Battered In The Line Of Duty

Had a chat with Sam Callis the other day. Here’s what he had to say about Sgt Stone’s pummelled face in Crossing The Line – you’ll remember he was badly beaten when trying to save a female from a battering.

“It took between 90 minutes and two hours to do all the make up. I’m not really good at sitting in the chair for any more than ten minutes, but you just have to give in to it. The make-up artist is brilliant and I thought she did a fantastic job. It’s one thing to do a smashed up face like that for one or two scenes, but to have it under scrutiny, in HD, for the whole episode, it has to be remarkably good.

“It was miserable wearing it. I had to wear false teeth which slipped over my own teeth and pushed my cheek out. That took a while for me to work with because it affects your speech – you have to work at it to ensure you are not lisping.

“I found that, what with the bashed up eye and all, the make-up made me feel quite rotten. I couldn’t wait to take it off at the end of the day. You never actually forget that you are wearing it because, well, for example, the make up on the eye kept my eye half closed. By the end of the day that causes quite a lot of eye strain because your other eye starts working heavily to compensate.

“It is a very interesting process however, and I enjoyed it. It gives you a lot of trust in the make-up, knowing it stands up to scrutiny really allows you to play with it in terms of the character.”

Read the full interview in Monday’s Edinburgh Evening News

Crossing The Line

THE BILL
Crossing The Line: Episode 029
Thursday 18 February 2010, 21.00 to 22.00, ITV1
Repeated on ITV3 on Monday 22 February at 23:00
*Sarah Manners first appearance as new regular, P.C. Kirsty Knight*

Sergeant Stone (Sam Callis) is on his way home from a night out with friends when he witnesses a man and woman, later identified as Clarinda Blake (Caroline O’Neill) and Tim Hardacre (Danny Midwinter), arguing down an alleyway.

When Tim starts to beat Clarinda, Stone rushes to her defence but Tim turns on him and gives him a severe beating while Clarinda flees. P.C.’s Roger Valentine (John Bowler) and Nate Roberts (Ben Richards) are called to the scene and are stunned to see Stone, covered in blood.

Clarinda is eventually traced and questioned by Sergeant Jo Masters (Sally Rogers), but she insists she was the victim of a random mugging and doesn’t want to make a statement, much to Jo’s frustration. After spending the night in hospital, Stone shocks everyone, including new recruit P.C. Kirsty Knight (Sarah Manners), by turning up for his shift, covered in bruises and dry blood.

Inspector Smith (Alex Walkinshaw) agrees to let him stay, on the grounds he stays within the station. Kirsty and Jo head to the pub that Clarinda owns and they meet Tim, who helps to run the bar and both officers notice he fits the description Stone gave of his attacker. The officers soon discover there has recently been a lot of tension between Clarinda and Tim and that petrol was poured through the letterbox the previous week...

Kirsty and P.C. Mel Ryder (Rhea Bailey) are tasked with bringing Tim to the station for questioning but when they arrive at his home, they find Clarinda’s teenage son Andy (Alfie Stewart) throwing a brick through his window.

At the station, Andy finally confesses that he’s been dealing weed for Tim and that it was one of Tim’s disgruntled dealers that put petrol through the door. When Clarinda discovered what was going on, she confronted Tim which resulted in the attack. Tim is later released, following a lack of evidence and Stone discreetly watches him leave the station.

Following him through the dark streets, Stone seizes his moment and savagely beats Tim in an alleyway. Officers are later called to the scene and all have their suspicions about who the attacker is. Jo is determined to do everything by the book and after giving the officers their orders, heads to Stones house to confront him...

THE BILL is a talkbackTHAMES production and a direct commission by ITV. This episode was written by Clive Dawson, directed by Declan O’Dwyer and produced by James Hall.

Sarah Manners Interview

Sarah Manners Interview from tonight's Edinburgh Evening News, previewing ITV3 screening of Crossing The Line - one hell of a gritty episode of which Geoff McQueen would have been proud.

MIND YOUR MANNERS, IT'S WPC KNIGHT
There are many reasons Sarah Manners loves her new role in The Bill, but the uniform is probably the main one. Having played bubbly receptionists in both Doctors and Casualty, the 34-year-old actress has moved up the ranks to the role of uniformed police constable Kirsty Knight in the long-running ITV drama.

“It’s my favourite role to date,” gushes the Birmingham-born actress.
“It’s the coolest role I’ve ever played. To be playing the role of a policewoman, I just absolutely love it. Getting the uniform on, putting on your stab vest and your tool belt, it’s so empowering.”

