Metropolitan Police buy up The Bill uniforms

Metropolitan Police buy up The Bill uniforms
Metropolitan Police buy up The Bill uniforms (Image credit: Steven Peskett)

The Metropolitan Police has brought a large amount of uniforms used in ITV1's The Bill to stop them falling into criminal hands. BBC Online reports that the Met brought 400kg of clothing and items after The Bill ceased screening in August. A Met spokesman said: "When the announcement was made that The Bill was to cease production, the Metropolitan Police approached the production company with a view to acquiring all used and unused items of clothing and uniform. "The purpose of this approach was to ensure that Metropolitan Police uniforms did not enter the public domain and give rise to the potential use by unauthorised persons in the commission of criminal activities." The cost of the kit wasn't publicised, but it included shirts, trousers and pullovers, plus 29 body armour covers, 28 high visibility jackets, four inspector flat caps and 22 constable bowler hats.

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.