Arrested Development, now Cardiac Arrest...

Now, I dont watch the Bill anymore, nor have any reason to. I have been watching the early episodes fairly recently, and have been entertained throughout. However, reading that The Bill will be closing its doors this week, has filled me with a twinge of sadness.

The reasons are not for a show I enjoy in its current state, more for nostalgia and watching a show being fucked over by people who do not understand what makes good television these days. The Bill in its old format was an hour long show that always left you with a conclusion, it was not a soap more like taking any day in the life of the people of Sun Hill and letting you know how it panned out. These days, unless you have the patience to watch it regularly, you will not get your reward. The Bill in its infancy, covered many issues head on that the man in the street was talking about (AIDS, Immigration etc etc) It was never over the top in the early years and I think thats what made it work. The intricate character developments in the first three seasons underline this.

Fast forward 25 years and ITV has done the unthinkable, it killed one of its 'Crown Jewels' by trying to be too hard hitting, appealing to a target audience that it never suited and forgetting its roots.

Yet another victim claimed by a network that has lost touch with the people who actually watch television. Personally, these days the saturation of reality shows and celeb based content makes me wish for the simplistic years I enjoyed watching television with a little more invention and the focus was on the acting, writing and directing. Not who the main actor happens to be fucking or the fact he/she was in Hollyoaks.

Thanks for the memories Sun Hill...