There's an unhappy reunion for DCI Jack Meadows in The Bill when he's reunited with the son he arrested and sent to prison for drugs possession... After being released, Ben returns to Sun Hill. But is he back to his old drug dealing ways? We had a chat with actor Simon Rouse, who plays Meadows, about the two-parter screening on ITV1 on June 24-25... How does Jack end up coming face-to-face with Ben after all this time? "Jack decides to join Mickey and Stuart when they set up a sting to try and catch a dangerous drug dealer, Linton Barry. But when he looks through a pair of binoculars, he’s shocked to see his son, Ben, with a package he suspects contains drugs. So Jack has no choice but to arrest his son... again! It’s very embarrassing for Jack, as he’s a respected copper."
And how does Ben react when Jack immediately drags him down to Sun Hill for questioning? "They have a huge argument. I don’t think Meadows has been a very good father over the years. He’s always been too wrapped up in his own career to take much notice of his own son. Jack did try to keep in touch with Ben while he was behind bars, but he was very bitter that it was Jack who put him there, so he refused to communicate with Jack all this time."
What happens when Ben agrees to help Jack and his team with their sting to catch Linton? "There’s a sudden exchange of gunfire during the sting and Jack suddenly fears that Ben could be dead. At that moment Jack suddenly becomes aware of his love for his son. But you’ll have to wait and see whether he has left it too late to heal the rift with Ben..."
