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The Best Episodes of The Bill

Every episode of The Bill ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of The Bill!

The daily lives of the men and women at Sun Hill Police Station as they fight crime on the streets of London. From bomb threats to armed robbery and drug raids to the routine demands

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    The Bill Season 1 Episode 1 - Funny Ol' Business: Cops and Robbers
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #1 - Funny Ol' Business: Cops and Robbers

    S1:E1

    Carver is still getting used to life at Sun Hill, as he continues to raise his popularity level amongst the other officers. Meanwhile, Brownlow has ordered the uniform relief onto the streets of Sun Hill, to lower the increase of crime in the area. Carver attempts to get into Brownlow's good books by capturing a car thief. Meanwhile, Galloway is desperate to get some results on a breaking and entering spree. When flying squad detective Frank "Tommy" Burnside arrives asking Galloway for help, after one of his snouts is arrested, it soon becomes clear that there's history between him and Cryer.

    Director:Peter Cregeen
    Writer:Geoff McQueen

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  2. The Bill Season 1 Episode 2 - A Friend in Need
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    #2 - A Friend in Need

    S1:E2

    When a spate of bomb hoaxes begins to threaten peace and harmony in Sun Hill, Brownlow becomes eager to find the hoax callers and stop chaos from breaking out. Meanwhile, Galloway bets Cryer he is the perfect man to solve the case, recruiting Roach and Dashwood to help him. Cryer gives Carver the responsibility of showing a newly qualified officer, Higgins, the ways of Sun Hill - but a run-in with a local drunk who later accuses Carver of stealing his wallet leaves every officer on the uniform relief wondering if Carver is capable enough to do the job without bringing the social aspect into disrepute.

    Director:Peter Cregeen
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. The Bill Season 1 Episode 3 - Clutching at Straws
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    #3 - Clutching at Straws

    S1:E3

    When a gang of thugs use violence to extort money from local youths, Brownlow takes a hands off approach - and claims that he would rather play golf than try to save the residents of the 'dump' of an estate. However, Carver is determined to improve the situation on the estate, by proposing the re-opening of a local youth club, whilst getting to the bottom of who is attacking the loyal youth. Meanwhile, Cryer and Galloway investigate a series of attempted child abductions involving young girls. They are unaware that their prime suspect - Simon Doleman - was talking to Carver just hours before - and has since been on a violent rampage, even attempting to rape his own mother.

    Director:Christopher Hodson
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. The Bill Season 1 Episode 4 - Long Odds
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    #4 - Long Odds

    S1:E4

    P.C. Litten recognises a photo of a wanted armed robber, but takes the information to D.I. Galloway instead of Sgt. Cryer, and gets into trouble with both men. Meanwhile, a gang of thugs is robbing local shopkeepers, and P.C. Edwards purses a mugger into a derelict building and is trapped when the floor collapses beneath him.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Geoff McQueen

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  5. The Bill Season 1 Episode 5 - It's Not Such a Bad Job After All
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    #5 - It's Not Such a Bad Job After All

    S1:E5

    The discovery of a body of a teenage suicide leaves a bitter taste in Ackland's mouth, and finding herself being drawn into a seedy world of pornography, drugs and prostitution, Ackland considers leaving Sun Hill for good after the situation is made by worse by Galloway, who gives her a hard time over calling him out of bed on a Sunday morning. When it is discovered that the girl was three months pregnant at the time of her death, Galloway goes all out to make sure the investigation doesn't drag the girl's name through the mud, and her parents are protected from finding out what their daughter was really like.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. The Bill Season 1 Episode 6 - The Drugs Raid
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    #6 - The Drugs Raid

    S1:E6

    After a residents' meeting complaining about the drug problem on their estate, DI Galloway mentions that he had heard that an old illegal club has reopened in an abandoned theatre complex - this time dealing drugs. He asks a parent, Tombo Robinson, who used to be involved in the club, if he will infiltrate it to confirm Galloway's suspicions. Tombo reluctantly agrees, and meets with Galloway to tell him that a huge drug deal is going down that afternoon. Galloway quickly arranges a warrant, and sets about organising a huge raid on the club. The raid runs according to plan, but Tombo is stabbed by a dealer as he tries to let the police into the building. PC Edwards and Carver give chase to the dealer, but are alarmed when the suspect speeds off in a car bearing diplomatic plates. Galloway checks up on Tombo in hospital, and is shocked to discover that he has died and was a heroin addict. Returning to the station, Galloway is furious when Ch. Supt. Brownlow, a Home Office representative,

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of The Bill

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  7. The Bill Season 1 Episode 7 - A Dangerous Breed
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    #7 - A Dangerous Breed

