The Bill series 17

The Bill
Season 17
No. of episodes	92
Release
Original network	ITV
Original release	5 January (2001-01-05) – 21 December 2001 (2001-12-21)
Series chronology

Series 17 of British television drama The Bill consisted of 92 episodes, broadcast between 5 January and 21 December 2001. As well as 85 regular episodes, the series also included a spinoff Beech is Back, following a special 90-minute episode in Australia. The story follows ex-Sun Hill officer Claire Stanton, now a DI, as she goes to Australia to try and extradite ex-DS Don Beech for the murder of his colleague John Boulton. The spinoff that follows concludes the Beech storyline, which began in Series 16. Although the idea of making the series into a serial drama did not fully take effect until April 2002, many of the stories in the latter half of the year were multi-part stories, some containing up to six episodes, such as the "Night Games" saga. The two-part episode "Lifelines" is the last two-parter to feature in the series until the return of episode titles in 2007. On 14 August 2013, The Bill Series 17 Part 1 & 2 and The Bill Series 17 Part 3 & 4 DVD sets were released (in Australia). The series saw an exit for Sergeant Bob Cryer, with actor Eric Richard controversially axed after 17 years with the show. His exit storyline saw him accidentally shot by PC Dale Smith, who transferred to SO19 as part of his exit storyline, however he would return two years later; Cryer would also return for a series of guest roles between 2002 and 2004. Former Brookside actor Paul Usher also joined the show on a permanent basis, playing PC Des Taviner, who would go on to be one of the show's most famous characters.

Producers used several plots in the series to focus on the mass of new characters introduced in series 16; DS Debbie McAllister and DC Paul Riley went head to head as McAllister fell for an informant who gave info against Riley's brother, and the eventual death of McAllister's informant led to a storyline that dominated the early proceedings of the series. DS Vik Singh also took centre stage in an undercover storyline, while DC Kate Spears became a key character in the autumn; after an affair with new station commander Tom Chandler, a storyline which resumed in series 18, she was subject to an attempted rape by a fellow police officer. Chandler also had a series of notable moments including a corruption allegation and his unsuccessful quest to succeed Guy Mannion as Borough Commander, as well as coming under fire from DC Mickey Webb after the death of a friend of Webb's during the four-part Britanniamania storyline.

Cast changes

Arrivals

• Sgt Craig Gilmore (Episode 26-)
• PC Des Taviner (Episode 33-)
• Ex-DS Don Beech (returning character: Episode 60–66)
• DI Claire Stanton (returning character: Episode 60–66)
• DI Liz Rawton (returning character: Episode 83–88)
• SC Terry Knowles

Departures

• DC Tom Baker - Final credited appearance, last seen late in S18
• Nurse Jenny Quinnan - Returns to Ireland after the betrayal of husband Dave's affair with Polly Page
• Sgt. Bob Cryer - Retires after being accidentally shot by PC Smith
• PC Dale Smith - Transfers to S019 (temporary departure)
• DI Claire Stanton - Resigns from force after bringing Don Beech to justice for murder of John Boulton
• Ex-DS Don Beech - Temporary departure after being jailed for the murder of John Boulton
• PC Vicky Hagen - Transfers out of the Met to Essex police
• Chief Superintendent Guy Mannion - Retires
• PC Roz Clarke - Resigns from the force after finding the job too difficult
• DI Liz Rawton - Returns to SCG after serial rape case
• Sgt. Stuart Lamont - Unexplained

