19: Emmanuel Petit, Arsenal, Merlin’s Premier League 98 Official Sticker Collection

The various streaming platforms available today mean that it is rare for a show to create the kind of water cooler moments dreamed of by producers and writers. The recent deep dive into the extent of human gullibility that is The Traitors has perhaps come close while the hype around Game Of Thrones meant that its sets across the world became closely guarded especially when famous faces made cameo appearances. Ipswich Town fan, and apparent Sky Sports pundit, Ed Sheeran chewed through the forest scenery while Lovejoy and Deadwood star Ian McShane fared considerably better. He did, however, come under fire from those terrified of spoilers when he revealed the tiniest of hints about his fairly irrelevant scenes. His riposte of “I was accused of giving the plot away, but I just think get a f***ing life. It’s only tits and dragons” hit harder than any of his actual lines.

While the likes of Eric Cantona and Vinnie Jones made the transition into Hollywood blockbusters many Premier League stars of the 1990s were content with cameos more in line with Ian McShane’s. CBBC managed to get Gary Mabbutt to show off some silky skills on a sand based astro turf pitch in The Queen’s Nose before calling upon Luis Boa Morte to present a cup to a victorious Grange Hill side. Either caught up in post-World Cup excitement or painfully unaware of his absence of charisma someone at the BBC decided to get Michael Owen on board for two different series. It’s testament to both Owen’s lack of self-awareness and Neville Southall’s enduring brilliance that the latter managed to steal the limelight at an empty Britannia Stadium. Around the same time France and Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Petit decided that kid’s TV was not quite edgy enough and turned up alongside Sun Hill’s finest in The Bill.

Police dramas have become grittier and darker in recent years but The Bill was a must watch from its debut in 1984 until the early 2000s. I appreciate this might be coming from a very rose tinted perspective as it was one of the first grown up things I remember watching and, moreover, talking about the next day at school. The beatdown bad boy Eddie Santini received from some Sun Hill heavies, bordering on WWE levels of believability, became a reference point for several playground dust ups while the emergence of La Roux in the electropop mess of the late 2000s was considerably more interesting when it turned out her mum was none other than the programme’s mainstay Sergeant June Ackland. Clearly rubbing shoulders with such television royalty was all that was missing from Petit’s CV in the winter of 1998 when he appeared as himself in the Christmas special to cheer up an Arsenal supporting hit and run victim.

Earlier that year Emmanuel Petit had won the Premier League and FA Cup in his first season at Highbury before heading home to win the World Cup. His late goal capped a 3-0 victory in the final against Brazil and his central midfield partnership with club mate Patrick Vieira brought the perfect blend of tenacity, toughness and talent. He added the European Championship to his trophy cabinet in 2000 before moving from North London to Barcelona with Marc Overmars. A combination of injuries and questionable coaching meant he spent just one season in Catalonia before returning to London with Chelsea. Petit forged a handy partnership with a young Frank Lampard as the Blues began to grow in stature in the Premier League before persistent knee injuries limited his game time. He was courted by Bolton Wanderers but decided to call time on his career in 2005.

Clearly the cast of The Bill would have been far more star struck than Emmanuel Petit was around them when he made his brief appearance in Sun Hill but it’s unlikely he started making Mariah Carey/Jordi Masipesque demands on set. Following his retirement Petit has been an ambassador for the Homeless World Cup movement since its conception in 2011 while his preferred shirt number paid tribute to his brother who tragically passed away at the age of seventeen. All this, as well as his classy demeanour on the pitch, hints at a likeable and grounded bloke. There’s every possibility, however, that he may have ben in awe of the likes of DC Jim Carver and PC Tony Stamp. At its peak the Sun Hill bobbies enjoyed nearly ten million regular viewers and I stand by my comments on these very pages when suggesting Ian Marshall wouldn’t have looked out of place causing bother on the ITV staple. There were no bad episodes of The Bill and this was never more true than when they featured Emmanuel Petit.