The Bill's final scene

* Since the change of format, people have started wondering how long the show's got. I've provided a fitting ending to the show, tying up the one loose end that I believe the writers must deal with. As for the very ending, it's nicely poetic, if not rather unlikely. Except for the very last scene, I've stuck with characters that are still in the show. Enjoy.

Meadows and Manson belted up the stairs after Beech. On the ground below, Carter grabbed his radio. "Sierra Oscar from DS Carter - have sighted suspect. DI Manson and Mr Meadows are giving chase. Suspect may be armed. Request backup." He turned to Webb. "What's Beech going to do?" Webb shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. I want to know what Mr Meadows is going to do when he gets his hands on him."

On the roof of the building, Beech raced to the far wall, trying to estimate the distance to the next building. Seconds later, Meadows and Manson appeared. Beech turned, exhausted, but still with the same infuriating smugness that Meadows had seen so many times before. He looked up at the man that for years he had called, "Guv". As Meadows and Manson stopped, only yards away from him, he sighed. "Well, Jack, you've finally got me." He stood up straight. "Tell me, Jack, how does it feel?"

Jack had always wondered what he'd say if he ever confronted Beech again. When he didn't answer, Beech continued.

"You've got to admit, Jack, I was good. I was a good DS, and I was a good crook. I could put away more collars than Boulton, Stanton and Daly, and all along you and Deakin couldn't even see me for what I was. Did you think about me, Jack? When they tore your team apart? When they sent you the DC that I puppywalked?" At that, Manson went to take a step back, but checked himself.

"What about when the whole of Sun Hill and the Met thought that you were incompetent? When they made you a Superintendent, did you think back to me Jack? I was your greatest failure! The dodgy-DS that was right under your nose, and you couldn't even tell! If it hadn't have been for me, you could have been a Commissioner, but everytime the top brass saw the name Jack Meadows, they saw the name Don Beech scrawled all over it! Well here I am Jack! Your nightmare is finally over!"

Jack had remained perfectly still throughout Beech's rant. He didn't care that Beech was right - he'd been regretting Beech for so long that he no longer cared that what the ex-cop said was true. He stared into Don Beech's eyes. Beech's desperation was still there, having never truly left since Jack had first seen him in prison all those years ago. That look of desperation, masked with arrogance...

"I've only got one thing to say to you, Beech."

Beech chuckled with the same faux arrogance he'd relied on ever since the night he'd killed his friend, DS Boulton. "And what's that, Jack?"

Meadows took a deep breath and said the words that he'd wanted to say for years: "Don Beech, I'm arresting you for murder, robbery with violence, impersonating a police officer, and attempting to pervert the course of justice."

As Meadows continued, Beech stared at him in disbelief. He had been responsible for the death of one of Meadows' sergeants, and the dismantling of one of Sun Hill's finest CID teams, and all Meadows was doing was telling him the same rights that he had said to hundreds of criminals during his own career as a policeman.

Beech looked over the side of the building to where Carter and Webb were fast being joined by a number of Sun Hill's uniforms. He gave a smile as he saw Webb beside the car. He turned back to Meadows. "Is that Mickey Webb down there, Jack? After everything that happened, there was still one hapless little constable that treated you like the god that Sun Hill used to think you were."

Manson stepped forward. "He's not a god, Don. He's a copper. He's everything that you could have been if you hadn't always been looking at the money you could get. He's a great detective and a better guv'nor. And after everything you've done, you can't change that."

Beech's smirk dropped, and the fury and desperation in his eyes was made plain. "Maybe he is, Neil. Maybe you're right. But after all these years, neither of you are going to have the satisfaction of walking into your office and not thinking of me."

With that, Don Beech took a step backwards, sending himself over the edge of the building. Manson ran forward to grab him, but the few feet between them and Beech meant that there was no hope of catching him. Meadows and Manson ran to the edge and peered over, seeing Webb kneeled over the body of his old sergeant.

-------------------------------------------

Back at Sun Hill, Meadows sat at his desk, staring into space. He poured himself a scotch, as his career ran through his mind. He thought back to all the times he'd wished that he'd never heard the name Don Beech, and thought of John Boulton and all the officers whose careers had been destroyed by Beech's corruption. He considered calling Chris Deakin and Geoff Daly, perhaps hoping that after all these years, they'd finally forgive him for saving his own career at the expense of theirs when Beech had been uncovered.

As he stared into his scotch, there was a knock on his office door. He considered pretending he wasn't in, but he knew that that was hardly professional. He called out, and the door opened, revealing Mickey Webb, carrying a folder.

"'Scuse, guv'nor", Webb said in the respectful, cockney voice reserved for when he knew Meadows was down. "Mr Manson asked me to drop the Beech report in to you."

Meadows thanked Webb and accepted the folder. Webb stood for a moment, unsure of whether to say anything. Thankfully, Meadows spoke first.

"He could have been great, you know, Mickey", Meadows said slowly. "He could smell a villain a mile away, and could get them like that", he said as he snapped his fingers.

Mickey smiled. "It takes one to know one, guv. There's a bit of villain in all of us, but we don't go killing our fellow coppers or taking money on the side. We all liked him, but he wasn't one of us."

Meadows slowly smiled at the boy who was still wet behind the ears when Beech's corruption had first rocked Sun Hill. The arrogant child had been replaced by a wise detective who had seen it all. Meadows then noticed that Mickey was also carrying a sheet of paper that he hadn't put down with Manson's report. "Is that for me as well?" he asked.

"Yeah, it is" replied Mickey, handing it to Meadows. "It's about our new DS; he starts Monday. Front office asked me to bring it up." Webb paused. "Who have they sent us?", Meadows questioned, slightly alarmed by Webb's reticence. Webb gave a hint of a smile. "You may want to tell him about Beech when he gets here."

"Why?" asked Meadows. "Who are they sending?" He looked at the paper that Webb had handed him and smiled.

--------------------------------------------

That Monday morning, a tired, yet smiling face looked up at the facade of the Sun Hill Police Station. It was the same building that he'd first entered more than a quarter of a century ago, and yet it seemed unrecognisable from that first glimpse he'd seen of it.

He took a second look at the station and took a deep breath.

"OK, Carver. Let's do this."

And walking towards the front door, Jim Carver began his first day at Sun Hill. Again.