05 Nov 09
Graham Cole who played PC Tony Stamp for 25 years made his first appearance on The Bill in the episode titled ‘The Drugs Raid’ which first aired on 20th November 1984; he was an unnamed walk-on.
Three years later in ‘Some You Win, Some You Lose’ Graham’s character was given the name PC Stamp; however he still didn’t have any lines. Nonetheless within a couple of months he did get to speak and in ‘Not Without Cause’, that first aired 2nd December 1987, his first dialogue was: “Terry the tortoise.”
In 1993, Stamp was shot; accused of causing death by dangerous driving in ’98 and accused of sexual abuse in 2002. He had a least 12 on screen accidents, including running down a pedestrian and PC June Ackland.
His last episode titled ‘Rescue Me’ went out on 5th November 2009. PC Stamp has 34 years of service under his belt, whilst Graham spent 25 years acting on the show. With a tally of 1217 episodes, Stamp was the longest time a character had been on the show.
See his photo gallery, view his last scenes video and a retropective montage video.
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