Woodentop (The Bill) Woodentop (The Bill) "Woodentop" is an episode of the Thames Television series "Storyboard", which includes a series of one-off plays on different themes. The episode was originally broadcast on 16 August 1983. "Woodentop" became the forerunner to long-running British police television series "The Bill", which went on air 14 months later and continued for 26 years. The name "woodentop" is a colloquialism for beat policemen who traditionally wear helmets; the nickname is itself an allusion to the Children's TV series "The Woodentops". The episode documents PC Jim Carver's first day at Sun Hill Police Station, where he is partnered with
City Central (TV series) everyday officer on the beat". Despite this, two new regular cast members, George Costigan and Connie Hyde, joined the series as DI Jack Carter and DS Janet Miller, respectively. Notably, the series has never been released on DVD, and despite a single re-run on UKTV Drama in 2003, has not been otherwise repeated on television since its original broadcast. City Central (TV series) City Central was a British television police procedural drama series, written and created by Tony Jordan, that first broadcast on BBC One on 4 April 1998. Described by the "Radio Times" as ""Z Cars" for the 1990s",