Kerry Young is a fictional character from the British police procedural television series The Bill, played by Beth Cordingly. She first appeared in the eighteenth series episode "Too Close to the Wind", broadcast on 11 July 2002. Kerry was introduced as a police constable, who joins the Metropolitan Police ("the Met") at Sun Hill police station. Cordingly's casting, and the creation of her character, occurred after a large number of previous characters had been written out of the show by its new executive producer Paul Marquess.
Ahead of her audition, Cordingly worried that, because of her past roles, she might be typecast as a bitch. However, Marquess met all the new actors and wrote their characters around them, and Cordingly was relieved when Kerry's biography was full of "nice stuff". To prepare for the role, Cordingly spent time with the Met to learn about their daily routine and joined them for a day out in a squad car, which she admitted left her with motion sickness.
Kerry was initially portrayed as confident, bubbly, down-to-earth and impulsive. Cordingly said her character preferred to get on with things instead of analysing them, but sometimes her attitude frustrated her older colleagues. Cordingly enjoyed playing a character that was likeable, as opposed to some of her previous roles. However, Kerry became seen as a victim in her first year, because everything went wrong for her. She eventually began to grow stronger and harden up, as well as becoming tougher in her career too.
Cordingly found Kerry's police uniform helped her get into character, but she found it was unflattering and likened herself to the Michelin man when she wore it. A lot of Kerry's storylines focused on her love life. In her early scenes, Kerry had a one-night stand with PC Nick Klein (René Zagger). She later established a relationship with PC Luke Ashton (Scott Neal), which developed into a love triangle when he had an affair with Sergeant Craig Gilmore (Hywel Simons). Kerry and Luke eventually marry and she becomes pregnant, but she miscarries when she learns of Luke's affair. Cordingly thought that storyline went on for too long and found it hard credibly portray Kerry's ignorance regarding her husband.
Kerry later had a brief affair with Sergeant Dale "Smithy" Smith (Alex Walkinshaw), before she began a relationship with Australian PC Cameron Tait (Daniel MacPherson), whom she had to arrest in his debut episode. Cordingly and McPherson began a relationship in real life which they found helped them with their characters in later storylines.
In April 2004, Kerry was targeted by PC Gabriel Kent (Todd Carty), who manipulated her into thinking that Smithy had date-raped her. Cordingly pointed out that the audience saw a kiss between Smithy and Kerry and nothing else, leaving it ambiguous as to what happened. Gabriel used that to his advantage and told their colleagues Smithy had date-raped Kerry. In the midst of that, the shift were called to a bank siege, where Kerry volunteered to isolate with a man who had a bomb strapped to his chest. The storyline came to a dramatic climax when the bomb went off while Kerry was distracted, leaving her unconscious. Cordingly enjoyed being involved in the stunts during filming. Gabriel's obsession with Kerry led him to rape her, shortly after she became engaged to Cameron. Kerry did not report the rape and Carty believed it was because of her earlier accusation against Smithy, which would make her look like "the girl who cried wolf".
In an effort to prove that she was a good officer, Kerry went undercover with the Radfords, a local crime family. As she became romantically involved with David Radford (Alex McSweeney), Cordingly said Kerry's loyalties were divided, due to her disillusionment with the force and clashing with Inspector Gina Gold (Roberta Taylor). Lynda Bellingham said her character, Irene Radford, wanted to turn Kerry against the force. Cordingly was unsure whose side Kerry was on during the storyline.
On 29 March 2004, it was announced Cordingly had decided to leave the show. She had planned to go in January 2004, but chose to go out at "a climax point" for her character instead. Producers decided to kill her off and make her the fourth victim of the Sun Hill sniper. In the lead up to her final scenes, Kerry was arrested for her involvement with the Radford family, She uncovered Gabriel's real identity, and discovered that Andrea Dunbar (Natalie J. Robb) was actually an undercover journalist. Kerry also realised that she loved Smithy, who also declared his love for her. Cordingly made her final appearance as Kerry on 20 October 2004, when she was shot by Gabriel outside the station. ITV later aired a special episode about the character, titled The Bill Uncovered: Kerry's Story.
