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form y separately published work icon Blue Heelers series - publisher   film/TV   crime  
Issue Details: First known date: 1994... 1994 Blue Heelers
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

A character-based television drama series about the lives of police officers in the fictitious Australian country town of Mt Thomas, this series began with the arrival of Constable Maggie Doyle (Lisa McCune) to the Mt Thomas station in the episode 'A Woman's Place'. Doyle and avuncular station boss Senior Sergeant Tom Croydon (John Wood) were the core characters of the series until the departure of Lisa McCune.

Immensely popular for a decade, Blue Heelers was cancelled in 2006 after thirteen seasons. The announcement was front-page news in Australia's major newspapers including The Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney's Daily Telegraph, The Herald Sun and The Age in Melbourne, and Brisbane's Courier Mail.

On June 8, 2006 Ross Warneke wrote in The Age:

'It's over and, to be perfectly blunt, there's no use lamenting the demise of Blue Heelers any more. When the final movie-length episode aired on Channel Seven on Sunday night, 1.5 million Australians tuned in, a figure that was big enough to give the show a win in its timeslot but nowhere near big enough to pay the sort of tribute that this writer believes Heelers deserved after more than 500 episodes.It is unlikely there will be anything like it again. At almost $500,000 an hour, shows such as Blue Heelers are quickly becoming the dinosaurs of Australian TV.'

Notes

  • Award-winning and individually published episodes in this series are included on AustLit.

Includes

133 (4.05)
form y separately published work icon Reports of Damage and Loss John Banas , 1997 Z1362943 1997 single work film/TV detective crime
— Appears in: Top Shelf 2 : Five Outstanding Television Screenplays 2001; (p. 165-235)
Nick and Adam attempt to rescue a young girl from a flooded stormwater drain. Nick sends Adam for help while he holds the girl to stop her from being dragged away. However, Adam is delayed by a crisis involving the girl's sister and, worn down by exhaustion, Nick loses his grip on the girl. This episode is revealed in flashbacks when Nick and Adam return to the station and their colleagues piece together the story. Nick vents his frustration on Adam. Eventually the news comes in that one of the sisters lived and the other died. Nick and Adam start the healing process by going to inform the parents of their child's death.
Source: Australian Television Information Archive
1997

Works about this Work

Blue Heelers : Rewatching the Classic Australian Small-town Police Procedural Nathan Jolly , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 4 February 2021;

— Review of Blue Heelers Tony Morphett , Ysabelle Dean , Howard Griffiths , Ted Roberts , Greg Haddrick , Graeme Koetsveld , Anne Brooksbank , John Upton , Peter A. Kinloch , Tim Gooding , Ray Harding , Everett de Roche , Judith Colquhoun , Patrick Edgeworth , Justin Glockerla , Stephen Measday , Sue Hore , Alan Hopgood , John Lord , Rachel Lewis , John Coulter , Hugh Stuckey , Peter Gawler , David Allen , Cassandra Carter , Michaeley O'Brien , Fred Clarke , Margaret Plumb , John Wood , Leon Saunders , Wal Saunders , Russell Hagg , Ruth Field , Shane Brennan , Max Singer , Michael Winter , David Phillips , John Banas , Jennifer Rowe , David William Boutland , Annie Beach , David Worthington , Peter Dick , Robert Harris , Louise Crane , Chris Phillips , David Marsh , Jenny Lewis , Rick Held , Kathie Armstrong , Emma Honey , Bill Garner , Beverley Evans , Anthony Ellis , Mary McCormick , David Anthony , Carol Williams , Matthew Williams , Paul Davies , Craig Wilkins , Roger Dunn , Mary Graham , Harry Jordan , Geraldine Pilkington , Caroline Stanton , Grace Morris , Piers Hobson , Lyn Ogilvy , Deborah Parsons , Bob Cameron , Brian Bell , Kelly Lefever , Karin Altmann , Coral Drouyn , Jon Stephens , Marieke Hardy , Michael Brindley , Harriet Smith , Jo Merle , Chris Corbett , Tom Hegarty , Abe Pogos , Petra Graf , Anne Melville , Julie O'Brien , Peter Hepworth , Rob George , Jane Allen , Noel Maloney , Michael Voigt , Maureen Sherlock , Alison Nisselle , Elizabeth Coleman , John Ridley , Stuart Page , Jeff Truman , Rohan Trollope , Vicki Madden , Forrest Redlich , Jo Kasch , James Dunbar , Kylie Needham , Samantha Winston , 1994 series - publisher film/TV
Guilty of Loving New Law Role Andrew Fenton , 2016 single work column
— Appears in: The Sunday Mail , 3 April 2016; (p. 4)
Affairs of the Heart Andrew Fenton , 2015 single work column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 3 December 2015; (p. 36)
Go For It, Says Roving Roy Jade Gailberger , 2015 single work column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 27 July 2015; (p. 23)
y separately published work icon Screenwriters Talk About Their Craft : Tony Morphett Susan Lever (interviewer), National Film and Sound Archive , 2012 Z1868019 2012 single work interview 'Tony Morphett discusses the origins of Blue Heelers (1994- ), Water Rats (1996- ), and names Rain Shadow (2008, co-written with Jimmy Thomson) as one of his finest achievements.'
Source: NFSA clip description
Blue Heelers : Rewatching the Classic Australian Small-town Police Procedural Nathan Jolly , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 4 February 2021;

