Find Out What The Bill Cast Are Up To Now…
We’re delving into the lives of The Bill Cast and taking a sneak peak at what they’re doing nowadays…
The Bill might have come to an abrupt, emotional end back in 2010 after a whopping 27 years of action-fuelled crime drama, but since UKTV started re-running everyone’s favourite series a couple of years ago – we’ve all had countless ‘Oh yeah, remember THAT guy’ moments.
It turns out there is life after the Sun Hill nick closed down. While some are still serving in the soap-world, others have moved swiftly onto other things.
One thing we know for sure: our favourite coppers have undoubtedly aged – some gracefully, others not quite so well…
Honey Harman (Kim Tiddy) – THEN
When it came to physical tasks, Honey could definitely handle her own – she had a background as a fitness instructor.
Sadly, we don’t really remember the policewoman for her physicality… given she was hit by a bullet from criminal Kristen Shaw and ended up dying from her wounds. Ouch. Yup, when it comes to memorable attributes, being blown to pieces sort of trumps having a hands-on approach, right? Sorry, Honey.
Unfortunately for her characters (and her acting career), soon after joining Hollyoaks – following her death in The Bill – Tiddy was again brutally murdered. We’re not crying. You are. Ok, ok – we definitely are. As sad as it is, being murdered just seems to be the actress’ typecast.
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Kim Tiddy (Honey Harman) – NOW
Tony Stamp (Graham Cole) – THEN
Don’t deny it – we ALL had a soft spot for PC Tony Stamp and we were ALL absolutely outraged when he was controversially written out in 2009. In fact, to this day we’re still pretty fuming.
Our favourite member of the police force spent over two decades on the beat and the producers had him leaving the police to become a driving instructor… seriously. We’re over it – we promise…
Anyway, since Graham’s character was written out of the show, he’s gone on to play a whole bunch of different characters. During his time in the show, he often used to guest appear on Noel’s House Party as his character, Tony – you might’ve not heard of it, but just ask your mum or dad…
Get this… he’s become SO popular that he’s even written his own autobiography ‘On The Beat’. Let’s be honest, when an autobiography gets published, you know you’ve made it in the soap world.
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Graham Cole (Tony Stamp) – NOW
Rachel Weston (Claire Goose) – THEN
Ah, a character we actually liked. You forget how many people from the show you really didn’t get on with, don’t you?
She might’ve not been in The Bill for that long, but Claire (who played PC Weston) was definitely destined for big things: an approachable but astute member of the team who always had a solution – I mean, come on, what more could you want?
In case you were ever in doubt that Claire would find work after her Rachel days, we can confirm that she was, in fact, in very high demand when the show ended. Surprised? Thought not.
She went on to have roles in shows Mount Pleasant, Hustle and The Coroner, amongst many others.
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Claire Goose (Rachel Weston) – NOW
June Ackland (Trudie Goodwin) – THEN
Avid fan of the show or not, you knew who June Ackland was. The longstanding (24 years that is) and, quite frankly, much adored Sergeant June had many compelling storylines during her time on the show, eventually leaving in 2007 after things broke down between her and on-screen lover Jim Carver. Sad times.
But her time out of soap street didn’t last long. She landed the role of Georgia Sharma – you know, the snobby wife of Rishi – in Emmerdale.
The actress’ post-Bill career has also included TV role outside of acting – she’s appeared on the infamous Loose Women panel, she’s been on Billy Bailey’s Birdwatching Bonanza – hey, she’s even bagged a spot in Countdown’s Dictionary Corner.
FUN FACT: Trudie’s IRL daughter is pop star Elly Jackson (that’s La Roux to you and I).
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Trudie Goodwin (Sergeant June Ackland) – NOW
Nate Roberts (Ben Richards) – THEN
What would a soap be without a playaaa like DSI. ‘Handsome’ Roberts? He definitely wasn’t shy when it came to admitting his complete and utter lack of commitment. Well – at least he was honest…
But when he set eyes on teacher Becky James, he fell head over heels, had a change of heart (literally) and became a changed man (apparently!).
With playing roles in shows like Holby City, Doctors, and Footballers’ Wives, it made sense that Ben bagged a role as a copper on the show.
After being on Hollyoaks for a year too, Richards did as many soap stars with a voice do and ventured into singing, recording an album Wit & Whimsy – Songs by Alexander S. Bermange.