It’s lucky Manners has come around to the idea of the police uniform, as when she first heard she might be playing one of the uniformed officers she was disappointed.

“When I first auditioned, they tried me out for a part in CID which I was thrilled about because it’s the more grown up thing,” she explains. “After that they put me in uniform and my instant reaction was, ‘Oh no, I wanted CID!’ There’s a misconception that CID are more senior to uniform which of course they’re not and as soon as I put the uniform on, I was taken.”

Manners is launched straight into the action in tonight’s episode, Crossing The Line. PC Knight is Sun Hill’s new area car driver and she’s not one to sugar-coat her words.

“A lot of the other roles that I’ve played have been the light relief, it’s only been further along that I’ve got the heavy storylines, so for me to go in straight away and play a serious role is fantastic. Kirsty meets Sgt Stone (Sam Callis) on her first day. He’s badly beaten up and she’s quite cheeky to him from the off. Straight away you can see that’s she’s not too worried about what people think of her.”

PC Knight fits in well with the other officers, Manners reveals, immediately hitting it off with Sgt Jo Masters (Sally Rogers) and PC Mel Ryder (Rhea Bailey). Her first meeting with Sgt Stone might be is playful, but his actions immediately throw her into a professional dilemma.

“Stone takes it upon himself to take revenge on the man who beat him up. Kirsty puts two and two together straight away. It’s not something she would do. It’s not something she agrees with, but she has had contact with this character and he is a nasty piece of work, so I think she’s quite pleased to see him in that state,” she says, before hinting there could be romance in store for PC Knight.

“She gets on very well with all them so far and she’s about to get on even better with one of them,” she giggles.
“There is going to be an instance where Kirsty and one of the young men attend a scene which is very traumatic and as a result of that they end up consoling each other in a certain way I believe.”

On the identity of the lucky copper, Manners uses her right to remain silent.
Other thrills in store for the actress see PC Knight develop her daredevil side. “I get to do all the fast pursuit driving, which is extremely exciting. Within my first week of filming we got to put the blue lights on which I was being very childish about – you’d think Christmas had come early.

“Kirsty is an adrenaline junkie and so am I in fact, shortly before I got The Bill I did a sky dive and I like speed.”
Indeed Manners is even hoping to do her own stunts – and has already been beaten up repeatedly for the role.

“I did a scene when I was kicked in the stomach. I had some padding on but the actor was huge and it’s very difficult for an actor to kick or hit a woman, especially one who looks skinny like me.

“I kept on saying to him, ‘Kick me, go on kick me, we need some impact.’ We got one really good take but the camera didn’t quite catch it. I said to the director, ‘Go again, go on.’ I got another big thwack in the stomach which actually winded me, but it’s fine – you expect to have a few knocks and I’m all up for that.”

The Bill, ITV3, 11pm

Keep Her Talking

It just keeps getting better. The Bill is on a roll right now.

THE BILL
Keep Her Talking: Episode 031
Thursday 11 February 2010, 21.00 to 22.00, ITV1
Repeated on ITV3 on Monday 15 February at 23:00

Sergeant Stone (Sam Callis) and P.C. Leon Taylor (Dominic Power) are called to the home of Alan Wilcock (Ivan Kaye) who says he left his house for a few minutes, leaving his young son Mattie (Monty Depreli) behind.

In his absence, his ex-wife Carly (Jo McInnes), who he explains used to be a drug addict and has been sectioned, let herself in and refuses to open the door. Stone and Leon attempt to calm both Alan and Carly down but are horrified when behind the front door, they hear Carly fire a gun.

CO19 are called and surround the house while Alan tells D.S. Max Carter (Christopher Fox) he’s an ex-detective, turned head of security. Alan picked up the gun in a club he was working at the night before and was going to log it with the police later that day. He tells Max that when Carly was charged for possessing cocaine, he won custody of their children, Matty and 15 year old Adam (Dylan Llewellyn).

Sergeant Jo Masters (Sally Rogers) is tasked with negotiating with Carly and is surprised when Adam says he’s recently been communicating with Carly over Skype and he suggests that Jo could do the same. Jo makes a real connection with Carly, who tells the Sergeant that Alan has been neglecting their children.

Frustrated, she wants to know why Alan hasn’t been arrested for child abuse and why she can’t have custody of their children. Jo gently tries to persuade Carly that the police can help her, but Carly becomes increasingly distressed and Jo realises that Matty is in real danger...

