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Jack Meadows   Service Record    
Jack Meadows
Superintendent Jack Meadows

Superintendent Jack Meadows

Birth Name: Jack
Full Name: Jack David Meadows
IC: GenderAge
1Male   Male66
Date of Birth: June 11th 1948
Marital Status: Divorced
Occupation: Police Officer
Affiliation: Metropolitan Police
Curr. Posting: Sun Hill
Curr. Rank: Superintendent
Curr. Call Sign: Sierra Oscar 5-2
Occ. Status
ACTIVE
●  Service Record  ●
Current Status
ACTIVE
Portrayed by:Simon Rouse
 ● First Appearance: A Fresh Start
Re-Hab
 ● Last Appearance: Respect: Part 2
Returned for a guest appearance in The Black Widow
List of Appearances

Superintendent Jack Meadows was a character in The Bill. He was the longest serving character when the show ended, with 18 years at Sun Hill.

First appearances[]

Meadows first appeared as a Detective Superintendent in 1990 (in the episodes A Fresh Start and Action Book) when he was part of the Area Major Incident Pool, responsible for murder inquiries. He made several more guest appearances over the next couple of years (in the episodes Lying-in-Wait, Plato for Policemen, Furthers, The Harder They Fall, Domestic, Wide of The Mark, Hitting The Mark, Nutters, Profit and Loss and On The Take). In the last of these, an investigation by DI Burnside and DS Roach revealed that Meadows' sergeant, Chris Lovell, was engaged in corruption by sharing police information with armed robbers, with Meadows oblivious to Lovell's activities. This led to Meadows being demoted to Detective Chief Inspector after being charged with lack of supervision.

Early years at Sun Hill[]

Meadows was transferred to Sun Hill in 1992 (in the episode Re-Hab) to take charge of CID, replacing DCI Kim Reid. He was brought in over the head of an initially resentful DI Frank Burnside, who had been acting DCI, while his relationship with Ted Roach was also difficult. However, Meadows generally preferred working with "old school" coppers: he offered a safe haven at Sun Hill to DIs Harry Haines and Chris Deakin, after each had had their careers threatened by scandal, but was instrumental in the departure of graduate-entrant Sally Johnson (who he described as a "Bramshill flyer"). When Ch. Supt. Brownlow was seconded to Area in 1994, Meadows (along with Derek Conway and Philip Cato) was interviewed for the post of Acting Superintendent, but lost out to Conway (with whom he was good friends).

DCI Jack Meadows

D.C.I. Jack Meadows

While Meadows was clearly an excellent detective, his tendency to trust his subordinates led to his competence being called into question: not only with Lovell, but more dramatically with DS Don Beech. Beech's corrupt activities went completely unnoticed by both Meadows and Deakin (who merely thought Beech was "a bit dodgy"), but after the death of DS John Boulton and a full-scale CIB raid on Sun Hill CID, Meadows was suspended. However, after calling in a favour, Meadows avoided being transferred away from Sun Hill thanks to having friends in high places -- much to Deakin's disgust.

The days of Supt. Tom Chandler[]

After Beech went on the run for the murder of DS Boulton, Meadows faced charges of lack of supervision, and was left in no doubt by new Superintendent Chandler that he was in danger of losing his job. However, Chandler underestimated Meadows, who hung around to haunt – and ultimately destroy – him (with help from DC Mickey Webb) when long-term friend Derek Conway, and Webb's love interest Kate Spears, were killed during the events of a race war that Chandler failed to deal with. When they discovered Chandler had raped a woman at Hendon, Chandler armed himself and locked himself and his pregnant wife, DS Debbie McAllister, in Meadows' office. As CIB closed in at Sun Hill, Chandler turned the gun on himself, while McAllister gave birth to Chandler's premature baby, a boy called Andrew.

Divorce and relationships[]

Jack's Achilles heel is his weakness for younger women. He was happily married for 28 years to school-teacher Laura, but when their children left home the cracks in the marriage began to show. She resented his overriding commitment to the job when he was nearly shot on an investigation. The marriage ultimately ended when Laura thought Jack was having an affair with Debbie, however Jack was simply helping her out with her baby. Jack was annoyed Laura didn't trust him after all their time together and told her he would file for divorce.

During a period of separation, Jack became involved with a high-class escort, Rachel Heath, who had his son. Webb told Meadows he was compromising his career, and they had a falling out. Webb tried to make up by helping Rachel, when a punter was assaulting and robbing her fellow escorts. Webb managed to track down a suspect, Martin Delaney, but a custody mix-up saw him bailed, and he viciously assaulted Rachel. Mickey went chasing after and was raped by Delaney, which he kept secret at first but then confided in Jack. Webb left Sun Hill to join MIT, but he returned when Delaney absconded in 2005. Webb remained at Sun Hill until the finale, and saw Jack as a mentor and father figure.

