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Homework Help: English: Books, Novels & Plays: The Bill
by Charles Huntington-Smithe
Television has evolved in many ways from the 1950's to recent times, this is because of the social and environmental changes and how they have been influenced by their rebellious ways from the families and the government.
In the 1950's the way of life was clean-cut, average life, they weren't encouraged to reach out and achieve their goals but were happy being simple and somewhat mediocre: women were taught to prepare their whole lives to find the right husband, have the right family and home and be the foundation of the family. A woman would never be in the police force working with the men.
Crime was very petty and loose because of the type of society present, unlike story lines today about murder and terrorism, those types of story lines would be seen as scandalous and controversial which would never be shown. A TV show called Dixon of Dock Green featured such story lines on everyday happenings: investigating the milk bottle thief. As the title speaks the story lines compared to today were bland and pathetic but then that was good television. Other TV shows followed this concept like The Sweeney: Regan's girlfriend's motor is stole. And it contains evidence against a gangster but it then arrives at the gangster's house. Such basic story lines as that were popular for that time but nowadays we would bore at even having a thought about watching the show.
A recent British police drama show called Spooks which debuted on TV screens Monday 13th May 2002 on BBC1 and as a review is quoted here: " they do not exist, you will never know their names and they are all that stand between you and those who would do this country harm. Take a trip into the world of deceit and espionage that is Mi5." This show is about the British secret service as this hadn't been done before the public didn't really know what these people did or what they had to deal with, it is appealing because you saw what real hard-core criminals did and what the police didn't deal with, so the audience was able to see behind the scenes what the government knows before it reaches the media.
The Bill first reached screens in 1983 and is the longest running British police drama in history. The pilot episode is when a new officer's first day at sun hill is documented. The opening credits are just the name wooden top with a blank background and plain writing with no music it was the original title of the show. The first scene is of a bedroom and it is very quiet, very bland close up shots revealing more about this room, it is slow and bleak. It shows the time a lot to get into the characters head that he is counting up to something, either dreading it or excited.
It shows the mundane reality of a police station with 2 people a very slow pep talk.
The criminals were just ordinary mischievous school children who were defiant and rude, but a black teenager is questioned for riding a bicycle on the street, though regardless of whether this was because of non-acceptance or he was just breaking the law it stills raises a few eyebrows and give us an insight into the realisation of the society during 1980's Britain. All the characters on the police force were white, this shows that they were superior, but it also tells me that because Britain wasn't as ethnically diverse as today, the police officers may not have been able to judge the criminals of various other ethnicities fairly because they were seen as physically different. As there were so many of the same race as police officers this created space for corruption and complexity which would have benefited the writers of as they would have captivating and interesting story lines which is why it is still popular today.
On the whole police force only one woman was seen this was because men and women were only just starting to be seen as equal in the work place, this tells me that the show was fairly accurate to the era and what people did actually feel and the situation of that time.
Obviously because of our social changes over 20 years The Bill had to change its mannerisms and story lines to suit the times. In the pilot episode there are only white police constables in a 2002 episode there is an introduction of a black character who is supposed to be starting work that day and is the first person of a different race to have such a high honour, you first see the character 30 minutes into the show to build up momentum, to get you interested and want to keep watching to see this new character, we first only see the back of his head when he is approaching a school, this adds to the mystery of this character, we want to know more. He is wearing a red jumper so he stands out of the whole scene and you know he is the main person.
A group of black teenagers come out of a car they look very dangerous which is another cliché because they are seen as ruffians and out to cause trouble but in this context it is correct and suitable for our society. They try to grab a child who is waiting outside her school for someone there is a lot of screaming and fighting yet you haven't seen this new characters face. All the people in this scene are black so they are all equal, at his point the new character: Adam Okaro's face is revealed when he is held at gunpoint. This tells us that this character is under a lot of pressure and isn't really wanted anywhere it says, if he is not accepted by people who are physically like him, will he be accepted by people who aren't like him? There is then a commercial break.
