The Bill Podcast

Natalie is BACK! This time the CID legend sat down in person to interview her good friend Emma de Polnay, who worked in the Design department on The Bill between 2004-07. Sometimes credited as Production Designer, Emma's job title was in fact Art Director and Art is appropriate, as she now works as a breathtaking artist! In Part 1 of a fascinating behind-the-scenes chat, Natalie asks Emma about her recent exhibitions and discuss her route into television, before revealing some fascinating aspects about The Bill production that I'm sure most of us will never even have considered... You can find out more about Emma on emmadepolnay.com During the interview, we reference Emma's father, the actor Gregory de Polnay. Sadly, Greg died on 1 January 2026 and so this podcast is dedicated to him. Unlock over 300 hours of weekly The Bill Podcast content on patreon.com/thebillpodcast The Bill Podcast is brought to you in proud association with dec4podcast.com michaelseely.substack.com vanguardcomics.co.uk gibconsultancy.co.uk mcr-seo.com and donspillane.com

Nic Phillips is a prolific television director. As well as 20 hard-hitting episodes of The Bill, Nic's many directing credits include Brookside, Casualty, Coronation Street, EastEnders and the sitcoms Barbara, Birds of a Feather, Desmond's, Goodnight Sweetheart and My Family. Working in the screen trade since 1968, Nic got his drama directing debut on LWT's The Gentle Touch - the first police procedural with a leading female detective, D.I. Maggie Forbes played by the late great Jill Gascoine. I interviewed Nic for his memories of The Gentle Touch for the November edition of Best of British Magazine. There was so much material that I couldn't squeeze into the article that Nic kindly gave his blessing to this extended podcast, in which he shares some astonishing stories from his career and I hope gives you a real flavour of the role of the director, especially working in multi-camera television and with some fellow Sun Hill luminaries. Nic will be returning to The Bill Podcast Patreon channel for a special two-part commentary session looking at the epic 2005 Sun Hill station fire episodes he directed. This interview with Nic was first released on Patreon nine months ago. Unlock over 300 hours of exclusive podcast content on patreon.com/thebillpodcast The Bill Podcast is brought to you in proud association with dec4podcast.com michaelseely.substack.com vanguardcomics.co.uk gibconsultancy.co.uk mcr-seo.com and donspillane.com

In Part 2 of this cracking chat, Nuala shares more The Bill memories, including filming out in Sydney and working with Graham Cole on his autobiography! Unlock over 300 hours of bonus content - including early access to podcasts as video verisons - patreon.com/thebillpodcast The Bill Podcast is brought to you in proud association with dec4podcast.com michaelseely.substack.com vanguardcomics.co.uk gibconsultancy.co.uk mcr-seo.com and donspillane.com

Legendary publicist Nuala Giblin is one of the most prolific behind the scenes names of The Bill and Richard Handford himself said that Nuala should be a special guest on the podcast. Oliver hopes you enjoy this fascinating interview as much as he did! There'll be more gold-dust to come next month in Part 2. REMINDER: Patrons have had access to a video version of this interview for over six months. Please do consider supporting the channel at patreon.com/thebillpodcast The Bill Podcast is brought to you in proud association with dec4podcast.com michaelseely.substack.com vanguardcomics.co.uk gibconsultancy.co.uk mcr-seo.com and donspillane.com

The Bill ROYALTY is in the house. The original police advisor. The leading scriptwriter of the original hour-long episodes. A staggering amount of Barlby Road episodes. The real deal is here: the one and only Barry Appleton. I have had the enormous pleasure of working with Barry on his extraordinary true crime memoir Twentieth Century Cop - and here the 87-year-old makes his first ever podcast appearance, sharing memories of some of his 1989 Sun Hill masterpieces, including Getting it Right, Make My Day, Sun Hill - Fort Apache, The Visit and the iconic Don't Like Mondays. Grab your copy of Barry's hard-hitting memoir from Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Twentieth-Century-Cop-Flying-Detective/dp/1036199517/