<P> The Bill has achieved a number of awards throughout its time on air, ranging from a BAFTA to the Royal Television Society Awards . and the Inside Soap Awards, particularly the "best recurring drama" category . </P> <P> In 2010, The Bill was nominated for a Royal Television Society award for Best Soap / Continuing Drama, beating both Coronation Street and Emmerdale on to the nominations list . The only soap to be nominated was EastEnders and the results were announced on 16 March 2010 . In 2009 an episode of The Bill won the Knights of Illumination Award for Lighting Design - Drama . </P> <P> It has been compared to Hill Street Blues due to the similar, serial, format that both series take . However, The Bill has seen little direct competition on British television in the police procedural genre over its twenty - five - year history, though the BBC has twice launched rival series . The first was Merseybeat, which ran from 2001 but was cancelled in 2004 due to poor ratings and problems with the cast . The second, HolbyBlue, launched in 2007, was a spin - off of successful medical drama Holby City (itself a spin - off of the long - running Casualty). It was scheduled to go "head to head" with The Bill, prompting a brief "ratings war", however HolbyBlue was also cancelled by the BBC in 2008, again, largely due to poor ratings . </P> <P> When The Bill started, the majority of the Police Federation were opposed to the programme, claiming that it portrayed the police as a racist organisation, however, feelings towards the programme have now mellowed to the extent that Executive Producer Johnathan Young met with Sir Ian Blair, then Commissioner of the Met in 2006 and it was decided that the editorial relationship between the police and the programme was sufficient . However, Young stressed that The Bill is not "editorially bound" to the police . </P>

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