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PC Bradford is grabbed by the escaped prisoner... |
But it would soon change...PC Cathy Bradford left Sun Hill in handcuffs. She was arrested and charged with two murders, GBH,
arson and other minor offences.
How did it happen? What could have happened if the producers at The Bill hadn't changed their minds about Cathy
Bradford?
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She went from this... |
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...to this! |
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PC Cathy Bradford in all her glory |
The producers first planned the character of PC Cathy Bradford to be that of an
ambitious, highly strung officer who would eventually settle down and marry PC Nick Klein.
But when new producer Paul Marquess took over, things took a drastic change. It
was decided to develop the character of PC Cathy Bradford into a mentally unstable officer who would be unhealthily obsessed
with DC Brandon Kane. This would lead to murder and GBH and many lies.
It all started off with Cathy standing still for a little too long, looking at
people for that extra moment...soon the lies began. She desperately wanted to be with DC Kane from the moment he joined Sun
Hill and started to lie and manipulate people around her to get close to Brandon.
The lies consisted of pretending that she was HIV+ after being cleared, pretending
that she was pregnant and had a miscarriage and twisting people's words. Angry at Brandon, she spilt coffee all over herself
and then told everyone Brandon had done it...
...Cathy's only nemesis was FDO Roberta Cryer. When Robbie asked Cathy about what
medication she was on for her HIV and received a lie, she knew. She knew that Cathy was lying about the HIV and about everything
else. Cathy sensed this and knew that she would have to get rid of Robbie as soon as possible. When Robbie was allowed to
work as a CAD operator, Cathy lied about being at a victim's house at the same time as an urgent 999 call came through
from the same address. When PC Bradford then radioed later for urgent assistance, Robbie knew she was lying and refused...Cathy
began to scream as she pressed her panic button and Robbie just flipped. Jumping out of her chair, she screamed, "She's gone
too far this time!!!". Unfortunately PC Kerry Young didn't see it this way and then got a disconnected 999 call from Cathy.
She soon summoned all available Units to help PC Bradford.
Cathy was found beaten up. Her injuries were quite horrific but it was interesting
to note that none of her injuries were around the eye...
..the sign of self assault.
Cathy had actually beaten herself up to get rid of Robbie Cryer. Robbie was suspended from the Met after failing to respond
to an Urgent Assistance call from a PC. Cathy then saw Robbie outside Sun Hill and confessed all - she had beaten herself
up.
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Cathy at St. Hugh's Hospital |
Meanwhile, an attractive doctor, Sandra Malik, was getting close to Brandon.
They started to see each other and of course, Cathy couldn't have that. After Cathy assaulted Sandra after a confrontation
over Brandon, Sandra decided to make an official complaint against PC Bradford and wanted her chucked out of the Met. Cathy
retaliated by fitting Dr. Malik up, by twisting things and stealing Malik's mobile phone. She then made abusive phone
calls to Sun Hill from Malik's phone and then conveniently 'traced' the number. The number matched Sandra Malik's phone. All
she had to do now, was to put the phone back in Sandra's office at St. Hugh's, and all was done.
When Tanya Kane (Brandon's estranged wife) was planning to take a job in Scotland
and take Zoe and Jordan Kane with her, Cathy framed Tanya for Drink Driving. "No licence - no job" confessed Cathy in
her last hour. When Tanya came to Cathy for advice about getting back with Brandon, their meeting ended up with Tanya Kane,
unconscious at the bottom of a car park staircase. Cathy nearly lost it and was nearly caught, but managed to smuggle incriminating
CCTV footage of her at the scene. But it would be this CCTV tape that would prove her undoing.
Sadly Tanya Kane died of her injuries and no one was arrested. The coroner
decided it was an accident and Brandon decided to put the whole event behind him. Cathy was safe. For now.
After Dr. Preston's suicide, Cathy came to help PC Polly Page. Cathy made
her lie in her statement and say that she came home and found Owen Preston dead rather than the truth. Dr. Preston's
death was ruled as a suicide and it was only when a nosy relative of Owen Preston put two and two together and came up with
five, did the CPS look into the case deeper and decided to arrest Polly Page of murder. At this time, Polly was seeing a nice
man called Max Wyman whom she was very fond of. When Polly was arrested, Cathy became close to Max (he was very rich) and
then, with Max mesmerised with her, Max decided to propose to Cathy. All were...surprised to find out that cold,
loner Cathy had got engaged but none the less were happy for her. Cathy was over the moon - just think of the money.
PC Bradford, under oath, made Polly look like a black widow, who wanted Owen
dead for his money and on the strength of her testimony, Polly was found guilty of murder. This immediately made Cathy a few
enemies - Sgt. June Ackland was disgusted at the way that Cathy had acted in court and from now on was going to keep a close
eye on Ms. Bradford.
The day that DC Juliet Becker was stabbed, Cathy was asked to appear on GMTV's
Lorraine Kelly Show to talk about Polly and her case. Of course, Cathy claimed that Polly was a crap copper and that
Cathy 'believed in the British judicial system'. No one who knew Polly could bear to see Cathy smearing Polly's
well respected reputation.
