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Blue Heelers (season 1)
Encyclopedia
The first season of the Australian police-drama Blue Heelers premiered on the Seven Network
on 18 January 1994 and aired on Tuesday nights at 7:30 PM. The 45-episode season concluded on 22 November 1994.
The show was a success, and by the end of its 45-episode first season the PJ-Maggie shippers
had quickly amassed.
Ann Burbrook was originally cast as Maggie Doyle and Lisa McCune as Roz Patterson but the two swapped roles to avoid being typecast in the future.
William McInnes was originally cast as PJ Hasham and Martin Sacks as Nick Schultz but the two swapped roles because McInnes "looked more like a Schultz".
Roz was written out of the show before season's end, because the producers thought that they could do more with another police character, rather than a civilian. This allowed for the introduction of Adam Cooper to the group.
Semi-regular cast members for this season include:
Notable guest stars for the season included Radha Mitchell
, Gerard Kennedy
, Kate Keltie
, Anne Phelan
, Petra Jared
, Charles 'Bud' Tingwell, Lois Collinder
, Raelee Hill
, Libby Tanner
, Lois Ramsay
, Ian Smith
, David Wenham
, Rex Hunt
and Janet Andrewartha
.
During the season, we see Roz assisting the Heelers and later getting a job at the station as the administration officer. We also see the extent of Roz and Wayne's marriage problems which, when brought to a head when Roz witnesses a shooting over the telephone, results in the end of their marriage and Roz leaving Mount Thomas and returning to her home in Melbourne. This marriage dissolution is a result of many pressure which Roz and Wayne are placed under as a result of Wayne's dangerous job. This includes his being shot and left for dead by two criminals and Roz's somewhat intense jealousy for Maggie. Roz's absence opens up a place for ambitious and contentious young cop, Constable Adam Cooper, whose "breaking-in" at Mount Thomas is anything but smooth, particularly with Wayne who develops quite a disdain for him. Keeping with the theme of family problems, we see how Tom's family problems, including problems with his two daughters, develop. These are only made worse with the death of Tom's wife, Nell, as a result of a car accident. Tom, as a superior police officer, has to learn to deal to separate his personal and professional lives. He is increasingly finding it harder and harder when he has to deal with his friends and family when it is them that have committed offenses. PJ has to deal with an old flame, Hilary Edmunds, when she arrives in town as part of the livestock squad, investigating farming issues in Mount Thomas. Maggie also finds romance in Mount Thomas with shifty detective, Sean Neale, and she has trust issues when she discovers that her beloved boyfriend may in fact be a criminal. Maggie also discovers she has relationship problems with her father, Sergeant Pat Doyle. It is also revealed that Nick is carrying a huge secret: his wife and daughter, as well as half of his family, were killed in a tragic car accident. This is revealed to be the reason Nick joined highway patrol and the reason for his stance against vehicle offences such as speeding and drink driving.
The writers and Southern Star didn't expect the show to really go anywhere but it quickly amassed to being a #1 Hit series for a number of years up unto 2003-2004 where the drama shows were beginning to fall down in ratings because The CSI franchise became more popular than Drama shows sense 2001. Which cause the shows cancellcation in 2006 the show had 510 episodes out of the thirteen seasons and 12 years sense it aired.
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
on 18 January 1994 and aired on Tuesday nights at 7:30 PM. The 45-episode season concluded on 22 November 1994.
The show was a success, and by the end of its 45-episode first season the PJ-Maggie shippers
Shipping (fandom)
Shipping, derived from the word relationship, is the belief that two fictional characters, typically from the same series, are in an intimate relationship, or have romantic feelings that could potentially lead to a relationship. It is considered a general term for fans' emotional involvement with...
had quickly amassed.
Casting
Main cast for this season consisted of:- John WoodJohn Wood (Australian actor)John Wood is a Gold Logie Award-winning Australian actor, best known for his role as Senior Sergeant Tom Croydon in the Seven Network's long running police drama Blue Heelers.-TV career:...
as Sergeant Tom CroydonTom CroydonThomas Arthur Croydon is a fictional character in the long running Australian television police drama Blue Heelers. He is one of two characters to appear in all thirteen seasons, 1994 to 2006, and is an original character...
