The Bill: Season 17
Series 17 of British television drama The Bill consisted of 92 episodes, broadcast between 5 January and 21 December 2001. As well as 85 regular episodes, the series also included a spinoff Beech is Back, following a special 90-minute episode in Australia. The story follows ex-Sun Hill officer Claire Stanton, now a DI, as she goes to Australia to try and extradite ex-DS Don Beech for the murder of his colleague John
Season 17 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of The Bill Season 16.
- Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
- Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
- Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
Season overview
Series 17 of British television drama The Bill consisted of 92 episodes, broadcast between 5 January and 21 December 2001. As well as 85 regular episodes, the series also included a spinoff Beech is Back, following a special 90-minute episode in Australia. The story follows ex-Sun Hill officer Claire Stanton, now a DI, as she goes to Australia to try and extradite ex-DS Don Beech for the murder of his colleague John Boulton. The spinoff that follows concludes the Beech storyline, which began in Series 16. Although the idea of making the series into a serial drama did not fully take effect until April 2002, many of the stories in the latter half of the year were multi-part stories, some containing up to six episodes, such as the "Night Games" saga. The two-part episode "Lifelines" is the last two-parter to feature in the series until the return of episode titles in 2007.
Episode Guide
Season 17 Progress Shield
Appropriate Action
Jan 5, 2001
A teenage boy is found badly beaten, and a young girl, Lisa, from the same school is missing. DC Webb shows little interest in the case, so Sgt Cryer investigates the girl's disap
Criminal Practice
Jan 9, 2001
DC Webb and DC Riley wait outside a cafe, whilst inside DS Debbie McAllister is conducting a rather clumsy undercover sting on a suspected drug dealer. DI Cullen is furious when th
Upon Information Received
Jan 12, 2001
CID investigate a spate of car thefts, and DS McAllister's informant Jamie Ross gives her a tip-off about a gang of French car thieves working in the area. Ross is reluctant to nam
No Victim
Jan 16, 2001
PC Worrell and PC Quinnan attend to a woman threatening to jump off a bridge. She turns out to be Sarah Collins, the wife of Terry Collins, a DS at Stafford Row CID. Despite the do
Common Language
Jan 19, 2001
A young Russian girl leads Dale Smith out of a nightclub, where he is promptly attacked by three men. Despite Smith's protests, Supt. Chandler assigns DI Cullen to investigate the
PC Smith
Jan 23, 2001
Hoping it will convince Supt. Chandler to endorse his transfer to SO19, PC Smith volunteers with PC Klein to 'babysit' Clive Allein, the victim of a gay bashing who is reluctantly
Family Honour
Jan 26, 2001
Supt. Chandler is speaking at a meeting on the Larkmead Estate, but vandalism and a petrol bomb cut short his talk. Sgt. Ackland is called to the house of local MP Stephen Hadley a
Words Of Wisdom
Jan 30, 2001
After an ear-bending from Marsha Harris, Supt. Chandler is determined to bring to an end the one-boy crime wave on the Larkmead Estate caused by resident hooligan Peter Rogers. Cha
Out Of The Frying Pan
Feb 2, 2001
DS McAllister continues to get useful tip offs from her informant and lover, Jamie Ross, including one about an armed raid on a betting shop. Meanwhile, there's a war brewing on Su
Mexican Stand Off
Feb 6, 2001
DS McAllister pushes her informant and lover Jamie Ross too far when she tapes a privileged conversation between Ross and a client who admits to intimidating a witness in a court c
Cruise Control
Feb 9, 2001
DC Webb poses as a 'rent-boy' in Eddington Park, a well-known gay beat in Sun Hill, as he and DC Lennox investigate a series of brutal attacks on gay men in the area. A car alarm a
Real Crime
Feb 13, 2001
DC Kate Spears is assigned to a domestic violence case, but is alarmed when DC Mickey Webb realises the perpetrator, Neil Hayes, is also a suspect in a series of truck hijackings h
Home and Away
Feb 16, 2001
Supt. Chandler is outraged when he finds out about the aggrevated burglery of a deaf and blind woman in the local paper rather than from CID. Reg Hollis overhears Matt Boyden gossi
Going Under
Feb 20, 2001
Dave Quinnan arrives late after rowing with Jenny all night. Ever the troublemaker, Sgt. Boyden sends him out on patrol with Polly Page, Tony Stamp and Vicky Hagen. Quinnan and Pag
Faultline
Feb 23, 2001
Dave Quinnan just stands and watches as a shopkeeper and a young woman are attacked by a gang of thugs at his local corner shop. When he finally turns up at the station, he identif
Long Shadows (1)
Mar 2, 2001
When DC Lennox is accused of planting evidence in an armed robbery case, DCI Meadows is determined to charge the suspect's accomplice, Phil Brown. Unfortunately, Brown claims to ha
Long Shadows (2)
Mar 6, 2001
Under pressure from Supt. Chandler and the NCS to release Phil Brown, DCI Meadows convinces Moira Scott to admit to George Stubbs's involvement in the armed robbery as well as drug
Higher Power
Mar 9, 2001
