[Archive 2010-03-26] UK's ITV cancels police drama "The Bill" after 27 years

Historical archive — originally published 2010-03-26. This report records what was known on that date. It is not current news; subsequent events may have changed the situation. Wikinews closed in May 2026.

British television network ITV announced today that it will cancel long running police drama The Bill. The Bill is one of the United Kingdom's longest running drama series, having premiered the pilot episode, entitled "Woodentop", in 1983.

Ninety people are currently employed on the production team for The Bill and production company Talkback Thames announced that there was a possibility of a "significant number of redundancies", but the company is entering into consultation with employees. The current series will end later in 2010 and ITV will not be recommissioning it. Investing in shorter-run dramas, ITV announced that, inter alia, a new short series written by Anthony Horowitz is forthcoming.

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