OLD SCHOOL PC TO CREATE SHOCKWAVES (21/10/04)

From Yahoo news.

Sun Hill's boys and girls in blue are in for a short, sharp, shock when old school PC Roger Valentine joins their ranks on November 3.

Posted there after time out of the force, he finds that his old fashioned principles don't sit well in a modern station, with his new colleagues quick to brand him sexist, homophobic and racist.

Still rattled from the fallout of a disastrous marriage, he's intent on throwing himself into his work and insists he has no time for romance - until some of his female workmates catch his eye.

PC Valentine is played by John Bowler who says: "Roger's old school mentality will send ripples through the station.

"Firmly believing the Met has become too soft and PC, he's not afraid to air his outdated opinions."

John is no stranger to soaps, having appeared in Casualty (as three different characters), EastEnders (as Dougie Slade), Coronation Street as the husband of Vik's love interest, Hazel, and the revamped Crossroads, as Ethan Black.

Now he is hoping his new character PC Roger Valentine on The Bill will be his most memorable role to date.

"I'm a bit of a mongrel in nature as well as background," he explains.

"Born in London, mum was Anglo-Indian, Dad was a cockney. I was raised in Newcastle, educated in Yorkshire and trained in Glasgow."

Aside from spicing up The Bill, fans of Steel River Blues may also spot Bowler as Mick Hammond in the show perhaps best described as a northern version of London's Burning.