The Bill

The Bill is a British police procedural television series that was broadcast on the ITV network from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. It revolves around the fictional incidents dealt with by the Metropolitan Police Service. The programme originated from a one-off drama, entitled Woodentop, which was broadcast in August 1983.

In its final year on air, The Bill was broadcast once a week, usually on Tuesdays or Thursdays, in a one-hour format. The programme focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work. The Bill was the longest-running police procedural television series in the United Kingdom until its cancellation, and was among the longest running of any British television series. The series was originally produced by Thames Television; later, after a company merger, this changed to Talkback Thames. The title of the programme originated from "Old Bill", a slang term for the police. This was also Geoff McQueen's original title idea for the series.

The Bill (series 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 series of seven special episodes featuring former Detective Sergeant Don Beech, and the newly promoted Detective Inspector Claire Stanton, one of which was filmed in Australia, which 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. On 14 August 2013, The Bill Series 17 Part 1 & 2 and The Bill Series 17 Part 3 & 4 DVD sets were released (in Australia).

Cast Changes

Arrivals

The Bill (series 21)

Series 21 of British television drama The Bill was broadcast from January 5 until December 29, 2005. The series consisted of 106 episodes, making it the series with the highest number of episodes in the show's final decade. This series saw the programme change hands as executive producer of three and a half years, Paul Marquess, stepped down to make way for new producer Jonathan Young. Subsequently, this resulted in the removal of much of the 'soap' feel which was introduced by Marquess, and the main focus turning towards the actual policing aspect of the programme. The majority of this series however remained serialised, with the transition back to single-hander episodes being phased in slowly, following into Series 22.

This series saw the highest number of cast changes in the latter series of the show, with a significant number of key characters axed following the conclusion of several long-running storylines. This series also saw the departure of the show's longest serving cast member at that point, DC Jim Carver (Mark Wingett), who had been with the show since its pilot episode in 1983. As a dedication, a special half-hour 'two-hander' episode was recorded, featuring Carver and Sgt. June Ackland (Trudie Goodwin), who also appeared with Wingett in the show's pilot in '83. This series also featured the final episode of The Bill: Uncovered, a series of special documentaries following the lives and events of particular characters or groups of characters. This particular special, however, was never broadcast in the United Kingdom and was subsequently only shown on terrestrial television in Australia.

WD

WD may refer to:

Emperor Wu of Han

Emperor Wu of Han (30 June 156 BC – 29 March 87 BC), born Liu Che, courtesy name Tong, was the seventh emperor of the Han dynasty of China, ruling from 141–87 BC.

Emperor Wu's reign lasted 54 years — a record that was not broken until the reign of the Kangxi Emperor more than 1,800 years later, although he has remained the longest reigning Emperor of Han ethnicity. His reign resulted in vast territorial expansion, development of a strong and centralized state resulting from his governmental re-organization, including his promotion of Confucian doctrines. In the field of historical social and cultural studies, Emperor Wu is known for his religious innovations and patronage of the poetic and musical arts, including development of the imperial Music Bureau into a prestigious entity. It was also during his reign that cultural contact with western Eurasia was greatly increased, directly or indirectly. Many new crops and other items were introduced to China during his reign.

As a military campaigner, Emperor Wu led Han China through its greatest expansion — at its height, the Empire's borders spanned from modern Kyrgyzstan in the west, to Korea in the east, and to northern Vietnam in the south. Emperor Wu successfully repelled the nomadic Xiongnu from systematically raiding northern China, and dispatched his envoy Zhang Qian in 139 BC to seek an alliance with the Yuezhi of modern Uzbekistan. This resulted in further missions to Central Asia. Although historical records do not describe him to be aware of Buddhism, emphasizing rather his interest in shamanism, the cultural exchanges that occurred as a consequence of these embassies suggest that he received Buddhist statues from Central Asia, as depicted in the murals found in the Mogao Caves.

W postcode area

Postcode district boundaries: Bing / Google

The W (Western and Paddington) postcode area, also known as the London W postcode area is a group of postcode districts covering part of central and part of west London, England. The area originates from the Western (W1) and Paddington (W2-14) districts of the London postal district.

Postal administration

The Western district consists of the single original W1 postal district. The area it covers is of very high density development and it has been subdivided into a number of smaller postcode districts. Where districts are used for purposes other than the sorting of mail, such as use as a geographic reference and on street signs, the W1 subdivisions continue to be classed as one 'district'. In June 2000 there was a recoding of the area with the W1M, W1N, W1P, W1R, W1V, W1X and W1Y districts replaced.

The mail centre for W1 is London Central and for W2-14 is Greenford.

Deliveries for W1 (and for WC1 and WC2) came from the Western District Office office on Rathbone Place, until it was decommissioned. This office was a stop on the former London Post Office Railway, which has been mothballed since 2003. The Western District Office was initially located on Wimpole Street, which was also a stop on the London Post Office Railway.