''Burnside'' is a British

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

police procedural drama, broadcast on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

in 2000. The series, a spin-off from ITV's long-running police drama ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983. The programme focused o ...

'', focused on DCI

Frank Burnside ''The Bill'' is a long-running British television police procedural television series, named after a slang term for the police. The characters are all police officers or civilian staff at the fictional Sun Hill police station in London. Senior ...

, formerly a detective at Sun Hill and now working for the

National Crime Squad The National Crime Squad (NCS) was a British police organisation which dealt with national and transnational organised and major crimes. Formed in April 1998 after the amalgamation of six former Regional Crime Squads, it merged with parts of H ...

. ''Burnside'' ran for one series of six episodes, structured as three two-part stories.

Background

The lead character of the series was Detective Chief Inspector

, who had appeared in ''

'' almost from its inception as a tough, no-nonsense antagonist to the station staff. Burnside disappeared in mysterious circumstances in 1993 and returned briefly five years later, when it was revealed that he had been working undercover.DCI Frank Burnside
''The Bill Biographies'' The main secondary characters were

Detective Sergeant Sergeant ( abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other ...

Dave Summers and

Detective Constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...

Sam Phillips. Burnside's NCS team also included the minor characters of DC Pete Moss, played by John White, and DC Chris Gibson, played by Paul Gilmore. In addition, several recurring characters appeared throughout the series:

Paul Nicholas Paul Nicholas (born Paul Oscar Beuselinck; 3 December 1944) is an English actor and singer. He started out with a pop career, but soon changed to musical theatre, playing the lead role in ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' at the West End’s Palace T ...

played Ronnie "The Razor" Buchan, a former London gangster and Burnside's nemesis.

Tony Selby Anthony Samuel Selby (26 February 1938 – 5 September 2021) was an English actor. He was best known for his roles as Clive Mitchell in ''EastEnders'', Corporal Percy Marsh in '' Get Some In!'', and Sabalom Glitz in ''Doctor Who''. Life and c ...

played Jim Summers, the father of Dave Summers and Burnside's former boss.

Shane Richie Shane Patrick Paul Roche (born 11 March 1964), known as Shane Richie, is a British actor, comedian, television presenter and singer. Following initial success as a stage and screen performer, he became best known for his portrayal of the charac ...

played Burnside's regular informant, Tony Shotton.

Legacy

Reflecting on the series some years later, the actor who played Burnside,

Christopher Ellison Christopher Michael Ellison (born 16 December 1946 in St Pancras, London) is an English actor. He is best known for his role as DCI Frank Burnside in the ITV police series ''The Bill'' and short-lived spin-off series '' Burnside''. Education ...

, was critical of the quality of its writing, suggesting it compared unfavourably with ''

''. In particular, he pointed to the absence of the character's trademark one-liner jokes, making the series "all so black and serious". Interviewed on The Bill Podcast in 2019, Ellison said: ''"I always thought a huge mistake they made when we did the spin-off series called Burnside was that they changed the format completely, and the one thing I always felt it lost was its humour. I know Burnside was a horrible character in a lot of ways but he was quite funny; he said funny things. And that was one of the most enjoyable things about it."''

Cast

Episodes

Merchandise

DVDs

Books

References

External links

''Burnside'' official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Burnside (Tv Series) 2000s British crime drama television series 2000s British television miniseries 2000 British television series debuts 2000 British television series endings British television spin-offs English-language television shows ITV television dramas Television shows set in London Television series by Fremantle (company) Television shows produced by Thames Television The Bill