van. In custody, after confronting prisoner Jules Ellis about revealing where the missing father of PC Gary Best is located, Sergeant Dale Smith is approached by PC Tony Stamp, who rants about Cathy betraying PC Polly Page at her murder trial. As they discuss events of the trial, Cathy rushes in and sounds the custody alarm, explaining that Juliet is being held hostage in the carrier van outside. As Inspector Gina Gold talks to Acting DI Samantha Nixon about interviewing Jules Ellis, she receives a call about events in the rear yard. She accompanies Superintendent Adam Okaro to the yard to coordinate a rescue; as Supt. Okaro's efforts to negotiate fail, he orders a team to storm the van. As they do, Juliet is rescued and Nevett is arrested, but they discover Juliet has been stabbed. While first aid efforts take place in the yard, DC Mickey Webb of the Murder Investigation Team arrives to assist Acting DI Nixon and DC Ken Drummond with the interview of Jules Ellis. Things are awkward for Sergeant Smith and PC Stamp over Mickey's recent rape, which led to his departure from Sun Hill, Smithy feeling especially guilty for exposing the rape against Mickey's wishes. Despite this, he tells them flat out that he is over the attack. Mickey then proceeds to interrupt Sam and Ken's interview with Ellis, just as it appears he is about to confess. Sam furiously blasts him, and she is further infuriated when Mickey says there is no chance Alan Best is still alive, just as his son Gary comes into earshot, destroying his last piece of hope. Back in the yard, Sergeant Sheelagh Murphy uses her training as a nurse to try and calm down Juliet, but their hopes of a quick move to hospital are affected by news that an RTC is causing a delay for the ambulance.

At St. Hugh's hospital, Sergeant June Ackland attends to a female victim of domestic assault, trying her utmost to assist a nurse deal with the chaos of Halloween admissions to the hospital. As she exits the waiting room, PC Jim Carver is revealed to be there after hiding behind a newspaper to not be seen by June. The nurse takes him to room and he claims he was putting up a shelf that collapsed onto him. As the nurse leaves him to attend to another issue, June enters his cubicle after hearing him talk to the nurse. She is skeptical about his claim about the shelf, suspecting he is being abused by his wife Marie (Melanie Hill). While he fails to open up about the abuse, they end up reminiscing on their 20 years together at Sun Hill. Back at the station, the ambulance finally arrives for Juliet. Elsewhere at the station, DCs Rob Thatcher and Eva Sharpe interview a boy who was found in possession of Alan Best's phone and wallet. His son Gary continues to spiral as he awaits the news of his father, expecting he won't be found alive. After snapping at PC Honey Harman and Sergeant Dale Smith earlier in the evening, he then demands Rob gives him two minutes with the boy, unaware his horrified mother is standing right next to him. Back at the hospital, June begins getting emotional about why Jim needs to leave Marie for his own sake, the nurse interrupts and reveals that Juliet has been brought in. Finding Inspector Gold and Sergeant Murphy, they watch on in horror as the crash team fail to revive Juliet. As she succumbs to her injuries, June follows a distraught Sheelagh outside and tries to comfort her, however she snaps and runs off. June is later told the victim of domestic assault has left, unaware that she is the wife of the man arrested for Juliet's murder, and she shows up at Sun Hill to discover her husband has committed murder. As Jim comforts June at the hospital, Marie arrives and begins to cause a scene, unaware that they are only emotional because Juliet died. After changing her tone, she goes to leave with Jim, making a point of saying that Jim walked into a cupboard door, confirming June's suspicions that Marie has been abusing him. Back at the station, Sheelagh hears a voice call her name in the yard, but she doesn't see her ex-lover Des Taviner appear from behind a car, revealing to the viewers that he survived the Area Car crash and explosion several episodes earlier. In custody, a team swarm around Juliet's killer Mark Nevett, but while Superintendent Okaro orders them to get off him, PC Gabriel Kent reveals he has swallowed his tongue. As Rob and Eva find Alan Best's body, news reaches Gary at the station, who storms into custody and attacks Ellis as he heads back to his cell under guard. Ellis runs off out of the open door and into the yard, chased onto the roof by Gary and Smithy. Ellis knocks Smithy over on the roof, then proceeds to swing a metal bar at Gary; as he drops his guard, Gary flies at him, causing them both to fall off the roof and land on a passing van. Fireworks begin exploding in the sky above the station.

