Episode 001 is the 1661st episode of The Bill. This episode's alternate title is Down A Blind Alley.
Des and Reg investigate a disturbance at a local lap-dancing club, Polestar. A waitress has been hit and Mark Mansfield is accused but the charges are dropped. Meanwhile Polly and Tony gather complaints of credit card fraud in the area. Taviner and Hollis investigate another disturbance, this time a woman's flat has been turned over. Rachel reveals she's a dancer at Polestar. Chandler links the attacks and orders an undercover operation in the lap-dancing club. New girl Cathy agrees to pose as a waitress, while Nick and Gilmore act as punters keeping an eye on her... a job greeted more keenly by Klein than Gilmore! Cathy learns a few tricks of the trade on her first night but concludes Polestar is all above board. She overhears Rachel evicting another one of the dancers, Sonia from her flat and suggests she takes the room. Soon after, Mansfield forces his way in to Rachel's flat and Cathy has to arrest him, blowing her cover. During questioning he still denies any involvement in the ransacking. Sonia is then found badly beaten outside a nearby hotel, the Orissa, and Rachel is coerced into helping Sun Hill's enquiries. Cathy discovers that whilst Polestar may be operating legally, it's the bar manager that organises off-site liaisons at the hotel. She lets him know she's interested in earning some extra cash doing whatever it takes. Meanwhile, Chandler's been acting suspiciously like the cat that got the cream and books into the Orissa under the name Mr. 'Dickson'.
June Ackland's rank is accidentally given as PC in the credits.
Connie Hyde had to go lap-dancing with two other actresses to prepare for her role in this episode. She thought she wasn't very good; her trainer told her that she was convincing.
The show changed to broadcasts once a week on a Thursday.
A reworked title sequence now includes PC Bradford in place of PCs Clarke and Hagen, although PC Quinnan is still present.
This first episode made under the control of new Executive Producer Paul Marquess. From this episode on the style of The Bill noticeably changes from police procedural to soap opera. This episode is the first to use a numbering system for distinguishing episodes, although named episode titles were discontinued six episodes ago. Alternate titles were added for Season 18 only, and they returned in season 23, when the serial format was scrapped by new director Johnathan Young.