As the investigation develops, Jo is horrified to discover that the cocaine Carly was arrested for actually belonged to Alan. When the drugs were found in his car, she took the blame for him, knowing how important his job was to the family, but he used her conviction in order to divorce her and gain full custody of the children. Jo swears that she’ll do everything she can to help Carly, but says she has to leave the house and gun behind.

Carly eventually agrees and as officers prepare to get her out, Jo gets ready to greet her at the door. Max tells her in no uncertain terms is she meeting Carly, but Jo furiously tells him that Carly is likely to lose it if she’s greeted by armed officers.

Jo is proved right when Carly tentatively attempts to leave the house, but runs back inside with Matty, terrified. As Jo continues the negotiations, Carly becomes more disturbed and hysterically fires another shot...

THE BILL is a talkbackTHAMES production and a direct commission by ITV. This episode was written by Julie Dixon, directed by Gary Love and produced by Ciara McIlvenny.

Robert Demeger - A Familiar Face

Just had a quick chat with Robert Demeger who is playing Arthur Kipps in The Woman In Black at the King’s Theatre, Leven Street, Monday-Saturday, 7.30pm (matinees 2.30pm), £14-£26.50, 0131-529 6000

Not only is Demeger a respected stage actor he’s also a familiar face on TV too with more than 60 credits on his CV including ‘four episodes of The Bill,’ of which he seems particularly proud.

His IMDB entry notes that he played Brian Loach in the 1992 episode A Can Of Worms, Chris Collins in The Protection Racket from 1995 and Up For Trouble in 1998. As of now, his fourth appearance remains a mystery.

Here’s an extract of what he had to say:

“I suppose you’d call me a jobbing actor. At one stage there was a rule that there had to be a two year gap between appearances in The Bill so that you wouldn’t be recognised. They ran out of actors quite quickly so I think, it’s down to about six months now.

My characters were all completely different, but each one was the villain of the episode. One of them was running a protection racket.

One of them was a chemist who was getting broken into by gangs of kids who were stealing certain drugs. So he poisoned those drugs so that when they stole them they died.

And another was a guy who built an extension on his house and was having a fight with his neighbours.

So they were all very different characters. I’d change my hairstyle and have a moustache or not have a moustache, and hope that people wouldn’t recognise me a year down the line.

These characters are great fun to play and, while I’m not saying that I wouldn’t want to play bigger parts, what I quite like about my career is that it does bob about from one thing or another.”

Review: Time Bomb

So what happens when my TV reviewer calls in sick? I swap previews for reviews and write the column myself... about The Bill naturally.


ON THE BOX
with Liam Rudden

The Bill (ITV3, 11pm, last night)

WOODENTOP – the clue is in the title of the pilot episode.
When The Bill first hit TV screens, way back in 1983, it was called Woodentop. The action revolved around a old-fashioned Dixon of Dock Green-type duty sergeant, as he guided and shaped a relief of young uniformed coppers. Upstairs meanwhile, the ‘superstars’ (CID) solved the big crimes.

In the years since, however, it has been the exploits of Sun Hill’s Criminal Investigation Department that have, more and more, come to the fore. In fact, at one stage, sightings of a PC with more than the odd line to say – “Hello, hello, hello” – were few and far between.

That said, when the drama was re-launched last year (and returned to a post watershed time-slot) it soon began to rediscover its gritty street-based roots. With a series of storylines driven by the uniformed characters the emphasis has reverted to the ‘beat bobbies,’ and never more so than in the last month.

Time Bomb, last night’s episode provided the perfect example of this new-old approach, as viewers tuned to ITV3 are sure to have noticed – ever since STV opted to play the tartan shortbread card in favour of award-winning network drama Scottish fans of The Bill have been able to play catch up on ITV3 every Monday at 11pm.

The episode found Sergeant Stone, played with a calm, brooding menace by Sam Callis, tackling a letter bomb sent to the offices of a high profile company.

Addressed to the manager, the delivery of the explosive package set off 50 minutes of drama with more twists, turns and red herrings than an entire series of Taggart.
Callis, fast becoming the Mr Angry of Sun Hill, and newly promoted Sgt Jo Masters, played by Sally Rogers, now provide an combustible chemistry which is tantalisingly hinting at things to come.

With some of the sharpest dialogue – laconic gallows banter and quirky one-line throwaways – in a long time, add spectacular panoramic camera angles that capture the London skyline in all its sprawling glory, The Bill is now state-of the-art TV drama, every bit as thrilling as any imported crime drama.

Time Bomb

THE BILL
Time Bomb: Episode 026
Thursday 4 February 2010, 21.00 to 22.00, ITV1
Repeated on ITV3 on Monday 8 February at 23:00

Sergeant Stone (Sam Callis) and P.C. Ben Gayle (Micah Balfour) race to the offices of a high profile company where a letter bomb has just been delivered, addressed to the manager, Alan Cooper (Daniel Coonan).