Production

Executive producer Paul Marquess said the idea to do a live episode was first mooted over a year before the anniversary. Knowing it would be 20 years since the show's pilot episode "Woodentop" was broadcast and with the increase in ratings, the producers thought it would be a good opportunity to do "something ambitious" to celebrate and publicise the show. [1]

Charles Dale guests in the episode as "crazed knifeman" Mark Nevett, who is holding DC Juliet Becker hostage at the start of the episode. [2] The episode marks Dale's fifth appearance in The Bill and his second live episode, after he starred in the live Coronation Street episode in 2000. [2] Dale did not have to audition for the role, after producers contacted him and asked him to play the part. [2]

Reception

"Fatal Consequences" was watched a cumulative audience of 10.41 million viewers. [3] Its original screening averaged 9.9 million viewers, attaining a 40% audience share. [4]

For their work on the episode, the camera team received a nomination for the Best Lighting, Photography and Camera – Multicamera Work accolade at the 2004 RTS Craft & Design Awards. [5]

Related Research Articles

<i>A Touch of Frost</i> British television detective series (1992–2010)

A Touch of Frost is a television detective series produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV from 6 December 1992 until 5 April 2010, initially based on the Frost novels by R. D. Wingfield. Writing credit for the three episodes in the first 1992 series went to Richard Harris.

Roberta Alexandra Mary Taylor is an English actress and author. She is known for her roles of Irene Raymond in EastEnders (1997–2000), and Inspector Gina Gold in The Bill (2002–2008).

Alex Newcombe Walkinshaw is a British actor. He has played the long-running roles of Dale "Smithy" Smith in the ITV police procedural series The Bill and Adrian "Fletch" Fletcher in BBC medical dramas Casualty and Holby City. He also played PE teacher Jez Diamond in BBC school-based drama series Waterloo Road.

Woodentop (<i>Storyboard</i>) 4th episode of the 1st series of Storyboard

"Woodentop" is an episode of the Thames Television series Storyboard, which comprises a series of one-off plays on different themes. The episode was originally broadcast on 16 August 1983. Woodentop became the first episode in the long-running British police television series The Bill. The name woodentop is a colloquialism for beat policemen who traditionally wear helmets; the nickname is itself an allusion to the Children's TV series The Woodentops.

"Golden Opportunity" is an episode of the long-running police procedural television series, The Bill, broadcast on 16 April 2002. The episode is significant in the show's history, as it features the events of the first Sun Hill Fire, which resulted in the death of six officers. The episode attracted 8.6 million viewers, and was the first of the few times computer generated imagery had been used on the show. With new producer Paul Marquess wanting to change the cast significantly and the station set due to be redeveloped, the decision was made to stage a dramatic explosion and fire on the set, a storyline that led to the axing of eight characters in total during the events of the storyline.

"Confessions of a Killer (288)" is an episode of the long-running police procedural television series, The Bill, broadcast in 2005. The episode is significant in the show's history, as it features the events of the second "Sun Hill Fire", which resulted in the death of three officers. The episode attracted over nine million viewers, and was only the second time computer generated imagery had been used on the show. The imagery was used because producing a real explosion and fireball ripping through the station corridors was not possible.

From the ITV police drama's first screening in 1983, the history of The Bill includes a variety of major plotlines and changes to the programme's format.

