'The Bill' star dismisses 'CSI' rivalry

The Bill star Simon Rouse has claimed that the show does not need to compete with US crime drama CSI.

Speaking to What's On TV, Rouse - Jack Meadows on the ITV1 cop drama - said that The Bill's new post-watershed timeslot does not mean that the two programmes are now in competition.

"Why do we want to compete with them? I love American shows but they are very different people, they're much more cartoon-like. We're not like that, we're a bit more subtle and ironic," he said.

"We're an English cop show. I think people get worried about 'are we as good as...', I think we're very, very good and I'm very proud of what we do."

The Bill began airing in high definition earlier this week.