Adam manages to drive away the hoodlums by intimidation and action he then runs back to the girl who was nearly kidnapped and hugs her mumbling: "don't worry daddy will take care of you" he is now seen as the hero and he is a strong character who can get himself out of any situation. He is there to signify that it doesn't matter what your physical attributes are just as long you succeed.
This is very different to the pilot episode because of the social changes and also because of all the action that happens, in 1983 things were very slow and a the camera was focused a lot on the actor's face this gave a chance for them to show their true talent and earn the respect of audiences with their talent, whereas today if you can read a few lines you are worthy of an award and being famous is more important that any other.
I can tell this show is modern not just because of the story line but just by watching the opening sequence. Firstly there is a sponsor who has paid money so that their service or product is recognised; this is only a recent trend with many television shows. Because of the popularity of the shows, corporations have noticed there was a niche and they could take advantage of this by getting their product known to millions of viewers.
Viewers are then reminded in 30 secs-1 minute the key points of the episode before to get you in the right state of mind to progress and enjoy the show. The beginning of wooden top has no recap no sponsor or anything to grab your attention yet that was still seen as excellent television.
A major difference between recent episodes of the show to past episodes is the opening title song. In the 2002 version there is very loud and punchy music to get you excited and an indication that there is going to be action. There are various faces shown which are of the police officers working at sun hill the faces are of a blue tint and they are moving, all the pictures move around and slide to change in to the big font, in white of THE BILL this is a use of special effects and shows how TV has come a long way and how all these characters joint together make up one strong and in control symbol meaning sun hill. 1983 version had no music, no liveliness no special effects but a bland title stating WOODEN TOP this tells us that this show isn't going to have much action and adventure this is true because the crime the police are investigating are young rebellious kids.
The 2005 series opening sequence is slightly different it still has a recap and sponsorships but it doesn't have the faces shown and eventually turning into the title. Instead it has small scenes of police men and women at work and in action it still has the same theme tune which has a lot of drums and guitars, punchy and loud. The title is then revealed. The show doesn't have the old title sequence because a lot of things happened to those characters people dying from bomb blasts, leaving the jobs. This connotes the show has gone through major changes and a lot of action, drastic changes have occurred leaving sun hill misshapen, it is as if they have tried very hard to keep the audience captivated and have had to make major changes.
Spooks- very good special effects a lot of deep thoughtful music looks very expensive and better special effects. A lot of zooming in to the face and spilt scene shots.
It is quite stereotypical about the criminals and characters all the police officers are white apart from one Middle Eastern man. One episode is about a terrorist ring planning attacks on some of London's transport links: this shows that it is very accurate on current affairs so people can relate to the story lines. It plays them out as awful people who have a thirst for blood and are prepared to exterminate anyone, this is then proved as wrong as it is revealed one character does not want to carry out the attacks it is trying to give the message that do not judge a book by its cover but unfortunately it wasn't able to portray that message because it was not emotionally connected with the audience.
In that episode there are a lot of trains shown to hint to the audience that this is related to the 7/7 bombings but did not want to push the boundaries and viewer sensitivity by directly mentioning the recent bombings.
On the police force they are predominantly white characters apart from on middle-eastern character that has a fairly high position he helps the terrorist, by steering him off the course of destruction.
The writers of the show were being wary of the viewer's thoughts; they were trying not to depict the characters as a stereotypical sort, by having someone in a high position of the same ethnicity that even though some of them are terrorists there are some who still make a life for themselves.
The differences between Spooks and the bill are spooks has a style which is similar to crime American shows like CSI and Law & Order which are very mainstream and popular they don't have a continual story line from the previous episode. So the characters are faced with a new situation each week and we see how they handle them. It doesn't really concentrate on developing the characters and this is a new trend that has caught on and reached Britain through spooks, unfortunately spooks doesn't have the ability to connect with the audience on an emotional level which means the show loses an audience.
That is why it is more popular than spooks because it connects on a superior level that spooks hasn't yet able to achieve. By letting the audience enter a character's world they also enter their hearts.