<i>The Bill</i> (series 19) Season of television series

Series 19 of British television drama The Bill was broadcast from 1 January until 31 December 2003. The series consisted of 106 episodes, being the longest series broadcast during the show's final decade, and also included the show's first live broadcast, "Fatal Consequences". This series built upon the serialized format previously introduced by new producer Paul Marquess in Series 18, with the series following on from the previous series by removing and replacing a mass number of characters. The most high-profile exit was that of Sergeant Matt Boyden, whose death was part of a crossover with new spin-off series Murder Investigation Team. Actor Tony O'Callaghan, who was with the show for 12 years, became the fourth character with over ten years on the show to have been written out in the 18 months since Marquess took over, with three of those four characters being killed off.

<i>The Bill</i> (series 20) Season of television series

Series 20 of British television drama The Bill was broadcast from 7 January until 30 December 2004, and continued to use the serialized format introduced by Paul Marquess during Series 18. The series consisted of 94 regular episodes, and two episodes from a new documentary spin-off; The Bill: Uncovered. The first part, Des & Reg, came when ex-PC Des Taviner returned after faking his death in an explosion in the previous series, with his capture for the fatal station fire in 2002 and eventual death in custody bringing an end to the plot that ran for nearly two years. The second, "Kerry's Story", came after the death of PC Kerry Young at the hands of PC Gabriel Kent. Kent took centre stage in series 20 as he established himself as a fully-fledged villain; he first colluded with a gang of thugs to beat up criminals who evaded justice, before later colluding with a sniper to kill those who escaped justice. His murder of Young saw him frame the sniper by using his gun and method, having raped and bullied Young for refusing to embark on a relationship with him. Kent capped a year where his villainy dominated events by committing a second murder, throwing the sniper he colluded with off a fifth-storey balcony to his death to stop him being arrested.

<i>The Bill</i> (series 21) Season of television series

Series 21 of British television drama The Bill was broadcast from 5 January until 29 December 2005. The series consisted of 106 episodes, making it the series with the highest number of episodes in the show's final decade, tied with series 19. Joint-longest serving cast member, DC Jim Carver, exited the show after 21 years, having been with the show since its first ever episode; he was the sixth character with over ten years on the series to have exited in the previous three years. It followed the events of the third Sun Hill station fire. As was the case in 1990 and 2002, a redevelopment to a large part of the station set was explained by an explosion, racist PCSO Colin Fairfax driving a van into the station reception to shift the blame for a terror attack onto the local Asian community; the fire led to three characters being killed off. The death of Carver’s best friend in the blaze, DC Ken Drummond, came before the revelation that his estranged wife June Ackland had an affair with experienced PC Roger Valentine. Ackland, co-protagonist with Carver in the series pilot Woodentop, was involved in a 30-minute special episode that ended with Carver’s exit. Actor Mark Wingett also featured in spin-off documentary series The Bill: Uncovered, exploring Jim’s time on the show that included addictions to alcohol & gambling and two failed marriages. The final of four Uncovered documentaries saw Superintendent Adam Okaro narrate on some of the best moments from the show's 21-year history, however the episode did not air in the U.K; instead it aired in Australia a year after its originally planned broadcast.

<i>The Bill</i> (series 22) Season of television series

Series 22 of British television drama The Bill was broadcast from 4 January until 28 December 2006. The series consisted of 91 episodes, as two episodes from the series remain unaired after the master tapes were stolen in a robbery at the show's recording studios in November 2006. Under new producer Johnathan Young, this series saw the programme begin to step away from the serialised format, and return much of the focus to the actual policing aspect of the programme, removing the more 'soap' feel previously introduced by Paul Marquess. Most episodes consisted of two parallel stories running at the same time, much like the initial transition to hour-long episodes in 1998. However, some episodes feature entirely on one story, beginning the move back to single-themed episodes as part of a plan to completely remove serialisation - which did not take place until 2007. The series also saw a large portion of cast changes in the first few months, with a number of characters previously introduced by Marquess being axed to make way for new blood - many of them support staff and non-police officer characters. Young believed that several of the characters introduced by Marquess did not have the longevity of the more well-known characters in the show, and thus decided to give a number of highly recommended up-and-coming actors roles on the show, such as Kidulthood star Aml Ameen.