[full season] - Julie NihillJulie NihillJulie Nihill is an Australian actress.-Biography:After early roles in 1980s soap operas such as The Young Doctors, Prisoner and Sons and Daughters and the miniseries Bodyline .Nihill was cast in the role for which she became a household face: as bartender and local councilor Chris...
as Christine 'Chris' RileyChris Riley (Blue Heelers character)Councillor Christine Bridget "Chris" Riley is a fictional character in the long running police show Blue Heelers played by Julie Nihill. She is one of only two characters who were in the show from 1994 to 2006. She is good friends with Tom Croydon and his late wife Nell....
[full season] - Martin SacksMartin SacksMartin Colin Sacks is an award-winning Australian actor, chiefly known for his 12-year role on Blue Heelers from 1993–2005.-Career:...
as DetectiveDetectiveA detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
Senior Constable Patrick Joseph 'P.J.' HashamPatrick Joseph 'P.J.' HashamP.J. was a fictional character in Australia's police series Blue Heelers.He was an original character in 1994 and left in 2005.He was portrayed by Martin Sacks....
[full season] - Lisa McCuneLisa McCuneLisa McCune , is a four-time Gold Logie Award winning Australian actress, best known for her role as Senior Constable Maggie Doyle in Blue Heelers, and as Lt...
as Constable Margaret 'Maggie' Doyle [full season] - William McInnesWilliam McInnesWilliam McInnes is an Australian film and television actor and writer.-Television:After a recurring role on A Country Practice in 1990, McInnes appeared in series such as Bligh, Ocean Girl, and Snowy before making his name as Senior Constable Nick Schultz on Blue Heelers in 1994...
as Senior Constable Nicholas 'Nick' Schultz [full season] - Grant BowlerGrant BowlerGrant Bowler is a New Zealand actor who has worked in American, Australian and New Zealand films and television.He is known for playing the role of Constable Wayne Patterson in Blue Heelers and also appeared as Wilhelmina Slater's love interest Connor Owens in Ugly Betty.In November 2010, he was...
as Constable Wayne PattersonWayne PattersonWayne George Patterson was a fictional character on the long-running Australian police drama Blue Heelers, played by actor Grant Bowler. He starred in the show from its beginning until he was hit by a car and killed in episode 96 in 1996....
[full season] - Ann BurbrookAnn BurbrookAnn Burbrook, sometimes credited as Annie Burbrook, Ann Burbrook, sometimes credited as Annie Burbrook, Ann Burbrook, sometimes credited as Annie Burbrook, (born 23 November 1965 in Jesselton, Sabah, Malaysia, is an Australian actress.Burbrook trained at the Australian Ballet School and the WA...
as Roz PattersonRoz PattersonRoz Patterson was a fictional character in the Australian police drama series ‘Blue Heelers’. She was a starring character in the series since it began; but was the first character to leave the series, staying not even a year...
[episode 1-30] - Damian Walshe-HowlingDamian Walshe-HowlingDamian Walshe-Howling is an Australian actor, best known for his role as Andrew "Benji" Veniamin in the Australian underworld drama, Underbelly, for which he won the Best Supporting or Guest Actor in a Drama Series at the 2008 AFI Awards.-Biography:He also starred on Blue Heelers as Constable Adam...
as Constable Adam Cooper [episode 34+]
Ann Burbrook was originally cast as Maggie Doyle and Lisa McCune as Roz Patterson but the two swapped roles to avoid being typecast in the future.
William McInnes was originally cast as PJ Hasham and Martin Sacks as Nick Schultz but the two swapped roles because McInnes "looked more like a Schultz".
Roz was written out of the show before season's end, because the producers thought that they could do more with another police character, rather than a civilian. This allowed for the introduction of Adam Cooper to the group.