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PC Bradford appears on GMTV |
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This tape cost Cathy her position in Sun Hill CSU |
After her carelessness with a vital piece of evidence in a rape case for CSU,
Cathy was removed from the Community Safety Unit and demoted sideways back to uniform duties. When Cathy came back from leave,
she noticed that DC Brandon Kane and PC Honey Harman were getting close after a joint CID-Uniform operation and this angered
Cathy. Cathy couldn't stand how someone like Honey could get so close to Brandon, when Cathy was here all along. Did the night
that Cathy and Brandon spent together mean anything to him? (Brandon had sex with Cathy one night - when he was drunk).
With Brandon's children staying at Honey's house, Brandon was starting a normal shift when Sgt. Smith stopped him in the corridor.
There had been a call from CAD to an address where there was a house fire. The house was Honey's.
Luckily no one was hurt in the blaze, but Brandon blamed Honey. It turned out
that incense sticks had caused the fire in the house and everyone blamed Honey. Cathy also stuck the knife in, making poor
Honey paranoid about the fire. With Brandon at his own house, Cathy could relax.
With Cathy's lie about her being pregnant, Brandon felt sorry for Cathy and
allowed her to stay at his house and look after the children. Meanwhile, Cathy's pretence with Max was getting on her nerves.
She couldn't live with this lie any longer and needed to end the relationship. When trying to attract his attention away from
something whilst on duty and in full uniform, she tried the whole 'let's take our relationship a step further' routine and
started kissing Max. Of course, Max was enjoying this and liked it a lot - Cathy didn't. When Max wanted more, Cathy knew
she couldn't. Max, thinking Cathy was playing hard to get, was a little forceful, and this angered Cathy - so she pushed him
back, which caused him to hit his head. With Max stunned on the floor, Cathy regretted what she had done. She didn't want
the relationship, but she didn't want this. She went closer to see if Max was alright, but Max sprung to life and grabbed
Cathy closer to kiss her. This was the moment that she flipped, and suddenly looked at Max with a look in her eye, and as
quick as lightning, grabbed her ASP. As she extended the ASP to full length, Max uttered his last words, "Cathy - what are
you doing??" when PC Bradford brought the ASP down on Max's head. Hard.
Cathy had to pretend to be the grieving widow when she "found" out Max was
dead. She pulled off a very convincing performance and was sent home. MIT couldn't find any link to the body they found and
a murderer, so it looked like Cathy was in the clear. She started to head home to Brandon's.
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Cathy's crocodile tears... |
Brandon had come home earlier to find his children in Cathy's bedroom. They
had found a tape and they were watching "mummy". Sickened, he looked towards the TV screen and it was CCTV footage of his
dead wife and PC Cathy Bradford moments before her death. Petrified, he grabbed the tape, his children and left the house,
not before putting an empty video case where the children had found the tape.
Brandon confided in Honey after watching the tape when he realised what Cathy
had done. Angry at first at how she was treated about the fire, Honey soon put that aside when she watched the tape. She remembered
what MIT had said about Max's death - that he had been killed with a blunt instrument. Could this have been a police issued
ASP? Whilst Brandon went to go and speak to Robbie Cryer in her new job, Inspector Gina Gold reprimanded the
relief for loosing bits of their kit. "...and to top it all of, we've lost an ASP!" shouts Insp. Gold.
Honey asked who had lost their ASP and Insp Gold looked down the sheet of paper and said, "PC Bradford".
Brandon went to go and see Robbie Cryer at Canley Leisure Pool, since he knew
that Robbie and Cathy weren't particularly good friends. Robbie told him the disturbing truth - Cathy was doing this for him...she
was obsessed with him! As Brandon left the pool, Robbie was stopped by someone outside the staff entrance. She was later beaten
up and left by the roadside...
...any guesses who beat Robbie up?
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Cathy stands over Robbie's unconscious body |
Brandon, who found out that Cathy had reported her ASP missing, raced home
to search Cathy's room. Cathy had kept a token of Tanya's death (the video tape) and he was working on the logic that she'd
keep the bloodstained ASP in her room. He was right. He was nearly caught by Cathy himself when she came home early from
beating Robbie up. Quick thinking Brandon managed to escape with the ASP without Cathy catching on.
With all the evidence he needed, Brandon told the DCI and Supt. Okaro about
his suspicions about Cathy. They were shocked when they realised that the ASP contained Max's blood on it. With everyone at
Sun Hill informed that their colleague, Cathy Bradford, was wanted by MIT in connection with two murders, they realised that
all was not well with Cathy. With MIT and PCs Harman and Stamp outside Cathy's house, should she come back, it looked impossible
for Cathy to not be caught. When PC Stamp nipped off for a quick pee, Cathy sneaked up to PC Harman and smacked her
over the head with a pole and sneaked into the house. She couldn't find the video tape OR the ASP. She knew that she had been
found out.
