History     2000

The year 2000 saw the biggest single cast upheaval in The Bill's history, as the whole of CID were suspended due to the corruption of DS Don Beech. Only 4 officers remained in CID following the clearout. As a result, a whole new flood of faces joined the station to fill the gap caused by the debacle. The longest serving character to leave the show was Chief Superintendent Brownlow, who had been in The Bill since the first episode of the first series, Funny Old Business - Cops and Robbers. He was replaced by the younger, slicker, Superintendent Chandler. The year also saw the first spin-off from The Bill - a drama entitled 'Burnside' (pictured) - 6 one hour episodes commissioned by ITV. Burnside was the head of a crack police team in the National Crime Squad, his unit delving into the darker side of crime, becoming involved in the world of illegal firearms, gang warfare, and the trail of a serial killer.

At the start of the year, things turned nasty for Burnside when he tried to catch a male rapist turned murderer (Angel); PC Smith went undercover as a contract killer but his target was a little too close for comfort (In The Firing Line); and Burnside asked for Rawton's help in a major undercover operation in Newcastle (Thug On The Tyne [Parts One & Two]). The team underwent riot training (Riot City); Harker (pictured) found his loyalties put to the test when he investigated a dangerous group of animal liberation activists (Beasts); and PC Carver tentatively returned to the beat, to the consternation of his colleagues, investigating the case of a disappearing off-license (On the Wagon). Skase's determination to nick a local villain blinded him to mounting disasters in the hunt for a missing child, and he subsequently left the force under a cloud (Streetwise); Monroe's daughter was arrested (When The Bough Breaks); and PC Worrell went undercover as a prostitute (Nightwork).

In a three-part story, Quinnan volunteered to improve police/public relations by helping out at the Jasmine Allen youth club, the site where he was stabbed a year earlier. Quinnan's involvement with the troubled estate deepened as a boy went missing, and he had to settle a year-long grievance with DS Boulton in order to send their old enemy, Mick Glover, to jail (Meltdown). PC Eddie Santini appeared in the dock at the Old Bailey charged with murder, with Rosie Fox returning to Sun Hill to give evidence in the case (The Trial Of Eddie Santini); new staff member DC Webb (pictured) faced his first night duty alone at Sun Hill, when a dangerous escaped con was spotted in the area (Protect and Survive); and Hagen was chosen to drive the new crime car, to the dismay of Stamp (Wheels). Boulton and Stanton joined forces when their two separate assaults seemed to be connected, drawing the two closely together (Warm Bodies [Part One]), and Stanton was revealed to be working for CIB to gain evidence of DS Beech's corruption (Warm Bodies [Part Two]).

Smith's loyalties were divided between old army pals and police colleagues (Blurred Around The Edges); Conway couldn't believe his luck when he met a pop star from his youth (Catch A Falling Star); and Stamp was faced with a baptism of fire on his first day's attachment to the Flying Squad (The Sqaud). Having publicly criticised his team's stop-and-search methods, Brownlow (pictured) decided to lead from the front in order to regain the team's confidence after an outbreak of street crime (Search Me); and Stanton was convinced Beech was on the take, but in trying to prove it jeopardised her affair with Boulton (Love Or Money). Rickman reluctantly agreed to go undercover and renew her acquaintance with Leroy Jones in an attempt to find evidence of a suspected Yardie invasion of Sun Hill (Trust [Part One] A Sprat to Catch a Mackerel); Operation Trident continued its operation at Sun Hill, as Rickman was suspected by her colleagues to have defected to the other side of the law (Trust [Part Two] The Hare and the Hounds ); and Rickman's trust in Leroy was pushed to the limit as local gang warfare erupted (Trust [Part Three] The Deep Blue Sea). 

A free night of bliss in a luxury hotel went horribly wrong for Boulton and Stanton when a series of robberies brought uniformed officers to the hotel and the unwelcome attentions of Beech (Room Service); Klein found himself on the trail of a Rwandan war criminal (Beyond Conviction); and DC Proctor came up with a plan to trap a violent burglar, but when he recruited Page to be his date and act as a decoy, Quinnan seemed to be more worried than an ordinary friend should be (Whispers). DCs Glaze and Holmes investigated what appeared to be the suicide of a local councillor (Say It With Flowers); Conway's suspicions were aroused when a man entered Sun Hill carrying half a million pounds (No-One's That Honest); Ackland and Deakin investigated a cyber-stalker (Time To Kill); and Boyden attempted to discover who had been impersonating him in order to steal money from illegal poker games (Doppelganger). 

In a three-part story a young Chinese boy attached himself to Smith (pictured) when his parents went missing (Lullaby), PCs Page and Hagen clashed over their differing opinions of a stalking victim (Gentle Touch); and Lennox was determined to beat Chief Supt. Brownlow at his squash-playing challenge, once he nailed an old enemy (Some Like It Hot). Probationary PCs Clarke and Hayward arrived at the station (First Impressions); and Ted Roach returned to Sun Hill to deal with a severed foot, an ageing drag queen, and a former DS turned sleazy PI (Old Enemies/New Friends).

Don Beech (pictured) got involved with Howard Fallon - a crooked haulage boss (Supping with the Devil); his association with him landed him in trouble and he needed DS Stanton and Boulton to save his skin (Touch and Go). Stanton and Boulton got close to Fallon's money-laundering operation - until Fallon fought back with the help of Beech (Fake Fur); and Beech was forced to break cover with fatal consequences for Boulton (Find The Lady). The officers of Sun Hill attended the funeral service for Boulton and Beech did a deal with Stanton and CIB but had his own hidden agenda (The River). Sun Hill was left reeling when internal investigators marched into CID and suspended every officer (All Fall Down [Part One]) and the future of the department hung in the balance, with DI Deakin, DS Daly and DC Holmes leaving the station. Stanton, meanwhile, was on a personal mission to catch Beech, unfortunately losing him as he boarded a plane bound for Australia (All Fall Down [Part Two]).

New faces (pictured) arrived at Sun Hill to replace the CID officers who had left under a cloud, including the new Superintendent - Tom Chandler - who made his entrance by serving the relief breakfast in the canteen (On The Hook [Part One]); Meadows investigated the murder of his ex-lover's son (On The Hook [Part Two]); and an undercover operation to expose a yardie gang caused Glaze and McCann to reassess their positions as black officers - the result was a change of image for Glaze (Carnival). There were dramatic developments when PC Smith and DC Spears were taken hostage by armed robbers in a bank, with the two relying on Conway's skilful negotiations to save the day (Behind Enemy Lines); and CID were tipped-off about two rival gangs of football hooligans planning a pitched battle in Sun Hill (Team Colours). Boyden investigated a prostitution set-up and McCann was promoted to Sergeant (Friends); Sun Hill became a battleground for rival cigarette-smuggling rings (Bad For Your Health [Part One]); and there were concerns at Sun Hill over why Klein was in a known-criminal's van (Bad For Your Health [Part Two]). Page and Quinnan's relationship reached a make-or-break stage (The Night Before) with the two finally consummating their passions (The Morning After).