IN its original guise, the show was a decent cop drama with well written plots and some good performances. The twice weekly, half hour format saw some rapid departures and the earlier timeslot made the show seem superficial. The casting of former soap 'star' did nothing to change that and the result was a badly lit, woodenly acted mess.

Last night I tuned in and was pleased and surprised to see a show which felt like someone had made an effort in terms of scripting and direction. The challenge is whether they can keep up the quality

hard to speculate too much as ive not seen any ratings, but my review is going to be most unhelpful.

at times I really enjoyed what I was seeing, at others I was underwhelmed, I will need a few more episodes to see how it works out.

Alice-Azania Jarvis is she an authority on television drama ?

I thought she wrote Pandora !

Mel Bel x

I'm a first time watcher of the Bill and I have to say I quite enjoyed it.

So Stephen Brook is the Media Monkey?!! His cover has just been blown. Will you call 3am, or shall I?

Thought it was pretty good to be honest. Shame that the title music has gone.

It looked very good in HD, pity about the title music though.

We wouldn't know in the STV area. They decided to show some other rubbish at 9:00PM instead.

I stopped watching The Bill when it turned into a soap several years ago, so the old theme tune would seem somewhat irrelevant even if it was used again. However I gave this new version a go and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was, plus I like the new music as well (which also contains a homage to the old theme).

So a thumbs up from me for this new version, which for modern day ITV is a rarity.

I flicked on and straight off again as soon as I realised that they now film it on 'feature film' film stock rather than 'tv' (I have no idea what I'm talking about. Can someone please understand what I mean and explain it better?!). It looked so wrong.

I used to be forced to watch The Bill as a kid by my Australian parents, who mistakenly believed it was a BBC production (it was shown on the ABC in Australia - "If it's from the BBC it must be good"). But, like a lot of things you are forced to do as a child, sometimes you end up enjoying them. I've watched The Bill on and off for years now. I switched off when it went through its soapy stage, when the plot was primarily concerned with implausible inter-cop romances. But the show still has its moments. Last night's post-watershed revamp was good, lots of slow tracking shots from low angles, like The Wire, and a decent plot and good writing that attempted to get under the skin of the characters. However, I look forward to a time when the language used in the show reflects reality a little more. I'm sure most cops, not to mention the general public, use the word fuck a little more than their counterparts on The Bill. Could we have a scene with Eddy - the crime scene examiner (one of the most interesting characters on the show) - using only swear words as he revists an old crime scene? Or would that be too much like The Wire?

It has lost its soul and got just a little too P.C.
Bring back the warmth, the old titles,
the humour, and forget trying to impress
with all those childishly edgy shots.
And who really cares about the plot.
Been watching since its start and love it.
But this is seriously disappointing...
Earnest stuff and might just stop watching
unless funs up...

I didn't watch yesterday's episode on TV, what with New Tricks being more important and just plain better (for once the ITV Player managed to hold together for an entire episode), so I didn't notice until tonight how massively inappropriate the colourful and upbeat "Bloo" air freshener sponsorship bumpers are for this "dark" and "gritty" new cop drama.

Do ITV's advertising and programming departments even know each other exists?

I watched parts one and two of the opening eps and was completely underwhelmed.The whole show seemed to lack pace and tension.The acting was as third degree as ever, the dub really thin and quiet, the script badly written and lacking surprise.As for the new more filmic HD look .. well I hoped for something interesting ..something challenging ..but it didn't deliver ..christ how many times can you pan off Canary Wharf in one episode ..yes we get the message you are in London!

But hey CHEW ON THIS shots of Canary Wharf do not mean you are making The Wire! The pacy opening of ep one using the pov's from the moving car started well but soon came to an end.Yes there was less handheld but so many of the scenes were boringly staged and apart from a bit of random unmotivated tracking were quite pedestrian. Same old directorial cliches.. ...Why was so much of it shot through a ventian blind? How cliched! It'll be reflections in mirrors next, or in shimmering puddles or scenes played entirely in car rear view mirrors. All in all a soap director's vision of making a dodgy script more "cinematic"

I cant see it lasting the year myself and it didn't win its slot.

It was best back in the 1980s and early 1990s - it was easy to believe and characters and the stories, a sort of 'everyday story of simple people', and slightly down at heel. Sun Hill really looked like South London. It's not the same now - far too shiny!