Show Notes
Nic Phillips is a prolific television director. As well as 20 hard-hitting episodes of The Bill, Nic's many directing credits include Brookside, Casualty, Coronation Street, EastEnders and the sitcoms Barbara, Birds of a Feather, Desmond's, Goodnight Sweetheart and My Family.
Working in the screen trade since 1968, Nic got his drama directing debut on LWT's The Gentle Touch - the first police procedural with a leading female detective, D.I. Maggie Forbes played by the late great Jill Gascoine.
I interviewed Nic for his memories of The Gentle Touch for the November edition of Best of British Magazine. There was so much material that I couldn't squeeze into the article that Nic kindly gave his blessing to this extended podcast, in which he shares some astonishing stories from his career and I hope gives you a real flavour of the role of the director, especially working in multi-camera television and with some fellow Sun Hill luminaries.
Nic will be returning to The Bill Podcast Patreon channel for a special two-part commentary session looking at the epic 2005 Sun Hill station fire episodes he directed.
This interview with Nic was first released on Patreon nine months ago. Unlock over 300 hours of exclusive podcast content on patreon.com/thebillpodcast
The Bill Podcast is brought to you in proud association with dec4podcast.com michaelseely.substack.com vanguardcomics.co.uk gibconsultancy.co.uk mcr-seo.com and donspillane.com
More from The Bill Podcast
In Part 2 of this cracking chat, Nuala shares more The Bill memories, including filming out in Sydney and working with Graham Cole on his autobiography!
Legendary publicist Nuala Giblin is one of the most prolific behind the scenes names of The Bill and Richard Handford himself said that Nuala should be a special guest on the podcast. Oliver hopes you enjoy this fascinating interview as much as he did! There'll be more gold-dust to come next month in Part 2.
The Bill ROYALTY is in the house. The original police advisor. The leading scriptwriter of the original hour-long episodes. A staggering amount of Barlby Road episodes. The real deal is here: the one and only Barry Appleton.
The perfect gift for Father's Day!
The Bill Podcast's Oliver Crocker appeared on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire on 10 June 2026 to discuss the autobiography of former Flying Squad detective and legendary The Bill police advisor and scriptwriter Barry Appleton. Oliver was delighted to chat to producer and presenter Sue Dougan live in the studio.