Woodentop (The Bill) 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 buttoned down epaulettes, whereas they should have just had the 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 "The Bill": Mark Wingett, Trudie Goodwin, Gary Olsen and Colin Blumenau, while a number of characters were re-cast, including Roy Galloway. Woodentop (The Bill) "Woodentop"
Woodentop (The Bill) not gain his CID secondment 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 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 -