    S1:E7

    PC Dave Litten is on secondment to CID, and is desperate to impress his boss, DI Roy Galloway. Galloway and Litten are about to have a meal at the local pub when a call comes through that a valuable necklace has been stolen from a local aristocrat, Lord Barstow-Smythe. Traffic problems hold them back as they race across Sun Hill trying to get there before the ""woodentops"". With Galloway and DS Roach busy, Litten talks to a local reporter and ends up mentioned in the local paper. Shortly afterwards, he is contacted by a mysterious stranger who offers to locate the burglers if Litten can convince Barstow-Smythe's insurance company to pay him the reward up-front. The Stranger then sets up two young lads to take the fall for the theft, and Litten proudly arrests them. Galloway recognises the MO of the case as that of a notorious conman, and lambasts Litten for his stupidity.

    Director:Christopher Hodson
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. The Bill Season 1 Episode 8 - Rough in the Afternoon
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #8 - Rough in the Afternoon

    S1:E8

    PC Carver and PC Edwards are called to a domestic and are informed by the neighbour that a child was taken by his father. Meanwhile, the mother has turned up at the station to report the abduction in person.

    Director:Christopher Hodson
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. The Bill Season 1 Episode 9 - Burning the Books
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    #9 - Burning the Books

    S1:E9

    After a briefcase is found by a young car thief, Det. Insp. Galloway thinks he can finally nick the 'Arthur Daley' of Sun Hill. Because of car problems he is unable to interview his chief suspect. After a warehouse fire that is supposed to convince Galloway the porn magazines were destroyed, they arrive back at the station just as the van carrying them drives away - having been parked at the back entrance for 24 hours.

    Director:Peter Cregeen
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. The Bill Season 1 Episode 10 - Death of a Cracksman
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    #10 - Death of a Cracksman

    S1:E10

    Alfie Mullins is a non-returned prisoner, not a dangerous prisoner as reported. He is an old-fashioned safe-cracker who, just as he is returning to the prison, is approached by one of a gang of thieves who want Alfie to open a safe they pinched. While they are talking Alfie is accidentally killed. The safe is rigged to explode by remote control which P.C. Carver accidentally sets off when he uses his radio.

    Director:Christopher Hodson
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. The Bill Season 1 Episode 11 - The Sweet Smell of Failure
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    #11 - The Sweet Smell of Failure

    S1:E11

    A tip in a counterfeit perfume case pulls in two very old aged pensioners who appear to have been pinching things since WWII. But after leading Carver and Ackland in a merry chase it turns out they aren't the real culprits.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. The Bill Season 2 Episode 1 - Snouts and Red Herrings
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    #12 - Snouts and Red Herrings

    S2:E1

    Amidst renovation chaos at Sun Hill, a new P.C., Abe Lyttleton, arrives a day early. He is Sun Hill's first black police officer, and although he is friendly and popular, his arrival is not appreciated by bigoted cop P.C. Pete Muswell. D.C. Dashwood recognises a man who has brought in his papers for a car (licence, M.O.T. form and insurance). He is using a false name and address. During electrical repairs, the personal radios are out of action and as a result, a CID operation is blown.

    Director:Peter Cregeen
    Writer:Geoff McQueen

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  13. The Bill Season 2 Episode 2 - Suspects
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    #13 - Suspects

    S2:E2

    Martella arrests a woman who has been 'pregnant' for 13 months, concealing stolen cigarettes in the 'bulge'.

    Director:Michael Ferguson
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. The Bill Season 2 Episode 3 - Lost
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #14 - Lost

    S2:E3

    DS Roach and DC Dashwood are on an obbo at a phone box to catch someone making hoax bomb threats to the Town Hall. Another case soon takes precedence, however, when a woman arrives at the station and reports her eight-year-old daughter Samantha missing. When Samantha's friend Theresa tells WPC Ackland that they were approached by a flasher, there is concern that the girl could have been abducted by a child sex offender. CID question suspects in the area while a full-scale search is underway. Ackland notices that Samantha likes boats, so the search is concentrated in the docks area, and a drunken boat owner gives a description of a woman he saw with the girl. With Roach and Dashwood halfway to Brighton to question a paedophile, a call comes in to PC Carver in the incident room from a shop assistant who recognised Samantha and the woman who bought her some colouring books. Finding the woman's identity from credit card slips, DI Galloway and WPC Ackland find Samantha safe and well in the

    Director:Christopher Hodson
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. The Bill Season 2 Episode 4 - Home Beat
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    #15 - Home Beat