— Review of Blue Heelers Tony Morphett , Ysabelle Dean , Howard Griffiths , Ted Roberts , Greg Haddrick , Graeme Koetsveld , Anne Brooksbank , John Upton , Peter A. Kinloch , Tim Gooding , Ray Harding , Everett de Roche , Judith Colquhoun , Patrick Edgeworth , Justin Glockerla , Stephen Measday , Sue Hore , Alan Hopgood , John Lord , Rachel Lewis , John Coulter , Hugh Stuckey , Peter Gawler , David Allen , Cassandra Carter , Michaeley O'Brien , Fred Clarke , Margaret Plumb , John Wood , Leon Saunders , Wal Saunders , Russell Hagg , Ruth Field , Shane Brennan , Max Singer , Michael Winter , David Phillips , John Banas , Jennifer Rowe , David William Boutland , Annie Beach , David Worthington , Peter Dick , Robert Harris , Louise Crane , Chris Phillips , David Marsh , Jenny Lewis , Rick Held , Kathie Armstrong , Emma Honey , Bill Garner , Beverley Evans , Anthony Ellis , Mary McCormick , David Anthony , Carol Williams , Matthew Williams , Paul Davies , Craig Wilkins , Roger Dunn , Mary Graham , Harry Jordan , Geraldine Pilkington , Caroline Stanton , Grace Morris , Piers Hobson , Lyn Ogilvy , Deborah Parsons , Bob Cameron , Brian Bell , Kelly Lefever , Karin Altmann , Coral Drouyn , Jon Stephens , Marieke Hardy , Michael Brindley , Harriet Smith , Jo Merle , Chris Corbett , Tom Hegarty , Abe Pogos , Petra Graf , Anne Melville , Julie O'Brien , Peter Hepworth , Rob George , Jane Allen , Noel Maloney , Michael Voigt , Maureen Sherlock , Alison Nisselle , Elizabeth Coleman , John Ridley , Stuart Page , Jeff Truman , Rohan Trollope , Vicki Madden , Forrest Redlich , Jo Kasch , James Dunbar , Kylie Needham , Samantha Winston , 1994 series - publisher film/TV
Southern Stars and Secret Lives : International Exchange in Australian Television Ian Craven , 2008 single work criticism
— Appears in: Continuum : Journal of Media & Cultural Studies , vol. 22 no. 1 2008; (p. 51-67)
'The Secret Life of Us is a 'high end' television drama series, defined by 'adult themes, sexual references and low-level coarse language', first screened in Australia and the United Kingdom in mid-2001, and surviving for four seasons until late 2005. Developed by Southern Star, with the Ten Network, and Optus Television (a US-based pay TV service), it was the first Australian drama series to be commissioned by the United Kingdom's Channel 4. Eighty-six episodes were screened prior to cancellation. At the peak of its popularity, the series had been sold into a dozen or so (mostly European) territories, and against the usual odds, secured airtime in the United States, where it was picked up by Trio, a small west-coast cable network. It gained positive critical recognition, and fared well at television markets worldwide. Back in Australia, commentators linked the show with the return of the Ten Network to 'credible' drama after a hiatus of two decades (Sams 2001, 37), and with the emergence of a 'sophisticated and quirky' youth sub-genre (Idato 2000, 2), before enthusiasm cooled around series two and three, and series four drew the by now largely neglected narrative to its almost unnoticed conclusion. The project offers a suggestive case study of momentary trends in domestic drama production, within material received as confidently articulating Australia's globalizing television culture at the millennium, inviting exploration of what John Hartley (1992, 102) has seen as the fundamental 'impurity' of national television, and the productivity of its identification as a 'fundamental criterion for cultural studies'.' (Author's introduction p. 51)
y separately published work icon Screenwriters Talk About Their Craft : Tony Morphett Susan Lever (interviewer), National Film and Sound Archive , 2012 Z1868019 2012 single work interview 'Tony Morphett discusses the origins of Blue Heelers (1994- ), Water Rats (1996- ), and names Rain Shadow (2008, co-written with Jimmy Thomson) as one of his finest achievements.'
Source: NFSA clip description
Go For It, Says Roving Roy Jade Gailberger , 2015 single work column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 27 July 2015; (p. 23)
Affairs of the Heart Andrew Fenton , 2015 single work column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 3 December 2015; (p. 36)
Guilty of Loving New Law Role Andrew Fenton , 2016 single work column
— Appears in: The Sunday Mail , 3 April 2016; (p. 4)
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