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Alistair Greig was a character in The Bill from 1989 until 1998.

Alistair Greig
D.S

D.S. Alistair Greig

IC: Gender
1Male   Male
Occupation: Police Officer
Metropolitan Police     Sun Hill
Rank: Detective Sergeant
Status: Transferred
Years Active: 1989-1998
●  Service Record  ●
Current Status
Transferred
Portrayed by:Andrew Mackintosh
 ● First Appearance: Getting It Right
 ● Last Appearance: Cooking
List of Appearances


Profile[]

DS Alistair Greig was not your average tight-lipped Scottish cop. There was a bit of the Presbyterian righteousness about him, but he had seen too much of the world in his time on the Vice Squad at West End Central before he transferred to Sun Hill for him to judge his colleagues or his 'customers'. Born in Perth, he was also bright, having done the first two years of a law degree before deciding that law enforcement at the sharp end was more to his liking. He still had something of a lawyer's approach to his work though; he was meticulous in his paperwork and a patient and relentless interviewer.

Greig was ambitious and straight as a die, but clever enough to watch and wait before taking a position. So it was when he first encountered Burnside, his first boss at Sun Hill. He was appalled at the man's corner-cutting, but soon came to appreciate his skill. You don't get results like Burnside's without a bit of rule-bending. His colleagues were impressed at his early cheekiness: he played his clarinet in the office, feet up on the desk. They laughed behind his back when Burnside had a go at it. Greig's clarinet playing may have amused Burnside and Roach but they soon realised that his somewhat prissy attitude belied a shrewd brain. The three were never likely to be drinking buddies, however, as Greig eschewed their corner-cutting and laddish behaviour. He also opted out of roughing up suspects for fear of getting blood on his suit. It wasn't prissiness, though. Greig simply believed he could talk most people out of anything - even thumping him with a crowbar. His fellow officers found him a bit of a cold fish, and were uncomfortably (sometimes resentfully) aware that he was exactly the kind of CID officer who was approved by the hierarchy nowadays. He had been passed over for the DI's job twice and there was a twinge of resentment that he was still a DS.

As far as women were concerned, he was safe. His snobbiness would stop him having an affair with an officer of lower rank, if his courage didn't fail him first. He had a fiancée for years. When a woman witness flirted with him and questioned him about his romantic life he was unsettled. Lucky he could treat Suzi Croft as 'one of the boys', wasn't it?

In an unexpected turn of events, Greig left Sun Hill rather than face a return to Uniform after his appeal against Tenure was rejected. There was a large gap between Greig's penultimate and final appearance, which actor Andrew Mackintosh explained in his interview with The Bill Podcast in 2017 was due to him being axed from the series after just signing a new six-month contract.

Service Record[]

Main Article: Service Record

  • 1989 - Posted to Sun Hill
  • 1989 - Promoted to Acting D.I.
  • 1993 - Takes charge of Bumblebee
  • 1998 - Transferred away from Sun Hill.

Family and Relationships[]

mentioned having a fiance


The relationship with his "fiance" was at least 9 years running as of the time he mentioned this to a woman who had been a victim in a crime investigated by Sgt. Greig.

Major Storylines[]

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