    S2:E4

    Brownlow wants to start a Neighbourhood watch scheme with the support of Smith and Carver. After a rather heated meeting that got hijacked by interlopers, he discovers his petrol was nicked. The Ahmeds are having problems as racist language has been graffitied upon their house, soon after a protest erupts and their house is later firebombed. CID raid a modern day 'Fagin' who has been using a youth group as cover.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. The Bill Season 2 Episode 5 - Hostage
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    #16 - Hostage

    S2:E5

    Sgt. Cryer is taking half the relief out on Sun Hill's annual fishing trip. P.C. Smith and D.C. Dashwood go to serve a warrant on Russell Archer over a non-appearance in court on a poaching charge. Archer manages to escape from Dashwood and Smith, and is later seen menacing a milkman with a sawn-off shotgun. He later holds up a bookies and a greengrocer, until he is spotted by P.C. Carver and P.C. Frank. who give chase. Frank is shot and wounded during the chase, and Archer ends up taking an elderly woman hostage in a retirement village. With the fishing trip cancelled, D.S. Roach takes charge of the siege operation until D.I. Galloway and Ch. Supt. Brownlow arrives. Attempts to contact the increasingly unstable Archer fail, until he asks to speak to Sgt. Cryer whom he saw in the betting shop. Cryer enters the flat, and attempts to talk Archer into giving himself up. With W.P.C. Ackland posing as a Meals-on-Wheels driver, Galloway, Roach and PT17 officers storm the flat and shoot Arche

    Director:Michael Ferguson
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. The Bill Season 2 Episode 6 - This Little Pig
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    #17 - This Little Pig

    S2:E6

    P.C. Taffy Edwards corners a pig that was released from the City Farm and gets dropped in it by P.C. Muswell. Muswell has problems with income tax on wages from the miner's strike. P.C. Reg Hollis makes initial enquiries about the Chief Super's clerk's job. Both D.I. Galloway and P.C. Cryer have problems with an overtime clamp-down and get another lecture from Brownlow about it. Fur protestors are arrested outside a fur shop. Taffy, W.P.C. June Ackland and Muswell arrests a man on his wedding day for non-appearance in court.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. The Bill Season 2 Episode 7 - Ringer
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    #18 - Ringer

    S2:E7

    There is a serious road crash involving a Porsche, a motorcycle, a coach, a lorry and a Cortina resulting in six deaths. The Porsche had been tampered with prior to the accident and turns out to have been made of three different cars. Brownlow sets up a temporary morgue at a local school; W.P.C. Martella and P.C. Muswell have the job of informing relatives of the deaths. After following the trail from the Porsche, D.I. Galloway raids a scrapyard only to find D.S. Burnside from the robbery squad undercover as a buyer, about to break the ring, but having forgotten to tell Galloway.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. The Bill Season 2 Episode 8 - Public and Confidential
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    #19 - Public and Confidential

    S2:E8

    A man is throwing tiles off a roof and P.C. Lyttleton, who is suffering from vertigo, is sent up to arrest him. A Polish sailor turns up at the station seeking political asylum. D.S. Roach and D.C. Dashwood catch a man who has been ripping people off posing as a gas board official. Ch. Supt. Brownlow talks to P.C. Edwards about taking a position in the coroner's office. Sgt. Cryer is shocked when Mrs. Penny accuses her husband of beating her up.

    Director:Christopher Hodson
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. The Bill Season 2 Episode 9 - Loan Shark
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    #20 - Loan Shark

    S2:E9

    A young mother caught shoplifting at a supermarket confesses to Sgt Cryer that she is in debt to local loan shark 'Aunty' Peg Miller. PC Edwards checks cases of fly tipping (unauthorised dumping of rubble) in the area and discovers some disaffected Welsh miners may be responsible. A Mrs Taylor makes a complaint about a noisy neighbour, but when WPC Ackland investigates, she finds the neighbour dead.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. The Bill Season 2 Episode 10 - With Friends Like That...?
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    #21 - With Friends Like That...?

    S2:E10

    Sgt. Cryer brings in an assault victim who is reluctant to report a rape. Jane has problems interviewing the rape victim (Debbie) because of her friend's (Sandra) constant interference. Sandra then tells Muswell that Debbie got what she deserved from Sandra's boyfriend Roach investigates a burglary with the householder claiming more jewelry was taken than was recovered. The burglars are denying they took the extra stuff

    Director:Christopher Hodson
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. The Bill Season 2 Episode 11 - Whose Side Are You On?
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    #22 - Whose Side Are You On?

