| Series Number: | 25 |
| Bgcolour: |
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| Network: | ITV |
| Num Episodes: | 65 |
The 25th series of The Bill, a British television drama, was the penultimate series of the programme. On 30 April 2014, The Bill Series 25 Part 1-3 DVD set was released (in Australia).
The series began with several multi-part plots and hard-hitting storylines, as was done in the previous year, such as cot death & postpartum depression (Little Girl Lost Part 1 & 2), teenager on teenager murder (Teenage Kicks) and attacks on the police (Back to School). However, an ITV-mandated overhaul saw the series output halved to one episode a week, the show previously running two hour-long episodes at 8pm since 1998, the new format to be launched that summer as one episode a week in a post-watershed slot of 9pm. ITV claimed the show was needing a change of direction and was intending to make the show "darker, and more gritty", but it was also noted the show would save ITV up to £65 million by reducing its air time[1] . The move would also see the show axed from Scottish equivalent network STV after 25 years, although this was not done with the support of ITV themselves; this made it inaccessible without viewers paying for satellite TV[2] . The show would end up winning its first ever BAFTA for Best Recurring Drama in the spring, after the announcement was made, a reminder in hindsight of the show's successes prior to ITV's ill-fated overhaul a year before its conclusion[3] .
The overhaul led to the show's biggest cast cull since 2006, when executive producer Johnathan Young cleared out the bloated cast left behind by predecessor Paul Marquess; five characters were initially axed in Superintendent John Heaton, DS Stuart Turner, DC Kezia Walker and PCs Arun Ghir & Diane Noble, the latter of whom made a one-episode cameo for her exit, as actress Kaye Wragg was initially on maternity leave when she was dismissed. DI Samantha Nixon and PC Beth Green also left before the overhaul, but Nixon actress Lisa Maxwell resigned following a period of leave late in 2008 brought on by two miscarriages [4] [5], while Louisa Lytton decided not continue after her two-year contract ended, with her exit as Green already announced in the autumn of 2008 [6] . Claire Goose left her role as Inspector Rachel Weston after going on maternity leave[7], but due to the show ending a year after her exit, it was never revealed if she would have returned permanently - leaving the door open by transferring to a new unit with Heaton, Turner and Walker, but only agreeing to the move for a year. After the overhaul, the most controversial of the exits came when the show's longest serving actor Graham Cole was dismissed from his role as PC Tony Stamp after 22 years, with producers stating Cole was "too old" for the new-look show.[8] Gary Lucy resigned from his role as TDC Will Fletcher[9], as did Ali Bastian as PC Sally Armstrong, the latter in order to compete on the 2009 installment of Strictly Come Dancing[10] .
In addition to seeing ten characters leave the show, it is the only series in the show's history not to have a new arrival.
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