Episodes

#	Title	Episode notes	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	"Appropriate Action"	John McArdle and Matt Healy guest star	Ed Fraiman	Paul Finch	5 January 2001 (2001-01-05)
2	"Criminal Practice"	Clodagh Rodgers guest stars	Peter Cregeen	J. C. Wilsher	9 January 2001 (2001-01-09)
3	"Upon Information Received"	TBA	Peter Cregeen	Simon Sharkey	12 January 2001 (2001-01-12)
4	"No Victim"	Zienia Merton guest stars	Graeme Harper	Andy Armitage	16 January 2001 (2001-01-16)
5	"Common Language"	Harry Towb guest stars	Tania Diez	Nigel Baldwin	19 January 2001 (2001-01-19)
6	"PC Smith"	Harry Towb and Nick Patrick guest star	Tania Diez	Chris McWaters	23 January 2001 (2001-01-23)
7	"Family Honour"	Michele Austin guest stars	Jo Shoop	Kathrine Smith	26 January 2001 (2001-01-26)
8	"Words of Wisdom"	Michele Austin guest stars	Jo Shoop	Marc Pye	30 January 2001 (2001-01-30)
9	"Out of the Frying Pan"	TBA	Baz Taylor	Simon Sharkey	2 February 2001 (2001-02-02)
10	"Mexican Stand-Off"	TBA	Baz Taylor	Simon Sharkey	6 February 2001 (2001-02-06)
11	"Cruise Control"	John Duttine guest stars	Jo Johnson	Chris Fewtrell	9 February 2001 (2001-02-09)
12	"Real Crime"	TBA	Graeme Harper	Phillip Gladwin	13 February 2001 (2001-02-13)
13	"Home and Away"	Final credited appearance of DC Tom Baker	Ken Hannam	Mark Holloway	16 February 2001 (2001-02-16)
14	"Going Under"	New title sequence and theme introduced, final appearance of Nurse Jenny Quinnan	Ken Hannam	Richard Stoneman	20 February 2001 (2001-02-20)
15	"Faultline"	Temporary departure of PC Dave Quinnan	John Davies	Alison Fisher	23 February 2001 (2001-02-23)
16–17	"Long Shadows"	Lisa Maxwell and Michael Elphick guest star	Gwennan Sage	Maxwell Young	2–6 March 2001 (2–6 March 2001)
18	"Higher Power"	Sara Stockbridge and Ian Burfield guest star	John Davies	Marcus Brent	9 March 2001 (2001-03-09)
19	"Touched By Evil"	Tom Chadbon, Stafford Gordon and Ryan Early guest star	Ken Grieve	Ron Rose	16 March 2001 (2001-03-16)
20–21	"The Leopard"	First use of the new ITV end credits, Harry Towb, John Cater and Ray Lonnen guest star	John Dower	Stephen Plaice	20–23 March 2001 (20–23 March 2001)
22–23	"Tolerance"	Ray Lonnen and Juliet Cadzow guest star	Alan Macmillan	Phil Ford	27–30 March 2001 (27–30 March 2001)
24	"Promised Land"	Ray Lonnen, Tony Selby and Kate Magowan guest star	Chris Lovett	Chris Ould	3 April 2001 (2001-04-03)
25	"Return of the Hunter"	Liza Walker guest stars	Ed Fraiman	Stephen Plaice	6 April 2001 (2001-04-06)
26	"Tour of Duty"	First appearance of Sgt Craig Gilmore	Albert Barber	Stuart Blackburn	10 April 2001 (2001-04-10)
27	"Lies of Silence"	Guest appearance of now A/DI Liz Rawton	Ron Bain	Derek Lister	13 April 2001 (2001-04-13)
28	"Over the Hill"	Aidan J. David guest stars	Michael Owen Morris	Henrietta Hardy	17 April 2001 (2001-04-17)
29	"Head Over Heels"	TBA	Albert Barber	Ed Jones	20 April 2001 (2001-04-20)
30	"Hitting Home"	Final regular appearance of Bob Cryer as Sgt, departure of Dale Smith as PC, Ray Lonnen guest stars	Ed Fraiman	Jim Davies	24 April 2001 (2001-04-24)
31	"Value Judgement"	TBA	Michael Owen Morris	Julian Spilsbury	27 April 2001 (2001-04-27)
32	"Collateral Damage"	TBA	Ken Grieve	J.C. Wilsher	1 May 2001 (2001-05-01)
33–34	"A Week of Nights"	First appearance of PC Des Taviner, Elizabeth Berrington and Mark Monero guest star	Michael Ferguson	Len Collin	4–8 May 2001 (4–8 May 2001)
35	"Wednesday"	Charles De'Ath guest stars	Susan Tully	Jim Gutherie	11 May 2001 (2001-05-11)
36	"Billy the Kid"	TBA	Ged Maguire	Nigel Baldwin	15 May 2001 (2001-05-15)
37	"Still Crazy"	Return of PC Dave Quinnan	Susan Tully	Richard Stoneman	18 May 2001 (2001-05-18)
38–39	"Complicity"	Russell Tovey guest stars	Bruce McDonald	Nicholas McInerny & Tanika Gupta	25 May-1 June 2001 (25 May-1 June 2001)
40	"Suffer the Little Children"	Alex Norton, Lee Boardman and Rosie Cavaliero guest star	Ron Bain	Paul Powell	8 June 2001 (2001-06-08)
