THEM.home

13 March 2010

Marquess' mates surpress a free press(are you shocked?)

Part of THEM.'s campaign is to push its message on other websites. I have been in the process of posting on blogs and newspapers about Hollyoak's sites in response to comments made by Marquess.

Most appear to be in 'moderation'. It's likely the 'speach police' are going to reject what is said.

So here's one posted on here

Don't make me laugh. He can attempt to humanise himself all he wants, but his record speaks for itself.

His shutting down of The Bill's forums on its website can only say, he knows fans hate what he does, and he equally hates them.

His use of alliteration shows that he's moved up to a High School Year 10 standard of English, and I congratulate him on that. (Or he's having "Geoff Tibballs" write his posts, whoever that really is)

I hate to think what "dramatic, funny and heartbreaking" actually means.

My condolences for the Hollyoaks fans.

21 January 2010

Did these two men destroy The Bill?

This is Stuart Prebble. In April 2001 he was promoted to the role of CEO of ITV.

In May, 2002, he resigned, because the ITV Digital Chanel went into Administration. Incompitent? Not according to this article, which quotes,

"Clearly someone was going to be made a scapegoat and he has done the honourable thing and stepped down in his own time"

Sounds like wesal words to me. But if there are fingers to be pointed, this Marquess interview from 2002 indicates David Liddiment, Head of Programmes until his resignation in October 2002, knew Marquess "since they were at Granada together". Thus, in all likelihood, Liddiment recommended Marquess, and Prebble swallowed it.

And in fact, the BBC controller of the time, Greg Dyke, accused Liddiment's tenure of Head of Programming "the most disastrous period in ITV's history".

With a bit of imagination, it's logical that Marquess held his job as long as he wanted after his mate left.

20 January 2010

All fingers again point to ITV

According to ATV,

"In 2002 Paul Marquess was made the new producer of ITV’s police-drama The Bill. The series wasn’t performing as well as the network wanted and they particularly wanted to attract a younger audience to the series – they wanted the serial sexing up. Paul Marquess was ruthless in his goal of turning around the fortunes of the show and injecting younger blood into it. "

So, does this mean FremantleMedia had nothing to do with it? Well, I don't believe that. But I think that the callous destruction, from what it sounds like, is more the work of ITV.

Ruthless is a nice word...I would use exterminate, butcher, or even mass murder. Something that describes what you do when you don't give an arse about the past and don't do any research into what you're actually working on, just sit in your own corner and churn out rubbish.

And the reason why I think FremantleMedia has something to do with Paul Marquess and the slaughter, is the fact that FremantleMedia promoted him to the head of drama within their company. Why would they do that otherwise?

History says that ITV "found" him- installing lights into an ITV executives' home. But FremantleMedia supported him. And for that reason, they are partly to blame.

17 January 2010

The machine behind the (man behind the) Curtain:

FremantleMedia

So why exactly did Handford get sacked? Well, it would have something to do with the production company in charge of the production. And since 1999, that would be FremantleMedia.

FremantleMedia bought Thames out in 1999. Along with its programming. Thing is, Fremantle wern't doing so well in the early 2000's. They were sacking people in the US and pulling out of the US market.

THEY were the ones in financial trouble. Sure, they were owned by RTL, who were owned by Bertelsmann AG. Sure, it wasn't like they were in threat of going under or anything, but what does one say to their Luxemburg bosses when slumping to 3 million viewers from 8-10 million? Being a LAZY, STUPID production company that has a soap under the belt (Neighbours), alter its format to be a soap and therefore alientate all the current and former viewers.

Oh yes, and sorry for the bad news- that The Bill isn't really British. It's German (as Bertelsmann AG is owned by Germans).

All Hail Queen Kate!

Maybe Marquess' directors had a mind of their own...Or maybe it was the cameraman?

15 January 2010

Here's a happy photo and some happy people to go with it:

"I like to think of this zombie WPC as the corpse of ‘The Bill‘, before Paul Marquess ruined it by making it all soapy and the Sun Hill nick started blowing up every other fortnight."

