Peter Cregeen he worked on numerous popular television series, including: "The Troubleshooters" (1965); "King of the River" (1966); "Out of the Unknown" (1969; 1970); "The Onedin Line" (1971; 1976); "The Sandbaggers" (1978); "Colditz" (1972; 1974) and "Wings" (1977–1978). Cregeen has worked on various police dramas, including: "The Gentle Touch" (1980); "The Expert" (1969); "Softly Softly" (1969–1972); "Z-Cars" (1965); "Juliet Bravo" (1983), and the pilot to ITV's successful long-running drama, "The Bill", which was originally named "Woodentop" (1983). As original director, Cregeen was responsible for "The Bill"'s "distinctive and atmospheric feel", which he created by adopting a "fly-on-the-wall documentary style" with a single
BBC television drama oversaw the rise of more populist continuing drama series, however, encouraged by the ratings-chasing strategy of the then Controller of BBC1, his friend Michael Grade. It was during Powell's tenure that the BBC launched the twice-weekly soap opera "EastEnders" (1985–present) and the medical drama "Casualty" (1986–present), both of which remain linchpins of the BBC One schedule today and the highest-rated drama productions on BBC television. Indeed, "EastEnders" achieved phenomenal success in its early years, its Christmas Day 1986 episode earning a massive 30.15 million viewers, the highest British television audience of the 1980s.Aside from these continuing dramas, based in one