    S2:E11

    D.C. Mike Dashwood has organised a five-a-side indoor football match against a local youth group. Ch. Supt. Brownlow sees it as great publicity, and ropes in D.I. Roy Galloway for photo opportunities, despite his objections. D.S. Ted Roach investigate the murder of an old derelict, known only as 'King Henry'. P.C. Jim Carver injures his ankle chasing some bag-snatchers, and while Sgt. Cryer takes his place on the beat, Dashwood thinks Cryer is too old to take Carver's place on the team. P.C. Abe Lyttleton suggests W.P.C. Viv Martella, as she is good at netball. Dashwood convinces her to join the team, gaining brownie points from Mr Brownlow for selecting a W.P.C. for the squad. P.C. Pete Muswell arrests an unlicensed trader at the market selling fake designer watches. He chats up a traffic warden, and arranges to meet her for a date, but she stands him up. Muswell turns up at the match, and Cryer has a word with him about his prejudice against Lyttleton. After a shaky start, the Sun Hi

    Director:Peter Cregeen
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. The Bill Season 2 Episode 12 - The Chief Super's Party
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    #23 - The Chief Super's Party

    S2:E12

    P.C. Muswell and P.C. Lyttleton are on the lookout for a lorry full of stolen woolen coats. Ch. Supt. Brownlow is throwing a farewell party for his retiring clerk. D.I. Roy Galloway questions D.S. Burnside when he gatecrashes the party, and Burnside admits that he fancies June Ackland. D.C. Mike Dashwood realises the scotch being poured at the bar has been stolen, and Galloway asks Ackland to keep the remaining bottles aside as evidence. Despite warnings from the D.I. and the Chief Super, D.S. Ted Roach drives home extremely drunk and crashes his car into a fence. Knowing he'll be sacked if he's found out, Roach sleeps on a friend's boat overnight while he sobers up, but spots the coat thieves on the docks when he awakens, and the men are arrested when they are found stuck in a freezer. Roach also sweet-talks the man whose garden he crashed into by offering to get him into the Special Constabulary. P.C. Reg Hollis grasses on Roach to Brownlow, in the hope of getting the clerk's job. De

    Director:Peter Cregeen
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. The Bill Season 3 Episode 1 - The New Order of Things
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #24 - The New Order of Things

    S3:E1

    Sgts. Peters and Penny apprehend a man standing outside the station waiting to attack P.C. Muswell (who had left the force six months previously). P.C. Jim Carver begins his CID training by working on an all night obbo with D.S. Ted Roach. Due to Carver's inexperience and Roach's lax attitude, they both miss a flatbed trailer stealing a digger from a building site. Roach and Carver follow up their suspiscions about the site security guard, and find he has stolen the equipment. Back at Sun Hill, D.I. Roy Galloway is being investigated by the Home Office for allegedly forcing a confession from a murder suspect under duress at his last posting. Galloway is cleared of wrongdoing due to lack of evidence, but Ch. Supt. Brownlow warns him that his old-school policing methods may be his undoing. In a suprising turn of events, one of P.C. Reg Hollis's rare walks on the beat with W.P.C. June Ackland leads to him apprehending an armed gunman single-handedly from the Sun Hill D.H.S.S. office. W.P.

    Director:Michael Ferguson
    Writer:Geoff McQueen

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  25. The Bill Season 3 Episode 2 - Some You Win, Some You Lose
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    #25 - Some You Win, Some You Lose

    S3:E2

    Ch. Supt. Brownlow and D.I. Galloway lead a massive raid on a drug den on a local council estate which escalates into a full-blown riot, but half a million pounds worth of crack cocaine is recovered. P.C. Melvin loses a handcuffed prisoner in the confusion, but he is arrested by P.C. Hollis when he turns up at the station asking for his handcuffs to be removed. The operation is down to D.C. Dashwood, whose snout is feeding them information on the main drug dealer. Meeting with the snout to get the location of the main drug lab, Dashwood is alarmed when P.C. Carver recognises his informant as Dougie Gardiner. C.I.D. raid the location given to Dashwood by Gardiner, but find nothing except a student squat. Desperate to arrest the dealer, and furious with Dashwood for lying about his snout, Galloway stakes out the dealer's Range Rover in a car park, despite Brownlow insisting he end the operation. When a borough councillor complains to Insp. Kite about the estate raid, it is discovered tha

    Director:Peter Cregeen
    Writer:Unknown

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Best Episodes Summary

"Funny Ol' Business: Cops and Robbers" is the best rated episode of "The Bill". It scored /10 based on 0 votes. Directed by Peter Cregeen and written by Geoff McQueen, it aired on 10/16/1984. This episode scored 0.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "A Friend in Need".