Tuesday 31 August 2010 at 22:00 we said goodbye to The Bill as it came to an end on ITV/UTV thus leaving everyone without the most realistic police procedural television programme and none after have come close in comparison to the realism of the series originally entitled Woodentop.
We are now in 2015, and within five years the Television audience is considerably different than it was half a decade ago which is why we need a good & relistic police procedural series back on the box.

A new TV show has been created by actor, Adam McNamara, who you may recognise from his appearances as PC McCormick in River City and PC Evans in EastEnders on the BBC.
A little bit earlier this year, a pilot of a new police programme was released on YouTube and this one is much different than it's predecessors. For one, this is situated in Scotland and focuses on Police Scotland - something British Television networks have rarely done. Sure, there's Taggart but that's through the eyes of scriptwriters, directors & actors which is good but it doesn't show us what really happens as the dramatisations are all watered down.

The new TV show is entitled 'The Job'. And why is it called that? Well, I spoke to the show's creator, Mr. McNamara, himself to find out why.

Andy: What is the reason behind calling it 'The JOB' for those who may not be aware?
Adam: OK, it's called the Job because that's what cops refer to policing as. There's a famous saying "The Job's fucked"

It's a phrase used all up and down these islands.

Since I had a chance to speak to Adam, I thought I'd be cheeky and ask more, here's what Adam had to say:
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AG: The pilot has many elements of what I'd imagine to be a regular day on the beat, and in detail. You're the creator of this programme, how come you know so much about the police force?

AM: I was a police officer in Tayside (before Police Scotland) for seven years. What sets The Job apart from other cop dramas is that I can convincingly put a realistic voice into these characters. I feel other cop dramas, albeit entertaining ones, miss that key feature.

AG: Is 'The Job' based around on your experiences within Tayside Police?

AM: Each character is based on experiences in my own life from when I started in the Police to when I resigned.

The situations the characters find themselves in are elements of calls I experienced rather than verbatim.

I used a certain degree of poetic licence however they are incredibly realistic situations and the characters respond in realistic ways.

AG: What makes 'The Job' special and different than any other British cop show we've ever seen?

AM: I think the main difference will be the insight into how the Police really is. They way they really talk, opinions they hold, politics they live by, reactions to the public and conclusions they come to about them.

I've been lucky enough to play a cop a few times on telly but the thing I come across time and time again is that writers have a pre-conceived idea as to how Cops articulate their feelings...it's funny to me and its most definitely accepted by the public at large but it's not real. The Job peels back that façade.

-

Speaking to Adam, this does sound very exciting as he himself was a police officer, he has been in the frontline for many years so unlike your average scriptwriter who bases their scripts on a little research, Adam's writing & direction of the show can show us what the Police go through on a daily bases.

The Job would be an ideal prime time TV show for the whole of Britain to watch as it will let us see that the Police aren't robots, they aren't the monsters which the press lead us to believe, they have feelings too and the way they react to the various troubling scenarios matter as well.

Cuffs on the BBC has been axed just days after the eighth & final episode of the series. Cuffs was described by The Wright Stuff's TV Critic, Kevin Sullivan, as being The Bill which hadn't given the series a good start in life as we've been there and got the t-shirt as far as The Bill is concerned. The fact that Cuffs was centred in Brighton, another English city like The Bill was filmed in. The JOB is made in Scotland. That gives it a fresh feel which we need in a TV show.

Adam McNamara is a Scotsman and not only that, he's a proud Scotsman. His Twitter feed is full of passion for the north of the border. This means The JOB will be particularly friendly to Scotland's culture and quite possibly bring new interest to the country.

So what I implore TV Networks in the UK to do is: Give The JOB a chance. Adam has a fantastic team of actors & crew who are thriving to deliver excellent drama.

USEFUL LINKS:

The JOB pilot (taster episode) on YouTube

The JOB on Twitter

Adam McNamara on Twitter

Andy Gibson on Twitter

Useful links:

Scottish Association for Mental Health:  SAMH.org.uk.

Depression Alliance: DepressionAlliance.org.

Philip Martin Brown's Website:  PhilipMartinBrown.com.

Philip Martin Brown's Twitter:  @PhilipMartinB.

Coronation Street's Twitter:  @ITVCorrie.

Coronation Street on ITV:  ITV.com/CoronationStreet.

Coronation Street on STV:  STV.TV/corrie.

Coronation Street on UTV:  U.TV/CoronationStreet.

My Twitter:  @AndyGibsonTV.

On Monday 29 April 2013 at 21:30, Claire Downes, Ian Jarvis & Stuart Lane introduced the ITV/STV/UTV audience to a quirky workforce at Brownall House on a brand new comedy known as The Job Lot.

The programme got my attention when I saw Martin Marquez, who I loved in as DS Danny Pearce in The Bill back in the early 1990's, appear on the screen as lovable Security Guard, Paul Franks.

