The Bill: All Fall Down (Parts 1 & 2). CIB storm into Sun Hill, suspending the whole of CID as the truth about Don Beech and Claire Stanton is finally revealed to a stunned station - and more than one head is going to roll. Meanwhile the man himself, Don Beech, is on the run, desperate to get out of the country before Claire catches up with him.... This two parter is, as is with the rest of this epic arc, gripping and fantastic stuff. The only problem is what comes next. As a send-off for Beech and Boulton it's as epic and fabulous as it should be for two such iconic characters, the problem is the producers decide to throw the baby out with the bathwater and throw away Chief Superintendent Brownlow, DI Chris Deakin, DS Jeff Daly and DC Kerry Holmes into the bargain. While I can just about accept Brownlow as I thought his replacement, the deliciously reptilian Tom Chandler, was great, the sad fact is the CID replacements were almost universally disappointing and substandard, and while the 2001 season still has some good stuff before the show crashes and burns under the dreaded Marquess in 2002, it is never really the same again from this point.
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