Casting In November 2001, a reporter for The Stage confirmed Beth Cordingly had joined the cast of The Bill. Her casting came shortly after the show's executive producer Paul Marquess wrote out a number of characters in a storyline that saw a fire sweep through Sun Hill station. Over the following weeks, Marquess introduced several new characters to the show, including PC Kerry Young. Cordingly felt that going into her audition for The Bill she would be typecast as "an out-and-out bitch" because of her roles as Sara Warrington in Family Affairs and Norma Kennedy in Semi-Monde. She explained "Paul Marquess, the producer, met actors then wrote the characters around them. It was nerve-wracking for me. I'd been cast as two very strong, bitchy, destructive women previously what if The Bill people wrote that sort of part for me again? If another bitch came up then that had to mean I came across that way. So when I got Kerry's biography through and it was full of nice stuff I was very relieved." Cordingly was both surprised and "thrilled" when she won the role of Kerry. Her first day on set was 7 January 2002. The following month she carried out research into her character's career by spending time with the Met to learn about their daily routine. She joined them for a day out in a squad car driving around London. Cordingly admitted the speed at which they drove left her feeling ill with "a sort of motion sickness." She made her debut as Kerry on 11 July 2002.
Development Characterisation
Kerry was initially billed as "a confident woman who lands in some tricky situations." Kerry's profile on the show's official website describes her as impulsive, optimistic, willing to "get her hands dirty" and a "believer in fate". Cordingly enjoyed playing a character that was not "a real bitch" unlike her previous roles. She called Kerry "loving, confident and bubbly", as well as likeable, "open with everybody" and attractive to men. She said Kerry often "leaps before she looks", and was not one for analysing things, as she would rather just get on with it. Sometimes her attitude leads to frustration from her older colleagues, but her "natural charm" almost always sees someone willing to help her out of bad situations. Her profile also states that she has a tendency to become "petulant" if her charm does not work and someone dislikes her. In her fictional backstory, Kerry was raised by her single father, following the death of her mother when she was young. This has led Kerry to look for "the perfect fairytale marriage", which results in her establishing relationships that inevitably fail.
Cordingly was keen to wear Kerry's police uniform when she started out and found that it helped her get into character. However, after a few months of filming, she said that it was not sexy at all and believed she resembled the Michelin man when wearing it. Describing the uniform for a piece in the Sunday Mirror, Cordingly wrote: "On my feet are huge army boots. Then we have the trousers. Nice and sturdy. Now come the layers – shirt, jumper and bulbous stab-vest (which makes me look like a turtle)." She said the belt to which the various pieces of police equipment were attached made sure that viewers could not see that she had a waist. She likened the coat to something worn by Paddington Bear, while the hat was in the "Laurel and Hardy-style". Cordingly thought she looked "hilarious" and believed her co-stars looked both "cool and relaxed" while she felt like King Kong.
A year after her introduction, Cordingly stated that her character had changed "quite a lot over time" and was starting to harden up. She thought they were both "defensive and protective" when it came to their feelings, but Kerry was "more of a doer" and very impulsive. Cordingly admitted that she would think things through before reacting and was more of a worrier, but she said Kerry was more physical, whereas she would "stress about something" before acting. Cordingly later said that Kerry had had "a crazy life". She explained that when she joined The Bill, she wanted to play someone different to her Family Affairs character and Kerry was "a victim rather than the one creating trouble."
While talking about Kerry's early scenes with the Sunday Mail'''s Mickey McMonagle, Cordingly said "I've been on The Bill for about a year and a half and in my first year I had loads of storylines. It was all quite mad and traumatic with gay husbands and miscarriages and lots of tears. She was happily bobbing along being lovely and everything kept going wrong for her. I have had great stories and stuff but it has been a little bit boring playing nice all the time. I'd like to see her stretched a bit more." Cordingly agreed that her character was "very much the victim" in her first year, but she had started working on new plots that would put Kerry "on a different journey" and would see her becoming stronger. She said Kerry would become "a lot tougher police-wise too", which she found "odd to play" because Kerry had been "so nice" up to that point and now she was being unsympathetic to rape victims. Cordingly enjoyed the challenge of changing her character into "a powerful, no-nonsense PC."
Relationships
The majority of Kerry's storylines focused on her love life. Cordingly thought that her character "hurls herself into a relationship" when she receives "the slightest bit of affection". When she was introduced, Jo Haywood of Inside Soap confirmed that Kerry would get off to a bad start at Sun Hill when she learns that Nick Klein (René Zagger), who she had a recent one-night stand with, is actually a fellow PC. Kerry was also in a relationship with solicitor Martin Porter (Simon Chadwick) at the time. Not long after, she "caught the attention" of PC Luke Ashton (Scott Neal) and they begin dating. However, Luke is also having an affair with their sergeant Craig Gilmore (Hywel Simons). Kerry and Luke's relationship becomes strained when Martin is arrested on suspicion of being a serial killer. Kerry is "stunned" by the news and begs Gilmore to let her see Martin, but he refuses. With Martin's "predicament weighing on her mind", Kerry's relationship with Luke starts to suffer. Eventually Luke and Kerry get engaged, despite Luke's continued affair with Gilmore and denial that he is gay. In the build up to the wedding, "a few hitches" occur, including the arrival of Luke's father and "dress disasters".