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Ben Richards (Nate Roberts) – NOW
Me & Ed as Wham on a 90’s theme end of Panto party, and yes I know we got the wrong decade 🙈 pic.twitter.com/teezSXlVhr
— Ben Richards ( official ) (@benrichardsact) January 10, 2019
Dale ‘Smithy’ Smith (Alex Walkinshaw) – THEN
Inspector Dale Smith was part of a bunch of the show’s most prolific storylines…
He’s been stabbed, shot and even been uncover – he didn’t have it easy in Sun Hill.
But he did meet his IRL off-screen partner on the set of the show, getting wed in 2009 (consider this heart melted).
From Waterloo Road to Casualty, Alex isn’t shy when it comes to soap hopping – he’s been around all the hospitals, the schools and the nicks in TV world.
He’s now settled down on Holby City as he continues to play the role of Adrian Fletcher.
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Alex Walkinshaw (Dale Smith) – NOW
Image source
Mickey Webb (Chris Simmons) – THEN
Mickey was everything The Bill in a nutshell: he was ambitious, he would concentrate on his own career goals and he was definitely courageous. But the near perfect officer proved he wasn’t quite so near perfect after getting distracted by DC Kate Spears on a drunken night… we’ll spare you the details.
That’s not all though. If you needed someone who was up for slightly bending the rules to bring justice – he was your man.
Chris Simmons is another actor from the show who’s continued on brief stints in other British soaps. There was Doctors, then there was Casualty, oh and then there was EastEnders. He’s been around the soap block.
Nowadays, Simmons lives in Kent and his job is a youth worker.
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Chris Simmons (Mickey Webb) – NOW
Neil Manson (Andrew Lancel) – THEN
The minute Neil Manson stepped onto the Sun Hill set, he struggled to ingratiate himself amongst his less unorthodox and, quite frankly, less sexist colleagues – being thick skinned, he simply couldn’t care less.
DC Manson remained on the The Bill until the bittersweet swansong in 2010, before continuing to cause a soap-storm and quickly jumping ship to the Coronation Street cobbles.
Thought he looked familiar? Uh-huh, he played Carla Connor’s villainous fiancé in the soap – the guy’s clearly got a knack for playing utterly despicable characters…
THANKFULLY, Frank (Andrew’s Corrie alter-ego) was killed off in the most captivating ‘whodunit’ since Tina McIntyre’s 2013 murder (and that was pretty intense) – yeah, it’s suddenly all flooding back to you, isn’t it?
The killer turned out to be none other than Frank’s own mother. Cheers for taking that one for the team, Anne.
Since leaving Corrie and bagging himself the Best Villain Prize at the British Soap Awards, Andrew went on to start up his own production company, he’s also a regular panelist on Channel 5’s The Wright Stuff – not bad, ey?
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Andrew Lancel (Neil Manson) – NOW
Jim Carver (Mark Wingett) – THEN
If there was ever a character more polarising than Jim Carver, we’d really like to know.
Let’s face it – where there was trouble, there was the longest serving character Mr. Carver. But you’ve got to give it to the guy, he ALWAYS had a way of turning it around and fixing his mistakes, one way or another – with 720 episodes under his belt, he sure had a lot of practise.
Jim took the anti-hero thing to a whole new level.
With a spot in EastEnders, a stint in Run For Your Life and a role in Far From the Madding Crowd, it’s more permanent jobs in Doctors and Hollyoaks that have really kept Mark busy as a bee.
On his days off, like any self-respecting loveable rogue, our Jim spends his time fishing in his local lake. Of course he does.
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Mark Wingett (Jim Carver) – NOW
Gina Gold (Roberta Taylor) – THEN
Straight-talking Gina Gold handed in her uniform after witnessing Smithy’s hostage (don’t worry we don’t want to talk about it either)… she was a tough old bird though, wasn’t she?
Turns out The Bill weren’t just responsible for making our hump days less hump day-ish, but for playing cupid and setting up actress Roberta with her IRL hubby, a.k.a. her lover on The Bill. I’d say that’s very convenient…
Aside from being wooed both on screen and off by her husband of 20 years, Roberta’s been busy acting too – landing roles in numerous TV series and films, as well as penning two of her very own novels. We’d call that a success, wouldn’t you?
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWTh0jAibhI
Roberta Taylor (Gina Gold) – NOW
It’s undeniable that The Bill was one of the best TV shows to ever have aired… we can’t wait to see where Don Beech (Billy Murray), Samantha Nixon (Lisa Maxwell), Eric Richard (Bob Cryer) and DCI Frank Burnside (Christopher Michael Ellison) are in ten years time!