Other members of the cast are also fantastic, Sarah Hadland who portrayed Linda Radleigh in Waterloo Road.  Russell Tovey who played George Sands in Being Human.  Jo Enright from Ideal to name a few.


Series 1 and Series 2 were only six episodes each which is not lengthy enough for such a unique and unusual comedy programme.

There isn't a comedy programme today in a setting such as a Jobcentre.

There isn't a comedy programme like The Job Lot apart from Trollied in the earlier seasons but series 4 has been a letdown which is why ITV need to recommission The Job Lot for a third series so we, the viewers, can enjoy a comedy with the wit and intelligence the writers and cast bring to life on our television screens.

Paul Franks (played by Martin Marquez)

Paul is one of the two security guards at Brownhall House, he is the first face visitors see when entering the building.

Don't take his exterior of a law abiding citizen lightly as he uses Brownhall House's facilities to run his carpet fitting business on the side and with his golden tongue, he has gotten away with it, but we love him so we won't tell scary Angela.

Martin Marquez has played Paul Franks in all 12 episodes of The Job Lot.

He is half-Spanish and half-British, born in the city Coventry, West Midlands in England and began his acting career in 1993 where he made his on-screen acting début as a policeman in the classic comedy, Desmond's (Humphrey Barclay Productions/Channel 4).

Other credits are; The Bill (Thames Television), EastEnders (BBC Drama) and Hotel Babylon (BBC Drama).

His Daughter, Ramona Marquez, was in Outnumbered as Karen Brockman.

Janette Hodgkins (played by Angela Curran)

Like Paul, she is at front-of-house as another Security Guard although she does more cleaning and tidying up than keeping a watchful eye on the front doors, it is a wonder Trish hasn't spotted this but we know she is busy.

Janette tries hard to fit in with the 2014 crowd by using all the latest gadgets and trends but she lives her life nostalgically and prefers the more old school ways of doing things.

You wouldn't think of it to look at her but she's very passionate about the beautiful game of football and has shown fighting talk whenever The Great Barr branch is the topic of conversation.

Angela Curran has been in all 12 episodes of The Job Lot as Janette Hodgkins.

Angela Curran has been working in drama since 1977, she's the seasoned veteran of the cast.

Other credits include; Where The Heart Is (Anglia Television), This Is Jinsy (The Welded Tandem Picture Company), Press Gang (Central Television/Richmond Films & Television Production).

She was also involved in The Calendar Girls movie, working with Julie Walters CBE & Dame Helen Mirren.

Trish Collingwood (played by Sarah Hadland)

The mother hen of the coop.

Trish is not as sharp as she should be, she does have the wool pulled over her eyes a lot but she does her best to ensure her staff are happy.

She is the Centre Manager who struggles to manage... everything, as much as people should respect her authority, she does cave in too often.

Sarah Hadland has been in all 12 episodes of The Job Lot as Trish Collingwood.

Sarah Hadland is probably most known for her role as Linda Radleigh in Waterloo Road (BBC Drama/Shed Productions) and has appeared in other programmes such as; Bad Girls (Shed Productions), That Mitchell And Webb Look (BBC Drama) and as a voice actor in children's programme, Fireman Sam (BBC Cymru).

Graham Pleck (played by Tony Maudsley)

Graham is a harmless lovable man who has been coming to the Jobcentre for years, mainly to have a chat with the staff as he is a bit lonely and straightforward minded.

No-one knows where his shirts are, I don't even think he knows he's not wearing one.

He has an iconic charcoal blazer which he wears in hope to impress potential employers and occasionally customises his attire with a tie.

Tony Maudsley has been in all 12 episodes of The Job Lot.

Tony Maudsley's biggest role to date is of Grawp in Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix (Heyday Films/Warner Bros. Pictures).

Angela Bromford (played by Jo Enright)

Every workplace has an Angela, driven by the rulebook and clued up on all the loopholes in policies.

Trish fired Angela but to no avail, Angela won her tribunal and was reinstated as a result of that, she has a power struggle with the Centre Manager on a daily basis.

She feels that she should be the Centre Manager, in Angela's world only Angela matters and everyone else should bow to her feet whenever she enters a room.

She's very workshy and makes it extremely difficult for any job seekers to gain any employment with all the hoops she makes people jump through.

You know the type of person Angela is, she's the awkward one at the end of the phone telling you that you have got the wrong form and she cannot help you out for unexplained reasons.  She's the one you'd spend at least four hours on hold for, for her to come back saying "I'll need to transfer you to another department" - we've all dealt with an Angela at one point in our lives, she's the one who we yell profanities at the phone after she hangs up on us, maybe before depending on your humour.

Jo Enright has played Angela Bromford in all 12 episodes of The Job Lot.