41–42	"Happy and Glorious"	Lorraine Stanley and Tessa Peake-Jones guest stars	Rob Bailey	Mark Holloway	15 June 2001 (2001-06-15)
43–44	"Gun Crazy"	Sian Webber and Peter Halliday guest star	Richard Holthouse	Gregory Evans	19–22 June 2001 (19–22 June 2001)
45	"The Jury's Out"	Barry Jackson and T. P. McKenna guest star	Graham Moore	Arthur Ellis	26 June 2001 (2001-06-26)
46	"Lick of Paint"	Mary Tamm, Ashley Walters and Paul Antony-Barber guest star	Ged Maguire	Geoff Lindsay	29 June 2001 (2001-06-29)
47	"Temptation"	Daniel Mays guest stars	Graeme Harper	Ed Jones	3 July 2001 (2001-07-03)
48	"Envy"	TBA	Graeme Harper	Neil Clarke	6 July 2001 (2001-07-06)
49	"Greed"	Cindy O'Callaghan guest stars	Ken Grieve	Neil Clarke	10 July 2001 (2001-07-10)
50	"Redemption"	Patrick Cremin guest stars	Ken Grieve	Stuart Blackburn & Debbie Jones	13 July 2001 (2001-07-13)
51–53	"The Dark Side"	Neil Fitzmaurice and June Page guest star	John Howard Davies & Chris Lovett	Rod Lewis, Stephen Plaice & Manjit Singh	17–24 July 2001 (17–24 July 2001)
54	"Eye of the Lens"	Dean Lennox Kelly guest stars	Chris Lovett	Phillip Gladwin	31 July 2001 (2001-07-31)
55	"Another Country"	John Woodvine and Morris Perry guest star	John Howard Davies	Chris Ould	3 August 2001 (2001-08-03)
56–59	"Britanniamania"	Karl Howman guest stars	Brian Parker & Frank W. Smith	Len Collin, Steve Hawes & Scott Cherry	7–17 August 2001 (7–17 August 2001)
60	"Beech on the Run"	90-minute special, return of Don Beech and now DI Claire Stanton, John Noble and Jason Clarke guest star	Ian White	Steve Griffiths	19 August 2001 (2001-08-19)
61–66	"Beech is Back"	Final appearance of Claire Stanton, departure of Don Beech	Derek Lister & Justin Hardy	Tony McHale	21 August 2001 (2001-08-21) - 7 September 2001
67–69	"Trust, Part II"	Richard Mylan guest stars	Mike Adams & Michael Morris	Stephen Plaice & Marcus Brent	14–21 September 2001 (14–21 September 2001)
70	"Crush"	TBA	Herbert Wise	Phil Ford	25 September 2001 (2001-09-25)
71	"Liquid City"	Hilda Braid guest stars	Herbert Wise	Phillip Gladwin	28 September 2001 (2001-09-28)
72–74	"Debt of Love"	Jaime Murray, Nick Brimble, Arthur White and Archie Panjabi guest star	Penelope Shales & Michael Owen Morris	Julie White & Hugh Ellis	2–9 October 2001 (2–9 October 2001)
75	"Blood and Money"	Robert Blythe and Andrew McCulloch guest star	JJ Keith	Chris Ould	12 October 2001 (2001-10-12)
76	"Hidden Agendas"	Gerard Murphy and Gordon Warnecke guest star	JJ Keith	Julian Spilsbury	16 October 2001 (2001-10-16)
77–78	"Lifelines"	Final appearances of PC Vicky Hagen and Ch. Supt. Guy Mannion, Leonard Fenton, Clare Clifford and Margot Leicester guest star	Roberto Bangura	Stephen Plaice & Neil Clarke	19–26 October 2001 (19–26 October 2001)
79	"White Cliffs of Dover"	TBA	John Bruce	Steve Handley	2 November 2001 (2001-11-02)
80	"The Value of Nothing"	Jonathan Aris, Fiona Dolman and Rupert Frazer guest star	Albert Barber	Ed Jones	9 November 2001 (2001-11-09)
81	"Money Man"	90-minute special, Michael J. Jackson and David Schofield guest star	Graham Moore	Steve Handley	16 November 2001 (2001-11-16)
82	"Beyond the Call"	Stuart Laing guest stars	Albert Barber	J.C. Wilsher	20 November 2001 (2001-11-20)
83–88	"Night Games"	Final appearances of PC Roz Clarke and Sgt Stuart Lamont, guest appearance of DI Liz Rawton, Tristan Gemmill, Tony Blackburn, Ralf Little, Bruno Tonioli, Brian Croucher, Michael McKell and Eric Mason guest star	Laurence Moody, Declan O'Dwyer & John Davies	Elizabeth Anne-Wheal, Gregory Evans, Richard Stoneman & Henrietta Hardy	23 November- 11 December 2001 (23 November- 11 December 2001)
89	"For Better, For Worse"	Denise Black guest stars	Michael Owen Morris	Steve Hawes	14 December 2001 (2001-12-14)
90–92	"Special Constable Part 1"	First appearance of SC Terry Knowles, Robin Lermitte and Christopher Adamson guest star	Ken Hannam & John Bruce	Stuart Blackburn & Len Collin	18–21 December 2001 (18–21 December 2001)