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that he is coming to meet her on the scene of a suicide – a later radio transmission, however, reports that Sgt. Bob Cryer is to meet her instead. Although
Wilding is not mentioned following Woodentop, he shares several characteristics with Sgt. Cryer – including a position as the "father figure" of the Sun Hill relief, and an apparently tumultuous relationship with Roy Galloway, whom both Cryer and Wilding refer to as a "bloody superstar". In the first episode of Series One, "Funny Ol' Business – Cops and Robbers", Galloway and Cryer make apparent reference to the events of Woodentop in regards to Jim Carver. Galloway suggests that it is Cryer who requested the favour, further suggesting that Cryer and Wilding are in fact the one character, and that, like PC Taffy Morgan (later Taffy Edwards), Jack Wilding's name has merely been changed to Bob Cryer. There are also discrepancies with the naming of some of the characters. In the 2003 live episode of
275:, a name that was dropped for the series proper in favour of "Edwards". There are also mistakes made in some of the uniforms the cast wore during the episode, for example, in one scene, PC Dave Litten is on foot patrol with PC Jim Carver, and PC Litten's helmet has GR on the helmet badge where it should have had ER, the same that was on PC Carver's helmet. Also the tunics the male officers wore had notched lapels with buttoned down epaulettes, whereas they should have just had peaked lapels and the epaulette's insignia placed on the shoulder of the tunic as this is what the Metropolitan Police wore at the time. Only four of the cast of "Woodentop" would go on to be regulars in the main series of
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189:) and, influenced by comments made by older officers at the station, decides to clip him round the ear. That action results in Carver receiving a reprimand from Sergeant Wilding. However, the boy's father approves of his son's treatment, so no further action is taken. June Ackland and Dave Litten have been in an on-again off-again relationship and, whenever they cross paths, both tend to go silent, making other members of their relief uncomfortable. Sergeant Wilding advises Ackland to drop Litten, saying that she can do better. PC
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until halfway through Series One. In addition many central characters in "Woodentop" – such as
Sergeant Wilding and Inspector Deeping – vanish between the pilot and the series. Deeping does gain one mention in Series One, in the episode "It's Not Such a Bad Job After All", where Ackland is informed
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and natural lighting as well as the use of realistic-sounding dialogue. The show created a realistic portrayal of modern-day policing, and there was nothing like it on television at the time, a fact which was actively exploited by the programme's makers.
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is mentioned in the episode. Although not appearing on screen, an attempt is made to contact him by radio. When he fails to answer the call, the officers in the station make the assumption that he has wandered out of radio range.
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The day is an eventful one: the pair's first assignment together leads them to discovering the decomposing body of a woman in her bath. Later, whilst on patrol, Jim encounters a rude youngster (
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due to the original premise of this being a one-off play. After broadcast, Thames commissioned a full series to be shown the following year, under the name
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anthology series of one-off dramas. It was written by Geoff McQueen, a writer who had genre experience after writing episodes of
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Litten has completed his secondment to CID and is close to securing his place in the detective branch, whereas in
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is clearly a continuation from this episode, the main series contradicts it in a number of ways. For instance, in
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stood out from run of the mill police dramas of the time for a number of reasons including the use of
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as the show had the potential to appeal to a mass audience. Although
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is a colloquialism for beat policemen who traditionally wear
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Jim Carver's first foot patrol, alongside June
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became the first episode in the long-running
British
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515:"Storyboard: Woodentop Episode Summary on TV.com"
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363:Sgt. Jack Wilding –
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18:Woodentop (The Bill)
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403:Winston Summers –
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519:. Retrieved
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497:. Retrieved
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448:
442:Introduction
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423:Derek Parkes
421:Caretaker –
377:Roy Galloway
369:Duty Sgt. –
355:June Ackland
323:Mark Wingett
304:Directed by
281:Roy Galloway
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94:Running time
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36:
26:
878:Kerry Young
846:(2003–2005)
550:"Woodentop"
393:Gary Hailes
381:Robert Pugh
349:Richard Huw
329:Dave Litten
292:Written by
187:Gary Hailes
129:. The name
939:Categories
863:Dale Smith
855:Characters
429:References
365:Peter Dean
347:Duty PC –
333:Gary Olsen
319:Jim Carver
264:secondment
211:Storyboard
198:Production
191:Reg Hollis
176:Jim Carver
156:Jim Carver
113:Storyboard
97:50 minutes
86:1983-08-16
45:Storyboard
827:Spin-offs
803:Frontline
754:Woodentop
495:. OVGuide
387:Jon Croft
256:Woodentop
224:Woodentop
207:Woodentop
131:woodentop
117:Woodentop
105:Woodentop
74:Episode 4
37:Woodentop
923:Category
835:Burnside
819:" (2010)
812:" (2008)
805:" (2008)
798:" (2005)
791:" (2005)
784:" (2003)
770:" (2002)
756:" (1983)
595:The Bill
517:. TV.com
277:The Bill
269:The Bill
260:The Bill
252:The Bill
248:The Bill
244:The Bill
237:The Bill
160:Sun Hill
126:The Bill
71:Series 1
64:Episode
904:History
817:Respect
521:16 June
499:16 June
135:helmets
111:series
84: (
47:episode
838:(2000)
604:Series
461:
273:Morgan
121:police
887:Lists
215:LWT's
554:IMDb
523:2010
501:2010
459:ISBN
353:WPC
312:Cast
147:Plot
552:at
375:DI
337:PC
327:PC
317:PC
66:no.
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