The Bill - Season 9 - Eps 36: The Short Straw
When her car breaks down on the way to the station, DC Viv Martella misses an important CID briefing about an obbo on a suspected armed robbery, and is furious when she is taken off the case by DI Frank Burnside. As CID and SO19 wait outside the target, Martella and PC Tony Stamp follow up a simple case to arrest a suspected bag snatcher. As they wait outside the suspect's house, a van pulls up, obscuring their view. Having missed the briefing, Martella fails to recognise the van's occupants as the armed robbers, and when she approaches their van she is shot and killed. Stamp is wounded, but manages to give a description of the van which is spotted by a traffic police motorcycle. As the India 99 police helicopter and SO19 cars pursue Martella's killers across London, PC Loxton and WPC Ackland disobey Ch. Insp. Cato's orders and pursue the suspect vehicle in the Area Car. The vehicle hits a bulldozer and explodes, killing all inside.
About The Bill
Title: The Bill
First Air Date: 1984-10-16
Last Air Date: 2010-08-31
Status: Canceled
Rating: 6.7/10 (from 40 votes)
Language: EN
Seasons: 27
Total Episodes: 2373
Network: ITV1
Genres: Crime, Drama
Production Companies: Talkback Thames, Thames Television, ITV
Synopsis
The daily lives of the men and women at Sun Hill Police Station as they fight crime on the streets of London. From bomb threats to armed robbery and drug raids to the routine demands of policing this ground-breaking series focuses as much on crime as it does on the personal lives of its characters.
Cast
Simon Rouse
Jack Meadows
Sarah Manners
Kirsty Knight
Andrew Lancel
Neil Manson
Alex Walkinshaw
Dale Smith
Amita Dhiri
Grace Dasari
Ben Richards
Nate Roberts
Bruce Byron
Terry Perkins
Chris Simmons
Mickey Webb
Christopher Fox
Max Carter
Dominic Power
Leon Taylor
