Woodentop (The Bill) "Woodentop" has an unusual place in the history of "The Bill" 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 "The Bill" as the show had the potential to appeal to a mass audience. Although "The Bill" is clearly a continuation from this episode, the main series contradicts it in a number of ways. For instance, in Woodentop Litten has completed his secondment to CID and is close to securing his place in the detective branch, whereas in "The Bill" he does
BBC television drama Mal Young, best known for producing Liverpool-set Channel 4 soap "Brookside", to head up the Drama Series section of the in-house Drama Department, which had become something of a poisoned chalice with many Controllers departing in quick succession. As Controller of Continuing Drama Series, Young oversaw the move to volume production and also commissioned a new medical Series, "Holby City". By the time Young left the BBC to join 19 Television Limited as head of Drama in December 2004, the BBC had increased Series production to nearly 300 hours per annum, including "EastEnders" at four times a week, "Holby City"