The above quote is borrowed from the site. Taken in "Australia" of all places (my, we Bill detractors do congregate in a similar geographical areas! Maybe Marquess ought to...nah I won't say it LOL). Click on the image to go to the site.

Tape Conversion

Okay, so there is ONE advantage to getting up to the Marquess era tapes...

mmmm

Man that's just so glorious.

14 January 2010

"What, you'd rather Kate Spears after everything she's been through?" -- Dave Series, Episode 1

Someone's being awful protective of Kate Spears, given that they

a) rejected her
b) have no interest in her

Chandler said this to Dave Quinnin, when Quinnin said he wouldn't take Debbie on as undercover wife.

I nearly choaked after hearing that one!

13 January 2010

Youtube Uploads

THEM. Wishes to state that it believes it justified to support clips of THe Bill uploaded to YouTube. ITV have dropped the ball on releasing box sets and have not released anything beyond 1988 (which is even useless for my Norika Datta research) since 2006.

Anyone with half a brain would know releasing newer years (ie 1998 onward) then progressively earlier years (1982 onward) would be a far more successful policy, as the generation who would seek the DVDs probably started watch around 1998- when the changes in format occured (to more of a soap). For those with complete brains, this unfortunate pattern has been repeated again and again, particually with Australian TV networks. But really, ought we expect anything more from ITV?

8 January 2010

The big news?

We're Back Image

THEM now has a domain name! The bullet has been bitten. It's a mouthfull, but anything less would have been...confusing.

Also added email address on contact page so people can email me again.

6 January 2010

New Host, New Year

Since 2008, there has been several malware infestations in my computer(s), and a loss of significant files. The original host appears to have been hacked and abadoned as well. For these reasons, THEM is moving servers.

I am currently in the process of a second or maybe final transfer of VHS. This means new screencaps and videos will be available soon. It also means hopefully that the THEM.Investigations can be completed. ITV still don't seem to give a rats about releasing the box sets (arguibly justifying many a YouTube upload). It may even be possible to supply video evidence for the THEM.Investigations.

On another note about the THEM.Investigations, they will face some re-writing. They were both authored while (let's just say) I was more naive. ("If she's up for a bit on the side, fine. Then a hint that she's getting serious an' you better put a stop to it, right now."
Chandler: "Now wait a minute, Alex"...it could really go both ways; he wanted random sex, or he hated being bossed by a junior officer, or he didn't want to justify himself to another person, or he thought it could be going somewhere...who knows). But where doors close, windows open; I have found some clips of interest to justify my theories, in specific interactions between DS Peter Cork and Chandler. Could be just my eyes fooling me, but I think Chandler was glaring in a certain DS's direction after he opened his big mouth, and just a little too hard...
I also found a HUGE number of clips proving Chandler disrespects/hates Debbie. I made this cool MSN pic/avatar of him laughing at her.

LOL avatar

I have to admit however, it is somewhat plausible Hanford wanted Spiers to become the so-called station "bike" and that he planned out the plot in the way that it unfolded (compared to a desperate ratings grab). But it would be poor writing/planning. To build up the way he did, then drop everything is a waste. On the contrary, it is possible he had invisaged picking up the pieces again at some later point.

At present, Steven is doing a stage production of Oliver!. He is NOT on the CD cast recording (woe is me) so don't bother with it. If you are a Brit, go see it!

After some surfing, it appears The Bill has been well and truly destroyed from what it once was. Reg, the last reminence of the old order, is gone. Meadows is in charge (if Chandler could return, he would surely seek revenge). All quite sad.

This site is NOT dead, despite gaps in updates. Of all the TV couples I have followed that aren't on TV anymore, THEM are the only ones i still really care about.

FOR OLDER NEWS - CLICK HERE

Notice
THEM. openly dislikes present executive producer of The Bill (as of typing this, Paul Marquess) however care has been taken in the unbiased presentation of evidence in all THEM.Investigation(s). "Alt"/"Alternative" tags may contain comment, but are not counted as part of evidence as they would not show up in printed copies of THEM.Investigations. THEM. encourages viewers/readers to draw their own opinions on evidence, and indeed, draw their own conclusions and views on all television shows; drama, soaps or otherwise.

Last Update: Saturday, March 13, 2010

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