London loves
The Bill is set in the fictional East London borough of Sun Hill, not a million (fictional) miles away from Walford, home of the EastEnders, or the (very real) borough of Blackwall, setting for firefighting drama London's Burning. Emergency service drama and soap fans have long campaigned for an übershow that somehow combines the plots of all three programmes, but since the latter aired its final episode in 2002, those dreams are destined never to come true. Shame.

Live cop action
To mark The Bill's 20th year of filming, the producers have decided to break the mould and test the actors to their limits by broadcasting a unique one-off live episode. All eyes will be on the no doubt capable cast for fluffed lines, corpsing and tripping on camera cables!

Policing the airwaves
Only a smattering of The Bill's original 80s cast are still with the show. The indefatigable June Ackland (played by yummy mummy Trudie Goodwin) is still around as is friendly everyman bobby Tony Stamp (Graham Cole). The Bill's halcyon days with Frank Burnside (Christopher Ellison) and Ted Roach (the briliantly craggy Tony Scannell) may be over, but Burnside's police nemesis Bob Cryer still shows up on occasion. The current cast includes such well known faces as Todd Carty, the beleaguered Mark Fowler in EastEnders, long-termer Mark Wingett, Quadrophenia's pork-pie-hat-wearing Dave and Bernie Nolan - she of Nolan Sisters' I'm in the Mood for Dancing fame.

The Aussie connection
Far more than in the UK- where it is nonetheless by far the most popular police drama on air - The Bill has been embraced by the people of Australia like no other UK show. Its realistic portrayal of the seedier side of London's sink estates, back streets and assorted villains has struck such a chord with folk down under that when Graham Cole arrived in Melbourne on holiday in March 2003, he was mobbed in the street by excited fans. The current inclusion of Neighbours refugee Daniel MacPherson in The Bill's cast can't do the programme's popularity any harm either.