PC Jim Carver attends to a drug dealer found badly beaten on the Larkmead Estate, but finds himself in a dilemma when a friend Ossie from his AA group confesses to the crime. DS Mc
Touched By Evil
Mar 16, 2001
PC Roz Clarke is on attachment to CID, and puts up with the usual teasing from the detectives and her uniform colleagues. She cracks the case she is working on with DC Glaze though
The Leopard (1)
Mar 20, 2001
PC Smith and PC Klein attend to Mr Kennedy, whose house and garden shed have been attacked by vandals repeatedly over the past few weeks. When Kennedy threatens to take matters int
The Leopard (2)
Mar 23, 2001
PC Klein is offered the position of partnership officer, but he is shunned by the relief, who think he grassed Smithy up to get the job. Sgt. Cryer has a funny feeling about Frank
Tolerance (1)
Mar 27, 2001
Sgt. Bob Cryer is approaching his 30th year of service, but some of the senior officers at the station doubt he is still up to the job. Supt. Chandler assigns Cryer the difficult t
Tolerance (2)
Mar 30, 2001
When the victim in yesterday's domestic disturbance turns up badly beaten and left for dead, her husband is adamant he had nothing to do with it. Mandy tells Cryer that the woman w
Promised Land
Apr 3, 2001
PC Nick Klein becomes involved when Kosovan refugees housed at a council estate are being harassed and attacked. Later, at a family gathering, Nick's cousin Jerry arrives and is pr
Return of the Hunter
Apr 6, 2001
Sgt. Cryer and PC Hayward attend an incident at a local school where an angry divorcee, Chris Finnessey, is demanding to see his son. When the boy's teacher warns the police of Fin
Tour of Duty
Apr 10, 2001
Visiting Bob Cryer in hospital, June Ackland is horrified to find that Cryer doesn't know he has already been replaced at Sun Hill. His replacement is Sgt. Craig Gilmore, transferr
Lies of Silence
Apr 13, 2001
On temporary assignment to the Serious Crime Group, DC Lennox is surprised to find Liz Rawton is Acting DI at SCG. The body of a young girl, later identified as Hayley Mills, is f
Over the Hill
Apr 17, 2001
It's Sgt. Matt Boyden's 40th birthday, and to make matters worse, he has to cancel a date to attend an outward-pursuit weekend with PC Vicky Hagen and a group of wayward teenagers.
Head Over Heels
Apr 20, 2001
Tony Stamp joins a dating agency for professional people, telling them he is an antiques dealer, and as he is living in the section house, gives them Polly Page's address. A CID op
Hitting Home
Apr 24, 2001
The relief have organised a farewell party for Bob Cryer, but it sounds like he's not too keen to go, so Ch. Insp. Conway pays him a visit. The police inquiry clears PC Smith of ch
Value Judgement
Apr 27, 2001
A man matching the description of a local paedophile is seen lurking outside a local school, but when the police visit him, he denies it. Outside the school, PC Reg Hollis sees thr
Collateral Damage
May 1, 2001
DS McAllister is surprised to run into her former lover and informant Jamie Ross in a bar, when he returns to Sun Hill after the man who wanted him dead dies of a heart attack. Ros
A Week of Nights (1)
May 4, 2001
New Area Car driver, PC Des Taviner, makes an instant (but negative) impression on the relief when he starts work on the night shift at Sun Hill, with his overbearing manner and sh
A Week of Nights (2)
May 8, 2001
DS McAllister and DC Glaze are certain they've got their man for the Jasmine Allen rapes - Lenworth Lomanu, a convicted rapist who was seen by Klein and Stamp in the vicinity at th
Wednesday
May 11, 2001
PC Klein and PC Taviner arrest two men fighting in the street. DC Danny Glaze is surprised to see one of the men is his old school friend Lol Redman. He is even more surprised when
Billy the Kid
May 15, 2001
A ten-year-old boy who calls himself 'Billy the Kid' is arrested twice in one day, and when Sgt. Boyden speaks to him, he reveals he wanted to speak to the police without being a g
Still Crazy
May 18, 2001
PC Dave Quinnan returns to duty, and is determined to prove to everyone that he's back to normal after his breakdown. Out in a panda car, Quinnan sees a man shot in the head in a v
Complicity (1)
May 25, 2001
DS Vik Singh goes undercover to a 'car cruise', where he becomes involved with a well-organised car ringing gang led by Kevin North. Meanwhile, DC Mickey Webb tries to cultivate an
Complicity (2)
Jun 1, 2001
Tyro Shaw threatens to blow DS Singh's cover in the car-ringing gang, but is convinced otherwise. Singh seems to have impressed both Kevin North and his boss, Jennifer Salter, who
Suffer the Little Children
Jun 8, 2001
DI Cullen leads a drugs raid on a warehouse owned by his old nemesis, Terry Barlow, but finds nothing. Cullen is furious with DC Glaze, whose snout tipped them off about drugs on t
Happy and Glorious (1)
Jun 15, 2001
The Section House is closing, and PC Reg Hollis is not only looking for a new place to live, he is also applying for a transfer to SO14 (the Royal Protection unit). He is about to
Gun Crazy (1)
Jun 19, 2001
A mad gunman is on the loose in Sun Hill. Supt. Chandler takes a personal interest in the case, but when he confides his reasons to a young woman who was threatened by the gunman,
Gun Crazy (2)
Jun 22, 2001
At the stakeout of the prime suspect, Chandler prevaricates, and Meadows has to act quickly when McAllister is in mortal danger.
