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"The Anniversary, Part Two" is an episode of the long-running ITV police-procedural drama series, The Bill. The episode is significant in the show's history as it is the second of two episodes broadcast live. The Anniversary, Part 2 was broadcast live on 22 September 2005 at 8:00pm, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of ITV1. The episode was written by Graham Mitchell, directed and co-produced by Sylvie Boden, and produced by Donna Wiffen.[citation needed]
The episode begins with Superintendent Prosser struggling to negotiate with Jeff Clarke at gunpoint, while PC Gabriel Kent tries to help her talk Clarke down. As DCs Jo Masters, Terry Perkins and Zain Nadir give station tours, Kent spots them and tells them to stay where they are. As DCI Jack Meadows prepares to open the 50th anniversary proceedings, he sends PC Dan Casper to find Superintendent Prosser. As he enters CID, he is taken hostage by Clarke along with the rest of the group, however in the confusion Prosser grabs a radio and alerts CAD to the situation. Clarke fires a shot at Prosser and misses, but the gunshot is heard by the partygoers and glass from a CID window almost hits PC Roger Valentine out front. DCI Meadows takes DSs Phil Hunter and Samantha Nixon to the reception, and Sergeant Dale Smith goes to the door to be briefed. As Meadows coordinates a raid, Superintendent Adam Okaro forgets his leave and joins him to spearhead the operation. In CID, Clarke receives a call from Meadows, and Prosser foolishly persuades Dan to tackle Clarke. Despite protests from DCs Masters and Nadir, Dan lunges for Clarke along with Terry. In the struggle, the guests and other officers flee CID, but Clarke's gun goes off and shoots the real Gabriel Kent, sending him over the CID balcony. Clarke refuses to relinquish his weapon and it goes off again, hitting Dan in the arm, allowing Clarke to throw off Terry and take control of the situation once more. After initially refusing to let PC Kent get to his alter ego, he laments and lets him get down to him. Gabriel proceeds to take his brother's wallet and phone, then lets DSs Hunter and Nixon join him to get him aid. Meadows negotiates safe passage for paramedics with Clarke, who demands the ambulance not be let in to prevent SO19 being snuck in with it. Terry makes Dan comfortable and begins his own negotiation, and manages to find a mic and earpiece when Clarke throws all the phones out the window. Despite protests from Prosser, suspended Inspector Gina Gold takes over the negotiation and keeps in touch with Terry. As Supt. Okaro suggests checking the boy who killed Clarke's son, Ashley Morgan, PC Valentine discovers that he has gone missing. As Gina talks to Terry, he realises Clarke has abducted him, but they are unable to determine where he is holding him. As SO19 arrive, Sergeant Marc Rollins tells Prosser he has a clear shot on Clarke, but the fear of Morgan not being found leads her to opt against taking Clarke out. As the stress gets to her, Prosser takes Okaro aside for a chat, telling him it is clear where loyalties lie; "This your station, you're the one who should be running it." Prosser proceeds to her office to pack up her belongings, and Adam takes sole control of the negotiation.
At the hospital, Gabriel watches on as his brother is attended to, and sneaks in when the room is empty to wake him and threaten him not to say anything about David's theft of his identity. Back at Sun Hill, Terry manages to get Dan released so he can have his gunshot wound treated. After psycho-analysing one another, Clarke realises that Terry is wired and removes his earpiece before smashing the recorder. Explaining that he has abducted Ashley Morgan and was planning on blowing himself, Morgan and Prosser up, he begins his final act. When DC Suzie Sim finds Clarke's car, DS Phil Hunter and DC Zain Nadir steal a car parked out the front and drive after it, Clarke shooting at them as they escape before Zain loses control and hits construction. Thinking they are out of the way, Clarke begins to escape CID holding Terry hostage as Phil and Zain try to free Ashley from the boot of the car. Terry screams at his colleagues that the car is wired, and radio transmissions warn Phil and Zain. As they rescue Ashley, they race away from the car before it explodes. As word reaches Clarke, he drags Terry outside and tells him he would not hurt him. With the final words "Go and see your kids, Terry" (from whom he was estranged), Clarke pushes Terry away and holds his gun at him before being shot dead by SO19.
While the siege is referenced in the episodes that follow, the major plot that follows the events are the Sun Hill team's attempts to identify the shooting victim in hospital, with PC Gabriel Kent fretting that his identity may be rumbled, and he makes plans to elope with his fiancé, PC Sheelagh Murphy. When Sergeant June Ackland asks PC Laura Bryant to review CCTV for a press release, she admitted to Sergeant Dale Smith that she was working the front desk at the time and the man identified himself as Gabriel Kent, and that he wanted to see June. Knowing that June had a son who was adopted as Gabriel Kent, who Smithy had assumed was PC Kent, the pair took their findings to June. Accompanying her to hospital, June was devastated as she identified him as her son. Admitting she had kept PC Kent's identity a secret, she revealed he was actually David Kent, Gabriel's adoptive brother. Smithy put the info aside for the time being, telling June he always suspected Gabriel raped deceased lover Kerry, and shared with her Andrea's suspicions of Gabriel's involvement with the serial sniper. As Gabriel became more concerned, he went to the hospital and set off a fire alarm to get access to his brother's room, smothering him with a pillow. Smithy arranged for PC Steve Hunter to check out the hospital and found the real Gabriel unconscious and unresponsive. The crash team revived him, and back at Sun Hill DS Samantha Nixon found out that the shooting victim's clothes were US-made, and after contacting Interpol and the FBI, discovered the fingerprint on file was registered to the real Gabriel Kent. Liaising with Smithy, he arranged an arrest team as Sam prepared her facts to take them to Superintendent Okaro. Attending a call about burning clothes being thrown from a block of flats, Gabriel noticed an arrest team down below and dragged June up to the roof as a hostage. Admitting he had "killed" her son, colluded with sniper then killed him and left PC Andrea Dunbar to die in the station fire, it was the revelation that he had raped PC Kerry Young that led to Sergeant Dale Smith, who was observing the events, coming out of cover to attack Gabriel. As he put him on the floor and went to rescue June, who was handcuffed to a railing, Gabriel returned to his feet and attacked Smithy again. Overpowering him, Gabriel realised he had nowhere left to run and climbed onto a scaffolding pole before jumping off the rooftop to his death. His death was deemed suicide at an inquest, and June used it as an opportunity to reunite with her son. PC Sheelagh Murphy, engaged to Gabriel at the time of his death, left Sun Hill after his inquest to join the Child Protection Team, having initially planned a resignation in the wake of his suicide.