<i>The Bill</i> British police procedural television series (1983–2010)

The Bill is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, Woodentop, broadcast in August 1983.

"Frontline" was a three-part storyline in the long-running police procedural British television series The Bill. Broadcast in 2008, the storyline is significant in the show's history as it was the final plot to feature the death of an on-screen character, PC Emma Keane, which came in the first part of the plot.

Respect (<i>The Bill</i>) 30th and 31st episodes of the 26th series of The Bill

"Respect" is the two-part series finale of the United Kingdom's longest-running police procedural television drama series, The Bill. The final two episodes were written by David Harsent and directed by Reza Moradi, and aired on ITV1 on 24 August and 31 August 2010. The series finale, and the final scene, were specially written to include all 17 current cast members.

<i>The Bill</i> (series 1) Season of television series

The first series of The Bill, a British television drama, consisted of eleven episodes, broadcast between 16 October 1984 and 22 January 1985.

"The Anniversary, Part Two" is an episode of the long-running ITV police-procedural drama series, The Bill. The episode is significant in the show's history as it is the second of two episodes broadcast live. The Anniversary, Part 2 was broadcast live on 22 September 2005 at 8:00pm, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of ITV1. The episode was written by Graham Mitchell, directed and co-produced by Sylvie Boden, and produced by Donna Wiffen.

<i>No Offence</i> British television drama, 2015–2018

No Offence is a British television police procedural drama on Channel 4, created by Paul Abbott. It follows a team of detectives from Friday Street police station, a division of the Manchester Metropolitan Police. The series stars Joanna Scanlan as the protagonist, Detective Inspector Viv Deering. The first series focuses on the team's investigation into the serial murders of young girls with Down syndrome. It was renewed for two further runs. The second series of seven episodes began broadcasting on 4 January 2017, and follows the investigation into Manchester crime boss Nora Attah. It was filmed on location in Manchester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cameron Tait</span> Fictional character

Cameron Tait is a fictional character from the British police procedural television series The Bill, played by Daniel MacPherson. He first appeared in the eighteenth series episode "Thinking Out Loud", broadcast on 30 January 2003. Cameron was introduced as a police constable from Sydney, Australia, who joins the Metropolitan Police based at the Sun Hill station in London. MacPherson was approached by the show's producers about the role, after they saw him in a production of Godspell. He was hesitant about accepting as he did not intend to stay in the UK for long, and he was not sure the role was right for him. However, he was convinced by the changes brought in by Paul Marquess and the strong ratings the show was achieving in the UK and Australia. MacPherson was contracted for 18 months and he began filming in September 2002. With Cameron being the first Australian police officer to appear in The Bill, MacPherson worked with the scriptwriters to make him more a realistic Australian and said that he had to remove some stereotypical Australian words from his dialogue. To help him prepare for the role, MacPherson went on a ride-along with the Bondi police, and he also shaved his head.

References

  1. ↑ Brand, Claire (25–31 October 2003). "Going Live". Inside Soap . No. 43. pp. 22–23.
  2. 1 2 3 Hill, Claire (30 October 2003). "Dale cool as The Bill goes live; For Tenby-born star moving house is more worrying than police drama special". Western Mail . Retrieved 7 February 2023.
  3. ↑ "Weekly top 30 programmes on TV sets (July 1998 – Sept 2018) – ITV1 (SD Only) w/e 2 Nov 2003". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board . Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  4. ↑ "Live Bill episode nears 10m mark". BBC News. 31 October 2003. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  5. ↑ "RTS Craft and Design Winners 2004". Royal Television Society . Retrieved 6 February 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.