Samantha Nixon

Infobox character
name = DI Samantha Nixon


caption = Lisa Maxwell as DI Samantha Nixon
first = Episode #038
occupation = Police Officer
title = Detective Inspector
callsign = DI Nixon
portrayer = Lisa Maxwell

Detective Inspector Samantha Nixon is a fictional character in the ITV drama "The Bill". Sam first arrived in Sun Hill in 2002. As DI Nixon is a CID officer she does not have a callsign and in radio communications is simply referred to as "DI Nixon". Sam is played by Lisa Maxwell and is currently the longest serving female character.

44 year old Samantha Nixon is originally from Enfield, North London. She is a measured person both professionally and emotionally and because of this can be accused of being closed down emotionally. Fiercely intelligent, Samantha's gained two degrees, a first in Psychology after 5 years of Open University and a 2:1 in Criminology after that. She's genuinely, academically interested in police work and prior to joining Sun Hill, trained in criminal profiling but failed to be accepted into the Met's profiling team. Sam was by far one of the most capable of candidates but still no result - she suspects she was the victim of sexual discrimination and has never quite come to terms with this.

Samantha is a single-mother; she conducts a friendship rather than a typical mother/daughter relationship with Abi. She has developed a tough emotional resilience in bringing her up, but it's not a relationship without problems. Sam is so busy analysing everyone else that she hasn't time to analyse and understand herself, or her rebellious daughter. In the station, Sam's too clever to be drawn into office politics, earning Meadows' respect and trust. However, she's constantly trying to prove her worth and this can sometimes get the better of her usually sound judgement.

Samantha's choice of subjects is a heavy indication that she is almost obsessed about understanding the world around her. Her instinctive skill at reading people earns her an 'off limits' tag by some people, afraid that she might find something out about them. So occasionally Samantha feels isolated from the department but has the emotional resilience to wear it. She has few real friends in Sun Hill; her relationship with Gina is probably the closest that comes to friendship. Both harbour a mutual respect after recognising a little of themselves in each other; qualities such as instinct, a no-nonsense resilience and a steely self belief designed to protect themselves from the prejudices of a police service still quietly regarded as a man's world.

Intensely ambitious, Samantha was devastated when she was passed over for the permanent position of DI having been Acting DI for over a year. Although Okaro's reasons for not recommending her were perfectly legitimate (he felt she lacked experience as a manager), Samantha will never quite believe that her gender didn't play a part in the decision. When DI Neil Manson arrived at Sun Hill, Samantha's ongoing feud with Phil Hunter was superseded with a new determination to prove herself more capable than her boss. Samantha became paranoid that Neil was trying to get rid of her and her eagerness to prove herself lead her to make mistakes. This relationship was further complicated by the fact that she found herself inexplicably attracted to him; in many ways he was everything she admired: cool, calm, ambitious and not afraid to put his money where his mouth is. The two eventually overcame their initial difficulties and have now developed a healthy rapport, particularly now that Sam has regained her rank and will be working alongside him on equal footing.