Audience Response to The Bill
I asked 3 people between the ages of 16-55 their opinions about The Bill, what they love and hate. This is to get an indication to how The Bill differs with different generations: this will also enable me to find out what shows they like and memories of older show like Z cars.
This is an example of my questionnaire.
1. What is your opinion of The Bill?
2. Do you like the recent changes to The Bill? ( like a soap opera)
3. What memories of police TV shows do you have?
4. What other shows do you like?
These questions are to help me understand the popularity with The Bill.
0-16 -----> "I watch The Bill on Wednesdays if I can be bothered, its ok it's just a bit bland really."
"It is a lot like soaps its trying a little bit too hard."
"I really like CSI and The shield"
17-30 ----> "I think it is quite good sometimes the story lines are a bit farfetched because a lot happens to characters and you just get lost."
I didn't really like the live episode it just didn't flow well together.
"I did use to watch when I was younger it was excellent but I prefer other shows"
"I like Law & Order and Without a trace."
31+ -----> "It is really good, but I think in the last 3years it is becoming more like a soap opera, becoming too involved with the characters, trying to compete with soaps."
The shows I used to watch were: Inspector Morse, Juliet Bravo, Miami Vice and professionals.
After looking through the results I have realised that the opinions through different generations aren't so different, they all agree that it is quite good but the younger generation; because the show in recent years has changed and it is not as good as in the 90's they have not had a chance to experience what the show is truly like. As there is a wider variety of TV shows today (especially American) they can find more expensive shows like the CSI series.
17-30 year olds are fairly enthusiastic about the show they only have faint memories from when they were younger watching the show in the 1990's when it was at its best. They still enjoy the show but are finding other alternatives to fill the void when the episode isn't very good with Law & Order and without a trace.
31+ have the advantage of fully remembering the older episodes so they know what they like about the show the frequent viewers will have noticed the changes but still love it after those years, though they have slight negative opinions about it, they find it enjoyable because they have grown up watching the show.
The overall reason why is popular is because the older generation still love this show and because of the increase in population and children their kin would watch the show with them and after watching it will start to enjoy it and I believe that is how it has remained popular over the years through this questionnaire. Since, I have only asked 3 people it hasn't really given me a proper view of people's opinions about the program. If I asked more people for example 100 it would be a very good sample size to have good opinions. As these are only 3 person's opinions.
I believe that police drama shows are very intriguing because you see what other people in the world are capable of I tend to prefer American shows rather than British because you can tell they are more expensive and a lot of the are not over the top, shows like CSI and Without a trace who have the same producer (Jerry Bruckheimer) the programs have a certain style which you don't have to get involved with too many characters and only small amount of their inner thoughts are revealed each week it give a senses of mystery yet you are captivated with all the high octane drama and action.
This genre is also extremely popular because of it gives a first hand view of what happens elsewhere in the world outside the comfort of our living rooms, people find this fascinating because they love to see it happen but would hate it to happen to us, it is a fantasy almost. An escape to the reality of our lives, subconsciously we like to see people in worse situations than we, it makes us feel better about our lives. Television is a key hole to many different ways of life and situations we live in a bubble and that is how escape and feed our imagination.
The significant changes in television over the past 50 years are based on social; we have become more accepting on many factors including race and crime. The type of crime to day would have been outrageous 50 years ago the crime then was petty and everyday crime whereas today most story lines are about terrorism, drugs, murder and sexual immorality. Racially we have become more accepting to see Britain today is to see a multi-cultural nation. Because we are more accepting and realise your skin colour doesn't determine your character so any one of any race can be successful broke those boundaries with Adam Okara's arrival. With technology we have changed, plenty of the shows to day have sponsors, recaps and special effects. Special effects show how far we have come, complicated camera shots. Use of lighting to set a mood would have not been considered or available 50 years ago.
T.V has evolved in many ways because we have evolved we are solely responsible for what we see on our screens today.
Homework Help: English: Books, Novels, and Plays
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