In March 2010, following a spell of declining viewership and negative public and media reception, executives at ITV announced that the network did not intend to recommission The Bill and that filming would cease on 14 June 2010.

[3] With a full ensemble cast to explore new characters not featured or just mentioned in Woodentop, the focus of the storylines soon shifted away from new recruit Carver and towards Detective Inspector Roy Galloway (John Salthouse) and Sergeant Bob Cryer (Eric Richard).

When Paul Marquess took over as executive producer in 2002, as part of a drive for ratings,[7] the series was revamped, bringing more of a soap-opera feel to many of its stories.

As part of the new serial format, much more of the characters' personal lives were explored but, as Marquess put it, the viewers still "don't go home with them".

[2] The change also allowed The Bill to become more reflective of modern policing, with the introduction of officers from ethnic minorities, most notably the new superintendent, Adam Okaro (Cyril Nri).

It also allowed coverage of the relationship of gay Sergeant Craig Gilmore (Hywel Simons) and PC Luke Ashton (Scott Neal), a storyline which Marquess was determined to explore before rival Merseybeat.

[2] The serial format was dropped and The Bill returned to stand-alone episodes with more focus on crime and policing than on the officers' personal lives.

[7] In 2009, The Bill moved back to the 9 pm slot it previously held, and the theme tune, "Overkill", was replaced as part of a major overhaul of the series.

[16] The series finale, "Respect", was aired in two parts and was dedicated to "the men and women of the Metropolitan Police Service past and present".

Jasmine is then gang raped because she talked to the police, and when Callum Stone (Sam Callis) found the person responsible he was held at gunpoint.

Following the final episode, ITV aired a documentary entitled Farewell The Bill which featured interviews from past and present cast and crew members.

Writer Simon Sansome was understood to have bought the rights to the original series, and was planning a revival, dubbed Sun Hill (as licensing meant the series could no longer be called The Bill), alongside Holby City creator and former EastEnders writer Tony McHale who had previously written episodes of The Bill and one of its spin-offs, Beech is Back.

Sansome had been in talks with various cast members during a 2020 reunion and discussed possible appearances for show legends Mark Wingett (Jim Carver), Trudie Goodwin (June Ackland) and Graham Cole (Tony Stamp).

[20] On 18 April, Mark Wingett confirmed this on his Twitter account, stating they had been "approached" by production companies but the Sun Hill project had not been given the green light.

From the first series, the police station consisted of a set of buildings in Artichoke Hill, Wapping, East London.

[22] However, these buildings were next to the News International plant and during the winter of 1985–86 there was much industrial action which resulted in some altercations between the strikers and actors working on The Bill who were mistaken for real officers.

Working conditions got so dire that the production team realised they needed to find another base to set Sun Hill police station.

[34] The Bill is set in and around Sun Hill police station, in the fictional "Canley Borough Operational Command Unit" in East London.

When filming The Bill, some outdoor scenes were re-enacted indoors with microphones surrounding the actors and the extra sounds being "dubbed" on later.

The sequence consisted of two police officers, one male and one female, walking down a street while images of Sun Hill were interspersed between them.

[55] From the fourth series onwards, the opening sequence was kept generally the same, but the clips used were regularly updated to remove departed characters.

This time, the opening sequence consisted of a montage image of the entire cast, backed by a darker, slower version of "Overkill".

[73] The episode attracted over nine million viewers, and was only the second time Computer-generated imagery had been used on the show, as creating a real fireball ripping through the station corridors was not possible.

The last was The Bill Uncovered: On The Front Line (2006), in which Superintendent Adam Okaro (Cyril Nri) recounts the extraordinary events that have surrounded Sun Hill over his time in charge.

Narrated by Martin Kemp, it features former actors and special guest stars discussing their time working on the show and how it changed their lives, including Paul O'Grady, Les Dennis, Michelle Collins, Pauline Quirke and Darren Day.

[46] When a full series of The Bill was commissioned, producers wanted to replicate the "Day in the Life" feature and made sure a police officer was in every single scene.

[3] In 2002, new executive producer Paul Marquess introduced a "serialised, almost soap-opera style" with episodes focusing more on the officers' personal lives.

He then introduced several new characters to the show, including PC Kerry Young (Beth Cordingly), Inspector Gina Gold (Roberta Taylor), and Ken Drummond (Russell Floyd).

[102] Immediately following The Bill's revamping and time slot change, it was reported that the programme had attracted 4.5 million viewers, 19% of the audience share, but it lost out in the ratings to the BBC's New Tricks,[103] with the Daily Mirror later reporting that ITV's schedule change was behind a two million viewer drop in ratings.

[55] Specific story lines also came under fire in the media, such as that involving a gay kiss in 2002,[2] as well as an episode broadcast in March 2008 which featured a fictional treatment for multiple sclerosis, leading the MS Society to brand the plot "grossly irresponsible".