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The Bill's DCI Jack Meadows

Simon Rouse as DCI Jack Meadows in The Bill
  • Posted at 1:10pm
  • 05 November 2008
  • by AlisonGraham-RT
  • 2 comments

I realise that confessing to My Secret TV Crush means that it will be My Secret TV Crush no longer. But The Bill's 25th birthday would seem to offer the perfect time for me to step daintily into the limelight to declare my devotion to Detective Chief Inspector Jack Meadows.

Of course, I must make it clear that Meadows doesn't come close to The One, that most perfect of men, Scott from Thunderbirds (I'm still here, Scott, just waiting for you to call). But, until the glorious day when I seize the overnight bag I've had packed in readiness for 40 years, and my passport is stamped "Tracy Island", I'll amuse myself with Meadows.

It's only right that as one of The Bill's longest-serving characters, Meadows (Simon Rouse) should take centre stage in this week's really very good two-parter Proof of Life, a co-production between The Bill and its German counterpart SOKO Leipzig. And isn't that a great name? SOKO Leipzig - it rolls off the tongue, particularly when barked in my rusty, grade B, O-level German accent.

Anyway, Proof of Life gives Jack Meadows the chance to do what he has always done best: to get tough with a Yorkshire accent. The added frisson here is that he gets tough in a Yorkshire accent with a bunch of German officers. His Leipzig equivalent, some upstart who wants to take over the investigation into the kidnapping in London of a German girl, gets short shrift in Jack's brusque and manly way.

It's great. I love seeing Jack step on people who are not worthy of him. Meadows never seems to figure in those Top TV Detective lists, but he should. I've always liked him, particularly during the days of DI Frank Burnside. They were a good pair: old-fashioned coppers, snapping at one another as they strutted down Sun Hill's corridors.

Of course Burnside is long gone, but Jack has survived. Somehow he's dodged The Bill's many explosions to emerge unscathed. He even survived that torrid period a few years ago when just about every Bill officer came out as gay (not, may I add hurriedly, that there's anything wrong with that). This coincided with a very ill-advised period in The Bill's history when we saw the characters' personal lives and Jack's marriage was revealed to be unravelling. No, I didn't want to know that either.

But Jack has stayed because he's moved with the times, while retaining that copper's copper demeanour, and that essential decency. You feel safe with Jack Meadows. So here's hoping he gets a good few slices of The Bill's 25th birthday cake. He deserves them.

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Comments

  • Posted on 10 November 2008
  • at 2:32pm
  • by Dale

No, not that I know of. I have never heard them use background music before on the show and assume that it was just for a brief period. Oh yes, and long live Jack Meadows!!!!

  • Posted on 06 November 2008
  • at 9:18am
  • by MazY

I stopped watching The Bill after, some time ago, I turned it on to find background music being played in certain scenes, similar to what we often find in movies. It was just awful.

I never forgave them for the betrayal and we parted company. That said, I always enjoyed Jack's character, and longed to be able to call sternly down a police radio, "goor goor goor". When translated to real English, it apparently means, "Go swiftly and without delay. Thank you."

Do they still use the background music?

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