Semi-regular cast members for this season include:
- Peta DoodsonPeta DoodsonPeta Doodson is an Australian television actress. She was more commonly known as playing the hardlined Inspector of police, Inspector Monica Draper, on the hit TV show Blue Heelers....
as Inspector (formerly Senior Sergeant) Monica Draper - Beth BuchananBeth BuchananBeth Buchanan is an Australian actress. She is best known for the television roles of Gemma Ramsay in Neighbours, in the early '90s, and Susan Croydon in Blue Heelers from 1994. She is also a long-standing member of the Ranters Theatre company.-Early life:Buchanan is the daughter of musician Tony...
as Susan Croydon - Michael IsaacsMichael IsaacsMichael Isaacs is an Australian actor best known for his semi-regular role as the intellectually disabled Clancy Freeman in the TV series Blue Heelers ....
as Clancy Freeman - Suzi Dougherty as Dr.PhysicianA physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
Mel Carter - Axl Taylor as Len the barman
- Dennis MillerDennis Miller (Australian actor)Dennis Miller is an Australian film and television actor. Miller has acted in television shows including a recurring role on Blue Heelers as Ex-Sergeant Pat Doyle .He was also married to actress Elspeth Ballantyne.- External links :...
as Ex-Sergeant Pat Doyle - Nick Waters as Inspector Ted Faulkner
- Helen Trenos as Celia Donald
- Dale Stevens as Senior Constable / Detective Senior Constable Rose Egan
- Jennifer Botica as Detective Senior Constable Hilary Edmunds
Notable guest stars for the season included Radha Mitchell
Radha Mitchell
Radha Rani Amber Indigo Anunda Mitchell is an Australian actress. Her film roles include Finding Neverland, Phone Booth, Man on Fire, Silent Hill, and the The Crazies-Early life:...
, Gerard Kennedy
Gerard Kennedy (actor)
Gerard Kennedy is an Australian actor and two-time Gold Logie winner. He played six different characters in guest appearances in Homicide, all in 1966...
, Kate Keltie
Kate Keltie
Kate Keltie is an Australian actress.Born in Melbourne, Keltie played the role of Michelle Scully in the Australian television soap opera Neighbours between 1999 and 2003, as well as a brief return in 2004. She also appeared in Thunderstone and as Bec Cleary in Blue Heelers in 2004.-External links:...
, Anne Phelan
Anne Phelan
Anne Mary Phelan, OAM , is a much awarded Australian actress, who has appeared prominently in Theatre, Australian television productions and soap operas, including Prisoner where she played the role of 'Top Dog' Myra Desmond and Monica Taylor in Something in the air...
, Petra Jared
Petra Yared
Petra Yared, born 18 January 1979 in Melbourne, is an Australian actress. She is often credited as Petra Jared.- Biography :Yared began her career in children's television series including Sky Trackers and The Genie From Down Under 2....
, Charles 'Bud' Tingwell, Lois Collinder
Lois Collinder
Lois Collinder is an Australian actress, best known for playing gangly inmate Alice "Lurch" Jenkins in the television series Prisoner. She in fact started out in the series in 1984 as a non-speaking extra and worked her way up from being a bit player to developing "Lurch" into a central character...
, Raelee Hill
Raelee Hill
Raelee Hill is an Australian actress best known for her roles in some of her country's most successful television series...
, Libby Tanner
Libby Tanner
-Career:Tanner played Zoe Marshall in the short lived Channel 9 soap Pacific Drive from 1996 to 1997. Having appeared in the hospital drama All Saints playing Bronwyn Craig for five years, a role for which she won two Logie Awards, she left to star in the short lived television series Fireflies,...
, Lois Ramsay
Lois Ramsay
Lois Ramsey is an Australian actress, best known for her performances as eccentric old ladies on television.She was a major cast member of the 1970s soap opera The Box as tea lady Mrs. Hopkins...
, Ian Smith
Ian Smith (actor)
Ian Smith is an Australian soap opera character actor and television screenwriter, best known today for his long-running role as the caring, kindly coffee shop owner Harold Bishop in the soap opera Neighbours....
