Liam Rudden - Fringed Out July 2009

Published on Friday 3 July 2009 14:48

The quirky online blog of the Edinburgh Evening News Entertainment Editor

SATURDAY 11 JULY

TV HELL

FOR more than a quarter of a century viewers have tuned in to watch the Sun Hill bobbies hit the blues and twos as they bring them their weekly dose of cops and robbers from the big smoke.

During that time characters have come and gone, three different locations have been used for the station and the series has gone from strength to strength, winning the 2008 Royal Television Society Awards for Best Continuing Drama and this year's Inside Soap Award for Best Drama.

The Bill started life in 1983 as a one-off drama called Woodentops and became a series of post watershed one hour episodes the following year. Four years and three series later it became a half hour pre-watershed continuing drama. Later the episodes were restored to their original one hour length.

Later this month the series will come full circle when it returns to a 9pm slot for the first time in more than a decade, a move that will allow producers to bring back the gritty feel of the original episodes, which can only be a good thing... as long as you don't live in the STV region.

STV has decided to opt out of the long-running series, so next week's episodes will be the last Edinburgh fans of The Bill will get to see. Yes, as The Bill enters a new exciting, so STV have decided to axe it, a move that has been kept very low-key.

Commenting on the decision Rob Woodward, chief executive of STV said: "We're taking greater control of our schedule and are absolutely committed to maintaining a healthy creative industry in Scotland by investing in new, high quality Scottish productions and creating a diverse schedule for viewers."

If past experience of STV's opt-out strategy is anything to go by we should all be worried – the most recent example being the introduction of South Park, a Channel 4 reject that was arguably past its sell by date after its first series way back in 1997, to schedules as something to champion!

I can't figure out what is particularly Scottish about it either as STV's replacements for The Bill suggest we can expect a return to the old tartan/shorbread image enjoyed by the channel in the days of Garnock Way and Molly Wier.

Yes, instead of the award-winning drama you can now look forward to "a celeb-packed documentary series called Made In Scotland, examining the iconic symbols that give Scotland such strong visibility internationally".

Cue Carol Smillie, Lorraine Kelly and other 'professional' Scots no doubt – or am I just being cynical?

That will be followed by, "A visually stunning exploration of Scotland from the air entitled Scotland Revealed" – sound like a regional episode of BBC's Coast.

Finally, there's a "fascinating" series covering the stories of the thousands of Scots who fought against Franco in the Spanish Civil War, called believe it or not, The Scots Who Fought Franco". That'll be a mass ratings-winner!

It seems that STV bosses believe viewers want a diet of documentaries, soaps (we still have Corrie and Emmerdale) and cartoons, although it would surprise me if they also bring back Thingummyjig in the spirit of further exploring our culture and roots.

Of course, viewers can always vote with their feet. If enough do, advertisers won't be far behind. If no-one is watching what's the point of advertising.

There is some good news however, for Edinburgh's fans of The Bill. The new episodes will be available to watch on the ITV website and on digital TV, just tune your digibox to ITV1 London or ITV1 Border. In the meantime, make the most of next week's explosive episodes.

Meet Alex Walkinshaw (Sgt Smith) in Weekender in today's Evening News.

Friday July 3: 13.20

ANOTHER showbiz great left us this week and no I don't mean MJ but MS – Mollie Sugden.

Mollie Sugden, one of the UK finest funny ladies passed away at the Royal Surrey Hospital on Wednesday at the grand old age of 86. Best known as the redoubtable Mrs Slocombe in the sit-com Are You Being Served?

Sugden was married to fellow actor William Moore, best remembered as Ronnie Corbett's father in that other 80's sitcom Sorry! However, it wasn't the shop floor comedy that made her famous, but an earlier role as Nerys Hughes' snobbish mother Mrs Hutchinson in The Liver Birds. Despite that, no tribute to Mollie Sugden would be complete with mention of Mrs Slocombe's pussy... Tiddles.

Meanwhile, as MJ continues to dominate the headlines other famous names have left us with, by comparison, barely a mention. Poor old Farrah Fawcett is the obvious one. Dying just a matter of hours before the singer, news of her death was quickly relegated to inside pages and news sound-bites.

Farrah Fawcett, or as my generation will forever know her Farrah Fawcett Majors (she was married to The Six Million Dollar Man, Lee-Majors from 1973–1982), first appeared on US TV in a series of adverts –Ultra Brite toothpaste, Wella Balsam shampoo and her own brand of Faberge shampoo.

However, on March 21, 1976, her life changed forever when she appeared for the first time as Jill Munroe in Charlie's Angels. The rest as they say is history. Fawcett died after a battle with cancer on 25 June – another icon of the 70s gone too soon.

And Mollie Sugden wasn't the only actor to leave us on Wednesday. Across the Atlantic Karl Malden, the mentor of Michael Douglas passed away at the age of 97. Malden, whose career included an Oscar-winning performance in A Streetcar Named Desire and an Oscar nomination for On the Waterfront, was best known for his portrayal of Lieutenant Mike Stone in 70's cop-show, The Streets of San Francisco.

What I still find hard to get my head around is the fact that Malden was 60 when the series went into production. That would never happen today.