The actor who played PC Reg Hollis in hit TV series The Bill has been praised by officers after helping them arrest a shoplifter.

Jeff Stewart stepped in when a thief attempted to escape on a bicycle in Southampton on Wednesday.

In a statement, a Hampshire Constabulary spokesman said: “The thief, 29-year-old Mohamed Diallo, fell off the bike during his attempts to flee, before officers pounced to make their arrest.

“To their surprise, local TV legend Jeff Stewart, who played PC Hollis for 24 years in The Bill, came to their aid by sitting on the suspect’s legs while officers put him in cuffs.

“In policing you should always expect the unexpected, but this really wasn’t on The Bill for this week.”

The Bill was broadcast on ITV between 1984 and 2010 and featured the fictional lives of police officers from the Sun Hill police station in east London.

Mr Stewart, who was among the original cast, appeared in more than 1,000 episodes as PC Hollis.

In praising Mr Stewart’s actions, the force said: “Long since retired from Sun Hill station – but he’s still got it.”

Police from the Bargate Neighbourhoods Policing Team were alerted by staff at a Co-op store in Ocean Way to a suspected shoplifter on Wednesday.

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Mohamed Diallo, 29, of Anglesea Road, Southampton, was subsequently charged with five offences of theft relating to coffee, alcohol and food from the Co-op and two other Sainsbury’s stores on three dates in April and July.

He pleaded guilty at Southampton Magistrates’ Court on Thursday and was bailed to be sentenced on August 29.

The actor who played PC Reg Hollis in hit TV series The Bill has been praised by officers after helping them arrest a shoplifter.

Jeff Stewart stepped in when a thief attempted to escape on a bicycle in Southampton on Wednesday.

In a statement, a Hampshire Constabulary spokesman said: “The thief, 29-year-old Mohamed Diallo, fell off the bike during his attempts to flee, before officers pounced to make their arrest.

“To their surprise, local TV legend Jeff Stewart, who played PC Hollis for 24 years in The Bill, came to their aid by sitting on the suspect’s legs while officers put him in cuffs.

“In policing you should always expect the unexpected, but this really wasn’t on The Bill for this week.”

The Bill was broadcast on ITV between 1984 and 2010 and featured the fictional lives of police officers from the Sun Hill police station in east London.

Mr Stewart, who was among the original cast, appeared in more than 1,000 episodes as PC Hollis.

In praising Mr Stewart’s actions, the force said: “Long since retired from Sun Hill station – but he’s still got it.”

Police from the Bargate Neighbourhoods Policing Team were alerted by staff at a Co-op store in Ocean Way to a suspected shoplifter on Wednesday.

Read more from Sky News:
Hungary bans rappers Kneecap
Tributes paid to Hulk Hogan

Mohamed Diallo, 29, of Anglesea Road, Southampton, was subsequently charged with five offences of theft relating to coffee, alcohol and food from the Co-op and two other Sainsbury’s stores on three dates in April and July.

He pleaded guilty at Southampton Magistrates’ Court on Thursday and was bailed to be sentenced on August 29.

Pedro Pascal is everywhere right now.

You walk into the cinema and he’s on most of the film posters there: Fantastic Four: First Steps, Eddington, The Materialists and The Uninvited.

With that level of public attention, you wouldn’t be shocked to see the actor become closed off.

Shielded by a sea of publicists maintaining a studio’s desired image and an influx of influencers replacing film reporters, public figures speaking their mind in Hollywood have become somewhat of a rarity.

Perhaps this is why the delayed yet meteoric rise to fame for Pedro Pascal feels refreshing for his fans.

In between self-promotion for his latest projects, the Chilean-American uses his fame to highlight causes he cares about by wearing “Protect The Dolls” T-shirts in public settings, posting about food blockades into Gaza and linking non-profit organisations, Doctors Without Borders and The Trevor Project, on his Instagram account where he has over 11 million followers.

In a time where a single sentence can be taken out of context in a TikTok post or altered to suit a narrative driven by a headline (and yes, the irony of writing this does not go unnoticed), speaking candidly can feel like you’re walking into a trap.

“I think it’s very easy to get scared no matter what you sort of talk about,” the actor tells Sky News.

“There’s so many different ways that things can get kind of fractured and have a life of itself really.”

He adds: “It’s sort of a business part of the way media can work really. There’s one thing that you can say and no matter what your intention behind it, it is absolutely lost in all of these different headlines, I suppose, but I’ll never shut up.”

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It’s the last line, “I’ll never shut up”, that echoes after our four minute and two second conversation in the midst of a days-long “press run” in London for the release of The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

The 50-year-old knows one misstep in an increasingly reactive media industry can shatter the careers of many. Pascal is aware of the dangers but uses his voice anyway.

It’s that decision that makes him “fantastic”, maybe more so than his role as Dr Richard Reeds in The Fantastic Four: First Steps – a character quite literally weighed down with the worries of the world on his shoulders whilst simultaneously welcoming new life with his wife Sue Storm.

The film, directed by WandaVision’s Matt Shakman, stands alone in its own universe within the MCU and also features Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss Bachrach and Joseph Quinn.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is in cinemas now.