Sally Johnson was a character in The Bill from 1993 until 1995 before making a number of guest appearances in 2003.
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Profile[]
Bright-eyed DI Sally ‘Magic’ Johnson believed she was God’s gift to policing, and she may have turned out to be just that if her interpretation of means-to-an-end had tallied with the Met’s. You could never have accused her of lacking in self-belief. Having risen through the ranks at an alarming pace to become a DS at Stafford Row, she was ready to tackle whatever another promotion and Sun Hill could throw at her by way of racist, sexist remarks. If she couldn’t deal with it, she wouldn’t have got where she was. Johnson had always been aware that her colour and education were an advantage within the force, and that they had led to her promotion in the climate of positive discrimination rather than on her real ability to do the job. This didn't mean that she was incompetent, but like a lot of the fast track promotions, she lacked a lot of basic ground experience. She put in the hours and got her hands dirty, but always found it difficult to accept that she was the Guvn'or now, and not one of the lads. And if there was an inner core of loneliness beneath the ambitious exterior, she took care to keep it hidden.
Johnson grew up in London, and it was soon clear to her West Indian family that she had brains. They were somewhat surprised when after university she chose to use them in the police force, but she rose through the ranks very quickly and loved going to work, loved being in control of others and, above all, loved catching thieves. Johnson charged along the corridors with her subordinates trying to keep up. Her easy manner won her friends and took the starch out of some of the senior officers. But on occasions her know-it-all air could be irritating. The word ‘delegate’ was not in her vocabulary – she enjoyed the work on the streets and in the interview room too much for that.
She may not have shown great wisdom in the detectives she had chosen to favour – making Danny Pearce her pet at the start was perhaps a mistake, and she'd been clumsy in her treatment of June Ackland, whose years of experience she undervalued. Johnson's unshakeable faith in her own abilities irritated a number of more experienced officers at the station and her confidence took a long overdue knock when she was subjected to a private prosecution for manslaughter following the raid of a crack dealer's house. Up till then she had been completely comfortable with her power. From then on she had moments of doubt. As her methods came under increasing scrutiny, it was clear that her days at Sun Hill were numbered - and when she was offered a desk job attachment monitoring overtime, she realised she had no choice but to take it.
Johnson eventually left the Met to become a private investigator. She returned to Sun Hill in 2003 to investigate claims of a fit up in the Simpson murder case.
In 2020, actress Jaye Griffiths recorded an episode of The Bill Podcast.
Service Record []
- 1993 - Seen planting evidence by WPC Polly Page whilst Johnson was at Stafford Row
- 1994 - Promoted to Detective Inspector and transferred to Sun Hill
- 1995 - Transferred from Sun Hill to Scotland Yard
- 2003 - Private Investigator looking into the truth about the Sun Hill Fire for jailed suspect Jeff Simpson
Major Storylines[]
| Preceded by: DI Harry Haines |
Sun Hill 1994-1995 |
Succeeded by: DI Chris Deakin |