From its origin as a single play in ITV's Storyboard series (presented here as a special feature), The Bill began as three hour-long series before being relaunched and reformatted into the long-running, regular weekly ratings hit that it has now become.

Critically acclaimed, the series has become compulsive viewing for millions of people over the last 25 year and features some of the viewing public's favourite characters, including DI Galloway (John Salthouse), Sgt. Cryer (Eric Richard), PC Carver (MarkWingett), PC Litten (Gary Olsen), PC Hollis (Jeff Stewart), WPC Ackland (Trudie Goodwin) and Det. Sgt Roach (Tony Scannell).