Detective Inspector Neil Manson[]

In 2003 a new DI arrived at Sun Hill. Neil Manson was a fast track detective eager to reach the heights of DCI. His vital asset was his father-in-law, the Deputy Assistant Commissioner Roy Pearson. Manson took an immediate disliking to DC Eva Sharpe, who gave Jack evidence that Pearson was using rent-boys. Meadows chose not say anything because Manson discovered Meadows' fling with Rachel Heath. Meadows' determination to keep Eva at Sun Hill failed and she transferred to MIT thanks to Mickey Webb. Jack and Neil’s feud was noticed by Superintendent Adam Okaro, and he brought in a new DC, Jo Masters, to defuse the situation. In early 2005 Masters and fellow DC Suzie Sim discovered Pearson's involvement with rent boys and Manson vowed to destroy Pearson's reputation, however Pearson resigned from the force and migrated to Spain. Manson had a fling with an undercover journalist, PC Andrea Dunbar, and when she was killed, Manson went on leave. Webb returned to Sun Hill as a DS with the National Crime Squad, with evidence suggesting Manson was corrupt. The evidence was forged by someone, but Meadows fought to prove Manson's innocence. Webb was implicated and he and Jack nearly fell out with one another. The corrupt officer turned out to be DS Liz Garrett, Mickey's fiancée. Manson left Sun Hill when Pearson re-emerged and was stabbed to death trying to steal a tape from a blackmailer. Manson joined MIT and investigated when a dying convict accused Meadows of corruption, but Manson, Nixon and Webb cleared Meadows' name. Meadows and Manson now shared a mutual respect, and Manson returned to Sun Hill when Sergeant Dale Smith was arrested for killing his girlfriend Louise Larson. When the show ended in 2010, Jack Meadows had just been re-promoted to Superintendent, thus making it quite probable that a promotion for Neil Manson would have taken place.

Detective Constable Zain Nadir[]

In 2006 Meadows' senior officer, Superintendent Adam Okaro, was promoted to Chief Superintendent and became Borough Commander. The new Super, John Heaton, an eager to impress officer who just got promoted from DCI, demanded an increase in combating drug crimes, and Jack sent DC Zain Nadir undercover with a drug supplier, Kristen Shaw. Zain and Kristen got close and fell in love. He compromised a major drug deal bust and escaped with Kristen and a hostage, PC Honey Harman, but Honey's better judgement ended with a struggle and Kristen's gun went off, killing Honey. Zain's involvement was discovered and he was sent to jail for 10 years for perverting the course of justice. Zain's actions made Jack question his own judgement when DI Samantha Nixon was put in danger during an undercover operation to ensnare a group selling babies illegally. Zain returned to the scene in late 2007 when drug dealing was rife in the prison Zain was in. He helped to trap the dealers but the ringleader broke out of prison, so Zain was briefly taken out to track down the suspect. After an armed siege, Jack was injured but Zain overpowered the suspect and rescued two hostages and Meadows. Jack promised to have Zain transferred to an open prison.

Promotion to Superintendent[]

Jack worked on several major cases in his last two years as Detective Chief Inspector. They included a gunman targeting Superintendent John Heaton due to his knowledge of a smuggling ring involving a corrupt MP, the death of teenager and a major gang running riot on a local estate, a serial bomber who killed a Sun Hill PC, a major drug smuggling ring, a cold case involving a serial killer and a human trafficking ring that saw his promotion back to Superintendent when John Heaton revealed that he was transferring to another station, saying "The Position is yours if you want it".

Meadows remained at Sun Hill until the series finale in 2010, where the final scene was involved him leaving the station.

Service Record[]

Main article: Service Record

Family and Relationships[]

Spouses:

  • Laura Meadows (divorced in 2003)

Relationships:

Children 2

  • Benjamin Meadows (son, with Laura: born c1980)
  • Lucy Meadows (daughter, with Laura: born c1982)

Good friends with Bob Cryer, Derek Conway and Mickey Webb

Notes[]

  • Jack Meadows was the longest serving CID character with 17 years on the show as DCI between 1992 and 2009, beating DC Jim Carver who was a DC between 1988 and 1999.
    • Jack was also the longest serving Top Brass character, with 18 years serving as DCI, then Superintendent, between 1992 and 2010. He beats Charles Brownlow who had sixteen years as Chief Superintendent between 1984 and 2000.
    • He was the fifth longest serving character, beaten by June Ackland (1983-2007) & Reg Hollis (1984-2008) who both served for 24 years, and Tony Stamp (1987-2009) & Jim Carver (1983-2005), who served for 22 years.

Major Storylines[]


Preceded by:
DCI Kim Reid
Detective Chief Inspector
1992-2009
Succeeded by:
Unknown



Preceded by:
Superintendent John Heaton
Superintendent
2009-
Succeeded by:
Active


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