"Blue Heelers" (1994) TV series 1994-2006

Creators:

Hal McElroy
Tony Morphett

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | unknown

Release Date:

7 September 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

For cops in Mt Thomas, life's about more than the badge.

Plot:

Australian series featuring the Mt. Thomas police station and the lives of its officers.

Plot Keywords:

Police | Sergeant | Color In Title | Woman In Uniform | Uniform

Awards:

23 wins & 21 nominations

Cast

Julie Nihill	...	Christine 'Chris' Reilly / ... (272 episodes, 1994-2006)
John Wood	...	Sr. Sgt. Tom Croydon / ... (272 episodes, 1994-2006)
Martin Sacks	...	Sr. Det. Patrick Joseph 'P.J.' Hasham / ... (247 episodes, 1994-2005)
Axl Taylor	...	Len The Barman / ... (211 episodes, 1994-1998)
Lisa McCune	...	Sr. Const. Margaret 'Maggie' Doyle / ... (140 episodes, 1994-2004)
William McInnes	...	Sgt. Nicholas 'Nick' Schultz / ... (140 episodes, 1994-2005)
Ditch Davey	...	Const. Evan 'Jonesy' Jones / ... (133 episodes, 2001-2006)

Also Known As:

Boys in Blue (Australia) (working title)

Runtime:

60 min

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:M (some episodes) | Australia:PG (some episodes)

Filming Locations:

Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia

Company:

Southern Star

Trivia:

Four of the actors who later got recurring roles as police officers first appeared in the series in one-off guest spots as civilians. Peta Doodson, who became Insp Monica Draper, appeared as the wife of a council alderman, Tasma Walton, who became Const Dash McKinley, appeared as a 16-year-old schoolgirl, Terry Serio, who became Sgt Mick Doyle, appeared as a club bouncer and Jane Allsop, who became Const Jo Parrish appeared as a girl involved in a matchmaking scam.

Quotes:

Sr. Sgt. Tom Croydon: Look, what I want to concentrate on now is finding that bloody bulldozer!
Sgt. Nicholas 'Nick' Schultz: [opens drawers] Hmm, not in this one, not in that one.
Sr. Sgt. Tom Croydon: And now you can buy me dinner for that one, boofhead.

Wow, it grows on you!

BH is broadcast in Italy by a second-class network that airs every episode three times a day (at breakfast, lunch and in the night) to make the most of it, and which recently made news because of the high ratings of their "Bonanza" repeats (go figure!!).

So, at first I wasn't surprised to find a series like this on the channel, because when you first look at it it looks poor, drab, dreary and totally 80's styled, like a bad remainder from the bargain bin.

At the same time I became totally addicted with "Murder Call", to the point of waking at 6AM during weekends just to watch it, and when it dawned on me it was the same production company I simply had to find out what was causing this gap.

After careful study, I have to say that there is no real "gap": yes, you can see more money being thrown in MC, but at the same time the series have such different settings that BH is definitely making a choice, and their choice is to be real. Yes, a lot happens in Mt.Thomas for such a small place, but you also see the policemen spending most of their days networking in the community, accompanying witnesses home and filing, and this is very real. The actors look ordinary, but this just adds to the greatness of BH, because would you believe a model serving as a PC in Mt.Thomas?

And you can see no one was hired for their looks, but for their talent instead: all the actors manage to deliver a lot, from the divertissement episodes (ie: The beauty pageant) to the more dramatic ones. Not to mention the Maggie-PJ chemistry, where their performances are perfect beyond belief.

The writing in this show is great, and the dialogues are as real as you can get. Another great point is that every few episodes there's a very "pervy" storyline, like the ones you can experience in Murder Call, and they are always a work of convoluted genius.

Need I say I became addicted to this show as well? Definitely worth a try!