, David Wenham
David Wenham
David Wenham is an Australian actor who has appeared in movies, television series and theatre productions. He is known in Hollywood for his roles as Faramir in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Carl in Van Helsing and Dilios in 300 and Neil Fletcher in Australia...
, Rex Hunt
Rex Hunt
Rex James Hunt is an Australian television and radio personality, and a former Australian rules football player. He is an Australian rules football commentator, currently on the 1116 SEN radio station with son in law Lee Raynor conducting a program called Off The Hook. He is better known around...
and Janet Andrewartha
Janet Andrewartha
Janet Andrewartha is an Australian actress. She is famous for playing on-going roles in two popular Australian soap operas: that of Reb Kean in Prisoner and Lyn Scully in Neighbours.-Biography:...
.
Plot
At the start of the season, we meet young city constable, Maggie Doyle, who is arriving at her posting in the small country town of Mount Thomas. At Mount Thomas police station we also meet the officer in charge, Sergeant Tom Croydon, who runs "his" station with an almost grandfatherly watch over his co-workers. We also meet Constable Wayne Patterson, who we find had a short romance with Maggie while they attended the Victoria Police Academy together; much to Maggie's surprise, he is now married to Roz Patterson. We also meet Senior Constable Nick Schultz, a sarcastic and yet good-hearted cop, and Senior Detective Patrick Joseph "P.J." Hasham, a charismatic and somewhat chauvinistic detective who soon found himself very interested in Maggie. At the local pub, The Imperial, we meet Chris Riley, a local woman who knows all the ins-and-outs of Mount Thomas.During the season, we see Roz assisting the Heelers and later getting a job at the station as the administration officer. We also see the extent of Roz and Wayne's marriage problems which, when brought to a head when Roz witnesses a shooting over the telephone, results in the end of their marriage and Roz leaving Mount Thomas and returning to her home in Melbourne. This marriage dissolution is a result of many pressure which Roz and Wayne are placed under as a result of Wayne's dangerous job. This includes his being shot and left for dead by two criminals and Roz's somewhat intense jealousy for Maggie. Roz's absence opens up a place for ambitious and contentious young cop, Constable Adam Cooper, whose "breaking-in" at Mount Thomas is anything but smooth, particularly with Wayne who develops quite a disdain for him. Keeping with the theme of family problems, we see how Tom's family problems, including problems with his two daughters, develop. These are only made worse with the death of Tom's wife, Nell, as a result of a car accident. Tom, as a superior police officer, has to learn to deal to separate his personal and professional lives. He is increasingly finding it harder and harder when he has to deal with his friends and family when it is them that have committed offenses. PJ has to deal with an old flame, Hilary Edmunds, when she arrives in town as part of the livestock squad, investigating farming issues in Mount Thomas. Maggie also finds romance in Mount Thomas with shifty detective, Sean Neale, and she has trust issues when she discovers that her beloved boyfriend may in fact be a criminal. Maggie also discovers she has relationship problems with her father, Sergeant Pat Doyle. It is also revealed that Nick is carrying a huge secret: his wife and daughter, as well as half of his family, were killed in a tragic car accident. This is revealed to be the reason Nick joined highway patrol and the reason for his stance against vehicle offences such as speeding and drink driving.
Reception
The show quickly had an average Rating of 2.5 Million and going to 3.5 million at its peakThe writers and Southern Star didn't expect the show to really go anywhere but it quickly amassed to being a #1 Hit series for a number of years up unto 2003-2004 where the drama shows were beginning to fall down in ratings because The CSI franchise became more popular than Drama shows sense 2001. Which cause the shows cancellcation in 2006 the show had 510 episodes out of the thirteen seasons and 12 years sense it aired.
Awards
Episodes
| DVD Season # | Episode # | Title | Director(s) | Writer(s) | Original airdate (Aust.) |
|---|
DVD release
| The Complete First Season | ||||
 |
Set Details | Special Features | ||
|
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| Release Dates | ||||
| 2 November 2005 | ||||