Richard_of_York Reviews

The Bill (1984–2010)

'The Bill' as serious drama .................... or not!

[2 July 2006]

The Bill is a TV drama series shown at peak (pre-watershed) times. It has always fitted this category. It started out years ago as a 50 minutes or so episode, spent many years as a 30 minutes show and in recent years has returned to the longer format. Originally each programme had a self contained storyline, but now there is a continuity between episodes.

It is what it has always been. Entertainment. It is not intended to be a serious commentary on police procedures.There are enough real life police programmes (both British and American) on British TV. I watch The Bill for a couple of weeks sometimes and then maybe not again for months. It doesn't matter! The characters will still be there and if they're not they'll be referred to so many times in the months after their departure for whatever reason (to say nothing of the popular press saturated coverage) that I'll soon find out where they've gone.

The Happy Prince (1974)

I haven't actually seen this film myself but..........

[10/10 · 4 January 2003]

My wife saw it at Christmas some 25 years ago and I have been searching for the details ever since I began surfing in 1997. Finally found IMDb and had a fellow member identify it for me. My wife is not really a cartoon/animation fan (unlike me!) but she has told me so many times how moving she found this film to be. She hasn't seen it for years (BBC TV screened it a few times a quarter of a century ago; always around Christmas) but every time she saw it she would cry buckets! Of course now she knows the details we'll have to see whether we can get hold of a Video or DVD.....any ideas anyone? UPDATE: June 2005: I had quite a few replies to this and eventually a really nice guy in Canada supplied me with a copy of the film. So thanks to everyone who wrote to me about this but it has now been sorted!