The Jury's Out
Jun 26, 2001
After a minor car accident in the High Street, PC Jim Carver breathalyses an elderly man, but takes sympathy on him and allows him to leave in a taxi. The man turns out to be Hugh
Lick of Paint
Jun 29, 2001
A spate of graffiti taggings in Sun Hill sees the police showing zero tolerance to the perpetrators. PC Carver is sympathetic towards an alcoholic teacher at Canley Art College whe
Temptation
Jul 3, 2001
PC Roz Clarke has been working double shifts all week, and goes behind Sgt. Ackland's back to get some more overtime from Boyden as she is desperately in debt. PC Taviner promises
Envy
Jul 6, 2001
Clarke helps Taviner track down stolen diggers and crime families while moonlighting in telesales to pay off her debts.
Greed
Jul 10, 2001
A distraught PC Roz Clarke fails her probation exams, and goes AWOL instead of returning to the station. A gang of thieves on rollerblades are rampant in Sun Hill, and their mobili
Redemption
Jul 13, 2001
PC Roz Clarke unsuccessfully applies for a police loan. PC Des Taviner buys her a pushbike and suggests she sell her scooter, but Roz is far from impressed. PCs Carver and Rickman
The Dark Side
Jul 17, 2001
PC Ben Hayward breaks down when telling primary school pupils about the death of his sister during an anti-drugs talk. Sgt. Gilmore is not happy, but the teacher thinks Hayward's s
Angel Rooms
Jul 20, 2001
PC Hayward and PC Klein arrange to get their stories straight over the missing bag of heroin. Roz Clarke ends up sleeping with 'Phil the Pill', and is surprised when he turns up at
Paint It Black
Jul 24, 2001
Klein's doubts about an unstable Hayward seem to be justified when his friend puts his life in the hands of Raven - an undercover cop with unconventional methods...
Eye of the Lens
Jul 31, 2001
Supt. Chandler assigns DC Kate Spears to a project involving CCTV cameras in the Sun Hill area. Much to Sgt Ackland's annoyance, she takes PC Jim Carver with her, and they have wor
Another Country
Aug 3, 2001
While on foot patrol on the Jasmine Allen estate, PC Jim Carver contends with an elderly man, Ronnie Atkins, who wants to deal with the local youths ""his way"". When Atkins' best
Britanniamania: Going Underground
Aug 7, 2001
When an undercover officer from the Met's Football Intelligence Unit (FIU) is found stabbed after a football game, Supt. Chandler and Ch. Insp. Morys from FIU send a Sun Hill team
Britanniamania: To Us and Ours
Aug 10, 2001
DC Mickey Webb is close to infiltrating the Britannia gang, despite the suspiscions of some of its members - suspiscions which fire up when DS Debbie McAllister, posing as his girl
Britanniamania: Stand By Me
Aug 17, 2001
A series of dawn raids captures most of the Britannia gang, but Julian Napper and Gary Hughes are still at large. With Napper on the loose, Supt. Chandler and DCI Meadows insist DC
Beech on the Run
Aug 19, 2001
Don Beech turns up in Sydney, Australia, and almost immediately hooks up with Frankie Nguyen, a Vietnamese-Australian woman with contacts in Sydney's criminal underworld. Together,
Come Live With Me
Sep 18, 2001
PC Cass Rickman's lover Leroy Jones asks her to move to South Africa with him. As PC Sam Harker becomes involved in the NCS investigation, he warns Rickman about Leroy's suspected
In Another Life
Sep 21, 2001
PC Sam Harker tells DI Cullen that he knows Leroy Jones didn't kill DS Hanbury, but they still use the charge as leverage to convince Leroy to help them catch Jen Resenbrink, the d
Crush
Sep 25, 2001
A gang of masked girls armed with baseball bats run riot at a wedding, but escape with the presents before PC Taviner and PC Hollis can catch them. The gang have been causing heada
Liquid City
Sep 28, 2001
While at a police function on the Thames with Supt. Chandler and DC Spears, DI Cullen spots a man climbing through the window of a riverside house. Cullen calls Sun Hill, but the r
A Pound of Flesh
Oct 2, 2001
Boyden finds himself paying crooks in order to clear his daughter's debts.
