Kevin Lloyd Kevin Lloyd , was born Kevin Reardon Lloyd on 28th March 1949 in Derby , died 2nd May 1998 , Burton - on - Trent , Staffordshire . In " Coronation Street " he played : Until he was sacked from the show in late April 1998 , Kevin Lloyd played Detective Constable Alfred " Tosh " Lines in the popular ITV police series " The Bill " . Overweight and scruffy , with an undisciplined moustache , Tosh was a policeman content to plod . But he was affable , honest and dependable in a crisis . Lloyd turned him into a stalwart of Sun Hill police station , and made him one of the best - liked characters in the show . In 1996 , when The Bill was named " Best TV Drama " at the National Television Awards , it seemed entirely fitting that it was Lloyd who collected the honour on behalf of the rest of the cast . The son of a police sergeant who was killed in an accident at the age of 46 when responding to an emergency call , Lloyd was to draw on aspects of his father ' s personality and manner in creating the character of Tosh ; his grandfather and an uncle were policemen too . As a child Lloyd suffered from Perthes ' disease , a painful and debilitating condition which left him with a withered right leg but did little to curb an early enthusiasm for sport of all kinds . Educated locally , he trained to be a solicitor after leaving grammar school , but abandoned his legal studies in favour of the stage . He attended the East 15 drama school in London from 1970 to 1973 , making his stage debut on graduation in " The Importance of Being Earnest " . His West End debut shortly afterwards was in Joe Orton ' s " What the Butler Saw " . This was followed by work with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Bristol Old Vic . One of the biggest disappointments of Lloyd ' s career was the death of Laurence Olivier two weeks before they were due to start rehearsing together for a production of Chekhov ' s " The Cherry Orchard " in Los Angeles . His initial television appearance was in a children ' s show , " Bob and Ben the Removal Men " , but he first achieved celebrity with a regular role as Don Watkins , the flash , loud - mouthed manager of Mike Baldwin ' s doomed nightclub in " Coronation Street " . Other television credits included " Z Cars " , " The Sweeney " , " Minder " , " Auf Wiedersehen Pet " , " Misfits " ( 1981 ) , " Boon " ( ITV , 1988 ' Charity Begins at Home ' ) as Langford , " Dear John " ( BBC1 , 1987 ) as Rick and " The Young Charlie Chaplin " ( TV movie , 1989 ) as Fred Karno . Film credits include Lindsay Anderson ' s " Britannia Hospital " ( 1982 ) and " Link " ( 1986 ) as Bailey . With its cast of regulars pounding the inner - city beat , and its format of two and later three 30 - minute episodes each week , " The Bill " aimed to combine the investigative excitement of earlier police dramas with the running human interest of a soap opera . It quickly became a hit with viewers . Lloyd joined in 1988 as the lovably chaotic Constable Lines , and stayed long enough to see it attract audiences of up to 14 million . Even at the height of his success , Lloyd was determined to remain close to his Derbyshire roots . Not only was he a lifelong Derby County supporter , but for years he commuted daily from his home at Duffield , north of Derby , to London ' s Notting Hill where The Bill was filmed - a round trip of six hours and some 270 miles , accomplished at an annual cost of £17 , 000 . The gruelling regimen took its toll on his marriage and on his health . He and his wife separated with great acrimony amid much publicity in 1995 , and were subsequently divorced . Another relationship was short - lived , and early in 1998 Lloyd sought treatment for drink problems in a private Staffordshire clinic . The attempted cure was unsuccessful . After several ultimatums , and nine years as Tosh , Lloyd was sacked with immediate effect by the producers of " The Bill " in late April 1998 , having reportedly turned up drunk for his first full day back on the set . He returned to the clinic , but following a drinking binge six days later was admitted to hospital in Burton - on - Trent where he died . He left four sons and three daughters , one of them an adopted Romanian orphan . Another daughter died in infancy .