New Executive Producer of The Bill Paul Marquess has
made his second posting on the official site's forum. He started by wishing
everyone on the forum a happy new year and promises that "things are really
starting to take shape at The Bill – with the arrival of exciting new faces."He mentions new characters to join the show, including Diane Parish, who has already started shooting as new DC Eva Sharpe. He was keen to stress that Diane was the first of a (fairly) gradual influx of new regular cast members.
Marquess also described his new "unusual" approach to the casting of characters. He mentions in particular the case of Roberta Taylor’s character (Inspector Gina Gold): "I simply told my Head of Casting (Louis Hammond) that I thought we needed a ballsy female Inspector. Louis suggested Roberta – whom I met. She was, of course, perfect – so we wrote the part especially for her."
The EP hopes that this method – finding strong actors and developing the characters especially for them – "will result in unusually vivid characterisation".
Commenting on the fact that The Bill was to become a serial, he said that "the regular coppers will be more important than ever before...Our focus will still be firmly on crime, but the driving interest will be how the crime stories affect our regulars – and plug into their long-term stories or concerns."
He continued with "A perfect episode might be, for example, Jim Carver investigating a crime story that drives his character back to drink. So the episodic crime story and the long-term story are seamless." Well, we'll have to see whether that one works...
Marquess also made reference to the controversy he has been hit with since joining the show: "It’s been interesting to have been judged (on the net and in the tabloids!) before a frame of my material has hit the screen...my episodes will start in February – and should be motoring by March. I’ll be really interested to hear what you’ve got to say then."