| The Bill | |
|---|---|
| Series 26 | |
| No. of episodes | 31 |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV |
| Original release | 7 January – 31 August 2010 |
| Series chronology | |
The 26th series of The Bill, a British television drama, was the final series of the police procedural programme. On 30 April 2014, The Bill Series 26 Part 1 & 2 DVD set was released in Australia.
Having been halved to one episode a week and axed from Scottish network STV the previous summer, the show's average viewership had dropped from 7 million prior to the revamp to 3, and as a result, the long-running police drama was axed on 26 March 2010. ITV director Peter Fincham also noted "the changing taste of viewers" played a part in the axing, and despite a petition and calls for another network to take on the series - the final episode - Respect: Part 2, aired on 31 August 2010 – 15 days after the 27th anniversary of the pilot episode of The Bill, Woodentop.[1]
The long-running police drama aired 2,425 episodes over 26 years, with 31 coming in its final 9 months on air. Final-year plots saw a promotion for DC Jo Masters as she became a uniformed sergeant, a mutiny in the uniform ranks following a suspension for Sergeant Callum Stone after he was accused of assaulting a member of the public, a cocaine addiction for DS Max Carter and a cancer diagnosis for DI Neil Manson's estranged pre-teen son. The show's final episodes were more of a throwback to the show's focus on pressing issues and executive producer Johnathan Young's pre-revamp mantra of focusing on the victims, the fatal stabbing and a gang rape on a housing estate. The final episode was paired on the night with a one-hour special, Farewell The Bill, narrated by Martin Kemp (who also did the show's 2008 special The Bill Made me Famous). The show followed ITV's requests for darker, gritty drama with episodes including domestic murder-suicide, stalking and football hooliganism.
Nearly two years after the final episode, the show's longest-serving character Supt. Jack Meadows was featured in an episode of Leipzig Homicide, which involved him investigating a suspected murderer who has been living in London. In the episode it is revealed that at some point during the year and a half following the events of Respect, Meadows had retired. Plans were mooted for a revival of the series in 2021, however at the time of writing, this remains the final series.