Apart from acting, Jo Enright is also a stand-up comedian.

Natalie Mason (played by Laura Aikman)

Natalie is the new kid on the block with a business mind.

She is the Deputy Manager in a world she's not familiar with but has settled in quite nicely.

Natalie was headhunted by Denise Madden, the manager of the Kingstanding branch, but turned it down to be with Karl at Brownall.

Laura Aikman has been in all six episodes of series 2 of The Job Lot as Natalie Mason.

Laura Aikman's other credits include; Casualty (BBC Drama), Trial & Retribution (ITV Studios).

In 2015, Laura will be another deputy, this time a Deputy Head Teacher, in Waterloo Road.

What The Job Lot does that most comedies don't is they have no canned laughter, and that is something all comedies should take note on.  It doesn't force it's viewers to laugh when the writers want us to. It allows us to find our own comedy within the programme.

Television in this day and age is monopolised by over-produced rubbish like X Factor, The Only Way Is Essex and far too much sporting event programmes, The Job Lot allows people like me to escape from all that and laugh at what is typically an everyday situation, looking for jobs.

There are programmes for actors to learn in that are no longer around, programmes like The Bill, London's Burning and Steel River Blues.  It's programmes like those which create fantastic performers.

The Job Lot does the "job" perfectly for those people, actors like Delroy Brown and Zahra Ahmadi to name a couple.

It's a fantastic platform for people to learn and I don't think ITV should take that away from us all.

We also need to see how the relationship between Karl & Natalie blossoms as well, we can't leave it as it did.

I would just like to thank all involved for keeping the format of the programme exactly the same as series 1, that was my main concern when I found out that series 2 is coming on and it did not disappoint.

If ITV continue to partner with Big Talk Productions on The Job Lot, all I can say is, teamwork makes the dream work.

Thanks for reading, if you liked it, give me a follow on twitter: @AndyGibsonTV.

I'm restructuring this site and any article below this is from the old section which was for ramblings and news stories. 

If the rumours are true and CM Punk has indeed left the WWE, I personally do not blame him for doing so.

It's professional wrestlers and personalities like him who keep WWE Monday Night Raw & WWE Friday Night SmackDown being a fantastic programme each and every week.

Did CM Punk make the choice to be a professional wrestler and to make a the sacrifice to not see his family for the majority of the year?  Yes he did, however that doesn't excuse the fact that he (and the other Superstars in the WWE Locker Room) put in all the work for The McMahon Family & Triple H day in and day out, working for matches on Pay Per Views such as WWE SummerSlam & WWE WrestleMania to be told (or probably discover through the pipeline) that he won't be wrestling in the Higher Card matches or for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship because the likes of Brock Lesnar, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson & Dave Bautista are to have a bout on the card and that means CM Punk having to take a back seat for the performers who does not appear on the weekly television programmes (dubbed part-time wrestlers).

This is made even worse when Undertaker comes back, conveniently just at the time when WWE WrestleMania is within a few weeks away.

Personally, I don't think The Undertaker deserves any match on the WWE WrestleMania card, he hasn't done enough during the past 12 months to validate his appearance on the card.  Yes, people (including those with strong connections to the Professional Wrestling world) say that he's a legend, he's done enough during his career to give him the match at WrestleMania, which are highly predictable as he wins every single one of them.  Brodus Clay, Lord Tensai, Naomi, Cameron, Damien Sandow, Cody Rhodes & The Bella Twins all missed out on their WWE WrestleMania moment due to The Undertaker's apparent selfishness in having to have a match at the aforementioned Pay Per View and for it to run over the time allocated.

CM Punk hasn't been treated well by WWE in the recent past, he worked his ass off, defending the WWE Heavyweight Championship for 434 consecutive days and to lose it to a People's Elbow from The Rock, only for the belt to be used by The Rock, in a shit feud leading to a mediocre match with John Cena at WWE WrestleMania, what made matters worse, The Rock wasn't appearing on the WWE's weekly television programming as the WWE Champion.  The Rock pissed on the legitimate full time WWE Roster by doing that.

I get that Dave Bautista is close personal friends with Triple H, but he shouldn't have won the Royal Rumble Match last Sunday, the fact that CM Punk & Daniel Bryan didn't win shows me that Stephanie McMahon & Triple H have zero clue in what they're doing as WWE Management, it wouldn't have been so bad if they did something different, have Dolph Ziggler, Roman Reigns, or someone who has never been WWE/World Champion before win it. That would have been such a refreshing change.

As for Brock Lesnar only working Pay Per Views and being called "a member of the active WWE Roster" is a joke. 

CM Punk has always said, he doesn't care if he works for WWE, ROH or elsewhere, his only passion is wrestling.

I know my article hasn't really got much structure to it, however, I do hope you get the point in which I am making.