The bill went from strength to strength in 1988 when it was restructured into the half hour format that stormed to the top of the itv ratings, and the show remained a top ten uk drama for over two decades becoming the longest running police procedural drama ever screened on british television'. '.strtoupper('s')tarring fan favourites sgt'. '.strtoupper('c')ryer eric richard, wpc ackland trudie goodwin, ds ted roach tony scannell, dc lines kevin lloyd and the ever irascible di burnside christopher ellison, this set contains 48 consecutive episodes originally screened in 1989.