They are greeted by Alan, who leads them to his terrified PA Dani Foster (Olivia Mace), who is holding the package.

As Ben gets everyone out of the office, Stone tries to calm Dani down, but she panics and throws the package on the floor where it explodes and covers her in a white powder.

Stone has no choice but to seal the room, all the while reassuring her, through an office intercom.

After the powder has been tested and results show it was non-toxic, Stone lets a distressed Dani out and she runs into Alan’s arms.

D.C. Grace Dasari (Amita Dhiri) arrives on the scene and questions Alan in front of his worried pregnant wife, Lisa (Linette Beaumont) and daughter. Alan is confident it was simply a hoax, but Grace is concerned it’s the beginning of something sinister.

Alan’s brother and colleague, David (Paul Reynolds) arrives to take Lisa home while Grace questions Alan further.

As the case continues, officers realise that the package was delivered by regular courier, Andrew Stevens (Tom McCall), who Alan threw out of the building a few days before after he harassed Dani.

Stone and Ben eventually arrest him, but Andrew insists he had nothing to do with the bomb. The investigation takes a shocking twist when Stone discovers bomb making equipment in David’s home and finds out from David’s mother that Alan had recently sacked his brother: David clearly has motive and is a man on the edge.

Stone and Grace trace David to a local park and find him sitting on a bench with a bag, clearly distressed. Grace ignores the commands from D.I. Neil Manson (Andrew Lancel) not to go near David and gently approaches him.

David explains that he’s furious with his brother who has everything: a job, a wife and children and yet he’s gambling it all for an affair he’s having with Dani. Grace checks his bag, which is empty but David tells her that he’s sent a package to Alan’s home: a package that will cause all of the family pain…

THE BILL is a talkbackTHAMES production and a direct commission by ITV. This episode was written by Steve Bailie, directed by Karl Neilson and produced by Ciara McIlvenny.

New Beginnings

I get the feeling there's more to the title of this episode than meets the eye. Some cracking dialogue and nice to see more Woodentop action.

THE BILL
New Beginnings: Episode 028
Thursday 28 January 2010, 21.00 to 22.00, ITV1
Repeated on ITV3 on Monday 1 February at 23:00
*Guest starring Gabrielle Glaister as Jenny Marton*

During her first shift as a Sergeant, Jo Masters (Sally Rogers) and P.C. Leon Taylor Dominic Power) are called to an aggravated burglary where the homeowner John Baker has been violently killed.

Jo questions his wife, Tanisha (Nisha Nayar) who is too stunned to speak, but her son Ian (Misha Crosby) explains that an intruder broke into the house and attacked John before fleeing.

Back at the station, D.S. Max Carter (Christopher Fox) and D.C. Grace Dasari (Amita Dhiri) investigate the case and discover that Tanisha has been on a missing persons list for twenty years because she refused to tell her parents her whereabouts.

Tanisha eventually opens up to Grace and reveals that her parents didn’t approve of her relationship with John because of their cultural differences, so she ran away to marry him.

Back at the scene of the crime, C.S.E. Eddie Olosunje (Jason Barnett) walks D.I. Neil Manson (Andrew Lancel), Max, Grace and Jo through his findings. He explains that the murder weapon is still missing and that whoever killed John would be covered in blood, just as Tanisha and Ian both were...

As the investigation continues, the officers discover that John had been having an affair with Jenny Marton (Gabrielle Glaister). During an interview with Jo and Grace, Jenny admits that a few nights before Johns murder, he left Tanisha to move in with her.

However, the night he was killed, Jenny and John had a huge row and he returned home, telling Jenny their relationship was over. Grace and Max later interview Ian who admits he had just found out about his father’s affair and confesses that his mother was terrified of John and his drunken, violent rages.

When John returned home from Jenny’s house, Ian feared for his mother and murdered John. In CID, Grace and Max come to blows over his apparent prejudices and Grace admits she thinks Tanisha was involved in the murder.

She tries to explain that if Tanisha walked out on her family and culture for John, she would feel overwhelming shame that the relationship had gone horribly wrong, but Max is just anxious to get Ian charged.

However, when Tanisha later confesses that it was her that killed John and not her son, it’s up to Grace to uncover the truth...

THE BILL is a talkbackTHAMES production and a direct commission by ITV. This episode was written by Tom Needham, directed by Reza Moradi and produced by Sylvie Boden.