With nothing left to loose - Cathy formulated a plan. Back on went the uniform
and kit (minus the ASP of course) and it was straight to Zoe and Jordan Kane's school. After lying to the headmistress, she
took Zoe and Jordan to her car. After telling them that they were going 'to have the time of their lives' she drove off. When
Sun Hill realised that Zoe and Jordan were missing, it was too late. Cathy was on her way...but to where?
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Courtesy of TVQuick...interview with Connie Hyde, a.k.a PC Cathy Bradford |
With every available unit out conducting door to door enquiries around Sun
Hill, Cathy called PC Honey Harman's mobile. Her message to Honey was "you're getting warmer". What could
this mean? It wouldn't have been so hard to work out if it had been warmer back at Sun Hill. The heating had gone off suddenly.
A technician was called in to fix the boiler.
When the boiler technician's boss called Sun Hill asking where the hell the
technician was, Sgt. Ackland began to worry. Down she went into Sun Hill's boiler room, to find a stirring boiler technician.
"That copper you're looking for," he pointed to the door to the boiler room.
"She's in there!"
Cathy was pleased when they had finally found her hiding place. She had been
extremely lucky - someone had forgotten to invalidate her swipe card which allowed her access to Sun Hill police
station. Ooopsy! With Cathy giggling and saying that she would speak to DC Kane only, Brandon was called in. He
managed to speak to Cathy and for him to take the children's places. At the last moment, Cathy changed her mind and allowed
only one child free. Brandon screamed to be allowed in - Cathy allowed this, and made sure he could see the knife to Zoe's
neck. Seeing Brandon, she allowed Zoe to be released. As Brandon kissed his daughter goodbye, he whispered to tell the officers
outside that Cathy has a knife. Cathy, alarmed, demands to know what he said to her. "Zoe said that she loved me and I told
her I loved her back". Cathy smiled.
With all of Sun Hill evacuated and operations being conducted from Barton Street
- Brandon and Cathy talked. Well, it was mostly Cathy talking. There was the odd moment when Brandon managed to outsmart Cathy
and tried to overpower her, but all he got in return was a stab wound to his shoulder.
Cathy threw a spanner in the works, literally when she shut off all the electricity
to Sun Hill. DC Eva Sharpe and DS Sam Nixon, using torches, looked through Cathy's possessions from her home. They found clippings
from newspapers - including one about a serial killer called "The Teacher".
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PC Cathy Bradford - near the end |
Meanwhile, a stabbed DC Kane had to listen
to Cathy recounting the harrowing experience of being abducted as a child by 'The Teacher'. At first Brandon didn't believe...but
the he did. It wasn't worth it, because she was lying. As DC Sharpe and DS Nixon found out, it wasn't Cathy who was abducted,
it was her friend. So, it wasn't the abduction that scarred Cathy for life - she had always been like this.
With TSG (Territorial Support Group) and
the Dog Units on standby - and the covert microphone not working, Supt Okaro decided to end the siege. The microphone wasn't
working since Cathy had moved into a further room at the back of the main boiler room. Orders were - GO, GO, GO!
Brandon decided to have one last crack
of the whip and nearly managed to overpower Cathy. Actually, Brandon ended up with the knife, quite an achievement since
Cathy had handcuffed him to a pipe - but Cathy wasn't giving up easily. She grabbed a discarded tank of
petrol and started to shake it around. Out came the lighter...
Inspector Gold, along with the TSG had
managed to enter the boiler room and when they found it empty, they found the hidden room at the back. Petrol was smelt and
Insp Gold screamed for extinguishers to be on stand by...
Cathy - a woman who was over the edge,
held the lighter in her hand, watching DC Kane. Brandon, petrified went to grab the lighter, but managed to knock it out of
her hand. BANG goes the Boiler Room. Cathy jumped to Brandon and held on, a look of pure fear in her eyes.
This was it, she thought. The End.
Only, it wasn't. TSG stormed in, extinguished
the fire and when Cathy opened her eyes, she was being forced onto the ground by TSG and being handcuffed by Sgt. Ackland.
Oh, Cathy wasn't going silently, she was screaming. Pure blood curdling screams and wails escaped Cathy's mouth and she
tried to escape the clutches of TSG.
As Supt. Okaro read out Cathy's rights,
Cathy silently mouthed them.
"...may harm your defence if you
don't mention it court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence...I'm a police officer!" she wailed as they
led her away.
The last Sun Hill saw of Police Constable
Cathy Bradford was when she was forced into the police van. Smiling, she was pushed into the van. It was only inside did her
facade break and she sobbed. She wouldn't be tried for her crimes - sectioned under the Mental Health Act more like.
There came the end of PC (ex. Inspector)
Catherine Bradford. She came to Sun Hill with ambitions of becoming an inspector again, "because [she] had initiative!" as
she yelled at PC Dave Quinnan. But it wasn't to be.
No marriage to PC Nick Klein.
No pips on her shoulder.
Just a blackened police shirt with the silver 'SO 570'
all ripped from her epaulettes and running mascara as she sobbed her way to Barton Street.
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