Home Run
Oct 5, 2001
Boyden puts his job and his love life on the line when his daughter disappears.
Debt of Love
Oct 9, 2001
Amy's money worries are still causing concern for Boyden and her debts put them both in danger after he tries to rescue her from the drug dealers who've kidnapped her and he's not
Blood and Money
Oct 12, 2001
Sergeant June Ackland is visiting Sergeant Matthew Boyden at home to discuss his missing daughter Amy. Ackland reassures him and offers to help with his grand-daughter, Sophie. Lat
Hidden Agenda
Oct 16, 2001
As they enter Sun Hill, PC Vicky Hagen suggests to Matthew Boyden that a short holiday might save their rocky relationship but he is adamant - it's over. Later, they are both part
Lifelines
Oct 19, 2001
In the station locker room, PC Roz Clarke tells PC Cass Rickman that she's got tickets for a hot club. As they laugh, Vicky Hagen enters and the room goes silent. Hagen demands to
Sacrifice
Oct 26, 2001
As the dead body of her one-night-stand, Rob Seaton, is carried out of Polly Page's flat, PC Vicky Hagen is taken into Sun Hill by CID for a taped interview. She is cleared of any
White Cliffs of Dover
Nov 2, 2001
Jack Meadows faces an old enemy, while a beautiful woman makes him an offer that is too good to be true.
The Value of Nothing
Nov 9, 2001
DC Duncan Lennox is on a week's secondment to Scotland Yard's Art and Antiques Squad. Investigating a young woman, Tessa Gannon, who tried to sell a forged painting to a gallery, L
Money Man
Nov 16, 2001
An escape bid turns into a hostage situation as DC Danny Glaze goes undercover in prison.
Beyond the Call
Nov 20, 2001
Kate Spears is sent undercover to catch the murderer of McAllister's lover, but does McAllister push her too far?
Night Games
Nov 23, 2001
Sun Hill is eagerly preparing for the final of the 'Ask A Policeman' quiz but when Sergeant Ackland lets them down at the last minute, Inspector Andrew Monroe replaces her with the
Aftershock
Nov 27, 2001
A traumatized Spears' attempts to escape the horrific events of the weekend are hindered by the surprise re-appearance of her tormentor. Once she is sure that would-be rapist DS Pe
Compulsion
Nov 30, 2001
DI Liz Rawton addresses her team and puts forward the theory that rape victim Terri's death was not suicide but murder. Whilst Pete Cork and DS Vik Singh voice doubts, Spears suppo
Shout
Dec 4, 2001
DI Liz Rawton and DS Peter Cork are visiting the scene of the latest attack. Cork is doubtful that the perpetrator is 'their' rapist as there's no bag over the victim's head and he
Judas Kiss
Dec 7, 2001
DC Spears's hunch is proved correct when the truth about the rapes turns out to be more terrifying than anyone imagined.
Slash and Burn
Dec 11, 2001
Terrified, DC Kate Spears hides as Ferdinand crouches over DS Cork's motionless body and removes his car keys. When Spears calls on her mobile for back-up, Ferdinand hears and star
For Better, For Worse
Dec 14, 2001
Polly Page is up against it when the wife of a murderous ex-con goes missing.
Special Attention (1)
Dec 18, 2001
PCs Des Taviner and Reg Hollis are 'volunteered' to look after new recruit Terry Knowles. Taviner is unimpressed and tells Knowles to do only as he's told. Meanwhile DS Vik Singh a
Lure of the Sirens (2)
Dec 20, 2001
An angry PC Des Taviner, who is the Area Car Driver, has been allocated to CAD duty by Sergeant Craig Gilmore who is determined to rein in the maverick copper. As they leave the st
The Risk Factor (3)
Dec 21, 2001
PCs Jim Carver and Des Taviner are following PC Polly Page and Terry Knowles into a flat where they find terrified tenant Billy Martin. Outside they chase two masked men but lose t