List of The Bill characters
Wikimedia list article
The Bill is a long-running British television police procedural television series which ran from 16 August 1983 to the show's cancellation on 31 August 2010, named after a slang term for the police. The characters are all police officers or civilian staff at the fictional Sun Hill police station in London.
Senior officers
The following actors appeared as senior officers in The Bill. Simon Rouse, as Jack Meadows, appeared in 884 episodes, including the series finale "Respect", aired on 31 August 2010. He is the longest serving actor to portray a character in a senior role. Andrew Lancel, as Neil Manson, and Alex Walkinshaw, as "Smithy", also appeared in the series finale. The character of DI Roy Galloway appeared in the pilot episode, "Woodentop", aired on 16 August 1983, played by Robert Pugh. This character would go on to be portrayed by John Salthouse from 1984.
Notable senior officers
Peter Ellis played Chief Superintendent Charles Brownlow from the start of the series in 1984 to 2000, when the character tendered his resignation in light of the Don Beech scandal. He was emphatically the longest serving station commander after serving for 16 years, with Adam Okaro a distant second with 4 years.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “List of The Bill characters” as wikimedia list article. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as wikimedia list article. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6358303. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1983, 2010, 1984 and 2000.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “List of The Bill characters”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow List of The Bill characters primary sources, List of The Bill characters archive and List research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “List of The Bill characters”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “List of The Bill characters” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.