What's On: Life's a Beech for dodgy Don; Action-packed plot fits the Bill for Billy Murray's last Sun Hill stand, discovers TIM RANDALL.
Byline: TIM RANDALLTHE BILL SPECIAL: ITV, Sunday, 8pm, and Tuesday, 9pm
WHEN Billy Murray flew to Australia to film a one-off special of The Bill , it was due to be his last ever appearance as DS Don Beech.
TV's dodgiest copper was scripted to come to a sticky end as the episode finished, Beech making his return to the UK in a coffin. But, just as the crew were wrapping up the five-week shoot, a call came through from ITV insisting the ending be changed.
They had decided Beech was so loved by viewers it would be a waste to kill him off - instead, they gave him his own six-part spin off, Beech Is Back.
And Billy Murray couldn't be more chuffed that his bent cop character has been given an 11th hour reprieve.
"They were going to shoot me, then the order came: 'Don't kill him, leave it ambiguous'. So I got blown up on a boat instead," says Billy.
"When I was told about the series I was over the moon. I am very flattered they even thought about it."
The Oz special, Beech On The Run, picks up the story six months after Beech fled Sun Hill for Sydney, where he has settled into a new life of crime. But his plans are jeopardised when he is tracked down by DI Claire Stanton (Clara Salaman) who is hell bent on revenge for his murder of her lover John Boulton.
But a shaken Beech evades capture leaving Stanton convinced she's blown her one chance of making him pay.
By the time Beech Is Back begins, he is home in London. With the help of his Vietnamese lover and partner-in-crime Frankie (played by Australian actress Miles Paras) Beech is about to pull off the theft of a lifetime - before Stanton finds out and sees it as her last chance for revenge.
"It's a very ominous opening scene. You see a car blowing up on Lambeth Bridge in London and then Beech appears. He thinks he's totally in control. But he's completely forgotten about Stanton," says Billy.
"When he finds she is back on his case he knows he has to do something so he kidnaps her.
There's torture, violence and a bit of sex - all very enjoyable stuff."
So what is it about creepy Don Beech that has made him so popular?
"He's everyone's idea of a typical villain.
He's like a working class Nigel Havers, a real charmer. I've never met anyone who says they don't like him.
And I've met many a policeman who says: 'You're like my sergeant'," says Billy, who quit Sun Hill last October.
"Seven years is a long time to be in one place.
I wanted to leave for three years but never found the right plot.
When I heard my final storyline I thought: 'Oh good - what a way to go'." Unlike most actors leaving a long running show, property magnate Billy didn't have to worry about money ("I am the garage king of London. I've got 104.").
He also owns 15 classic cars, including Bentleys, Mercedes and an E Type Jag convertible.
"Only rich people had cars when I was a kid and I that's why I love them so much.
They have connotations of wealth," he says, flashing his chunky gold watch. "I'm financially secure, which is a good feeling.
I earn just as much getting out of bed in the morning as I did going into The Bill."
Still, it hasn't always been that way. Billy's upbringing was that of a typical East End working class family and money was tight.
It was thanks to the infamous Kray twins - who lent him the cash to go to acting school - that he made it as an actor.
"They really opened the door for me," he recalls, nostalgically.
Since then, he has played a host of dodgy characters in shows such as Minder, The Professionals, The Sweeney and Bergerac.
But it was The Bill that made him a star.
"I owe The Bill everything," he says. "I still watch it all the time." All has not been rosy in his private life either.
Three years ago Billy was accused of assault after he embarked on some real-life detective work when his daughter Lizzie, then 14, had begun to hang out with drug dealers.
He was sensationally cleared of the charges, but his wife Elaine and their four children are still getting over what happened.
"Those people do not know the damage they did," he says, shaking his head.
On the work front, things continue to go well. He's already filmed one Brit movie this year, called Hell To Pay, in which he plays a violent gangland leader - "I kill nine people in the first 10 minutes."
And there are two other film roles in the pipeline: "Every actor wants to do movies, there's so much money and recognition in it. If my career went along the same lines as Ray Winstone I'd be very happy.
That's the type of stuff I want to do."
But will Don Beech finally meet his maker at the end of the new series?
"I'm not sure. We'll have to hold our breath and wait," says Billy, with a sly smirk.
MUG SHOTS IN SUN HILL'S DOSSIER ON BENT COPPERS
CHRIS ELLISON played baldy-headed hard man DCI Frank Burnside.
He was popular with viewers and ended up winning a poor spin-off drama, Burnside, which lasted just one series.
Some thought Burnside was just a bent copper with a big mouth and a dodgy suntan, but Ellison liked him, saying: "He doesn't give a monkeys and folk like that."
BENT coppers didn't come much worse than smarmy Eddie Santini played by Michael Higgs.
The ultimate bad apple of The Bill all but raped a female colleague, sank into the murky underworld of drugs and faced a murder charge. Despite his bad guy image, Higgs loved the character. "I enjoyed playing a guy who lied all the time," he said.
ACTOR Tony Scannell made his name and his fortune playing tough Detective Sergeant Ted Roach.
But his private life after leaving Sun Hill in 1992 completely over-shadowed the rucks and romps of his character.
He was done for drink driving, revealed he had fathered six illegitimate kids and wound up stoney broke, before returning last year.
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| Title Annotation: | Features |
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| Publication: | Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland) |
| Date: | Aug 18, 2001 |
| Words: | 1059 |
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