I feel like a Ghostbuster today. Not because I’ve converted my car into Ecto-1 or because I’ve strapped on a proton back to zap some nasties into ectoplasm. I’m not that kind of ghostbuster. More of an exorcist. Today I’m laying a ghost to rest., or starting the process of.
For years I used to watch The Bill and, for one silly reason or another, I never got round to seeing the first ever episodes. The first three series are a complete mystery to me. It’s been a long time coming. A very overdue event. Time to lay them ghosties to rest.
A 50 minute play, Woodentop written by Geoff McQueen, effectively acted as a back-door pilot episode for The Bill. I remember reading the series was going to be called Woodentop but the series producers changed it because it’s a derogatory, and very old-fashioned, term.
I liked Woodentop a lot. It was certainly interesting to see Jim Carver’s very first day at Sun Hill. He’s has firm ideas, as you would expect for a young and inexperienced graduate from Police College. It was interesting to see him paired with the experienced and cynical PC Litton (Gary Olsen). Their different methods of policing clashed, and it was up to the sergeant to sort it out. I really liked the story and enjoyed Peter Dean in the role. He would have fitted in well with characters in the rest of the series.
I knew a few things about this episode before I watched it. I think this episode was repeated on UK Gold back in 1994, as part of the channel’s programming to celebrate the tenth anniversary of The Bill. I knew the actor who played Pete Beale in the first years of EastEnders was in the pilot and I know the earliest episodes have Gary Olsen (best known as Ben in the sitcom 2 Point 4 Children. I also knew that Carver was paired with June Ackland on his first day. I didn’t know Lytton and Ackland were secretly seeing eachother though. That’s a development I did not expect.
DI Galloway is played by an actor I seem to recognise was a very cliché’d ‘hard boiled’ detective but I don’t mind a bit of cliché’.
I will report back here when I have watched some episodes from the first series.
Subscribe for free to get all new posts via email!
MY EBOOK
Graduate, get a job, meet a girl and settle down. For ‘Jim’, it was supposed to be easy. If it wasn’t for a mishap during a night out, he’d never have met Wedge and his fellow activists. He would never have met the most beautiful woman in the world or end up pursued by a gun toting private detective and shady organizations. He would certainly have never heard of an anti-gravity generator.
When celebrity activist ‘The Taff’ is murdered, Jim and his friends must protect a vulnerable inventor and stop his creation from falling into the hands of murderers, foreign agents, and the biggest enemy of all. Was innocent music fan Andy really tortured to death? Is there such a thing as an anti gravity generator? And can Jim deal with an agonizing revelation about the love of his life?
Buy and preview on Amazon Kindle
Set in the post ‘Spy Cops’ present, Morrison’s Ghost is an offbeat eco-thriller. The story of what happens when miraculous invention collides with environmental activism and the highest powers in the land.
Discover more from No_Script_For_Life
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
