The tenth season of the Australian police-drama Blue Heelers

Blue Heelers

Blue Heelers is an Australian police drama series which depicted the lives of police officers stationed at the fictional Mount Thomas police station in a small town in Victoria.- Overview :...

 premiered on the Seven Network

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 12 February 2003 and aired on Wednesday nights at 8:30 PM. The 42-episode season concluded 26 November 2003.

Casting

Main cast for this season consisted of:

• John Wood
  John 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 Senior Sergeant Tom Croydon
  Tom Croydon
  Thomas 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 Nihill
  Julie Nihill
  Julie 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' Riley
  Chris 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 Sacks
  Martin Sacks
  Martin Colin Sacks is an award-winning Australian actor, chiefly known for his 12-year role on Blue Heelers from 1993–2005.-Career:...
  
   as Detective
  Detective
  A 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.' Hasham
  Patrick Joseph 'P.J.' Hasham
  P.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]
• Paul Bishop
  Paul Bishop
  Paul Bishop is an author and a detective in the Los Angeles Police Department with the current rank of Detective III. He is also a writer with numerous published novels and produced episodes of episodic television and feature film scripts...
  
   as Sergeant (formerly Senior Constable) Benjamin 'Ben' Stewart
  Benjamin 'Ben' Stewart
  Benjamin 'dog' Stewart was a fictional character in the long running police series Blue Heelers. He was portrayed by Paul Bishop.He came into the series in the middle of season 5 as a guest before coming back to the series as a full time cast member of the show and stayed from season 5-season 11...
  
   [full season]
• Jane Allsop
  Jane Allsop
  Jane Claire Allsop is an Australian actress, best known for her role as Jo Parrish on Blue Heelers.-Personal life:...
  
   as Senior Constable (formerly Constable) Jo Parrish
  Jo Parrish
  Joanna "Jo" Parrish was a fictional character on the Australian police series Blue Heelers. She arrived in 1999 and left in 2004 when she was killed in an explosion.She was portrayed by Jane Allsop....
  
   [full season]
• Caroline Craig
  Caroline Craig
  Caroline Craig is an Australian television and stage actress, and television director, based in Sydney Australia...
  
   as Sergeant Tess Gallagher
  Teresa 'Tess' Gallagher
  Tess Gallagher was a Blue Heelers character that lasted from 2000 to 2003. She arrived after Maggie Doyle's death.She arrived as the new Sergeant at Mount Thomas, taking Ben Stewart's assumed position. This and her emotionally withdrawn and critical character initially fuelled animosity between...
  
   [until episode 407]
• Ditch Davey
  Ditch Davey
  Ditch Davey is an Australian actor.He was born Kristian Lind, but legally changed his name to Ditch when he was 18. Ditch came about because his older sister could not pronounce Christian, so instead she ended up calling him 'Ditchin'...
  
   as Constable Evan 'Jonsey' Jones [full season]
• Simone McAullay
  Simone McAullay
  Simone McAullay is an Australian actress.She auditioned for the Actors Centre in Sydney from where she graduated in 2000. From 2003 to 2006, when the programme was canceled, she played the role of Senior Constable Susie Raynor on Blue Heelers.In 2007, she has played a guest role on Home and Away...
  
   as Constable Susie Raynor
  Susie Raynor
  Susie Raynor is a fictional character in the long-running television show Blue Heelers. She first appeared in 2003 and remained until the show's cancellation in 2006.-Description:...
  
   [from episode 409]

Guest actors this season included Betty Bobbitt

Betty Bobbitt

Betty Bobbitt, born 7 February 1939, in Philadelphia in the United States, is an Australian-based actor.Bobbitt's entertainment career in Australia began shortly after arrival in the country when she was hired to appear as a regular on a Melbourne television variety show, Daly At Night, in 1962...

, Robert Grubb

Robert Grubb

Robert Grubb is an Australian actor. He studied acting at National Institute of Dramatic Art , where he graduated in 1978.Grubb played the role of Dr. Geoffrey Standish in the popular series The Flying Doctors...

, Jeremy Lindsay Taylor

Jeremy Lindsay Taylor

Jeremy Lindsay Taylor is an Australian actor. He finished his education at Newington College in 1991 and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree, with a major in drama and sociology, from the University of Newcastle...

, Richard Cawthorne, Lisa Crittenden

Lisa Crittenden

Lisa Crittenden is an Australian actress, noted for her roles in various television series, such as The Restless Years , The Sullivans , Prisoner , Sons and Daughters and the New Zealand produced Shortland Street .She also played a lead role in mini-series Whose Baby? and...

, Maggie Millar

Maggie Millar

Maggie Millar is an Australian actress, best known for her TV appearances as Marie Winter in Prisoner, Elizabeth Bradley in The Sullivans and Rosie Hoyland in Neighbours.-External links:*...

, Betty Lucas

Betty Lucas

Betty Lucas is an Australian actress, best known for her roles on television. She played prominent roles in Prisoner as Clara Goddard in 1979, Taurus Rising as Faith Drysdale in 1982, and Richmond Hill as Mavis Roberts in 1988....

, Paul Mercurio

Paul Mercurio

Paul Joseph Mercurio is an Australian actor, dancer and TV presenter. Mercurio is well-known for his lead role in Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom . His father was the character actor Gus Mercurio.- Biography :...

, Lynda Gibson, Ian Rawlings

Ian Rawlings

Ian Rawlings is an Australian actor. He had two long-running roles in Australian soap operas.-Television Work:He started out playing the role of the spiteful and scheming Wayne Hamilton in Sons and Daughters...

, Colette Mann

Colette Mann

Colette Mann is an Australian actress, most notable for playing the role of Doreen Anderson , in the Australian series Prisoner from 1979–1982, with return appearances in 1983 and in 1984....

, Ernie Bourne

Ernie Bourne

Ernest Alfred "Ernie" Bourne was an English-born Australian actor, best known for his regular roles on television....

, Lyndel Rowe

Lyndel Rowe

Lyndel Rowe is an Australian actress who is best known for her work with the Melbourne Theatre Company, the Sydney Theatre Company and the State Theatre Company of South Australia. Ms. Rowe is now living in London. She is probably best known for her role as the unpleasant Karen Fox in Australian...

 and Andrew Clarke

Andrew Clarke (actor)

Andrew Clarke in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia, is an Australian actor most known for his television work. Andrew Clarke was one of the most popular Australian actors in the 1980s and 1990s. He is also a two-time Logie winner.-Career:...

.

Plot

By the 42-episode tenth season, Blue Heelers was in a comfortable but not successful ratings pattern. Storylines included:

• Ben recovering from alcoholism, and then beginning an affair with Inspector Falcon-Price's wife,
• PJ losing his house in a fire caused by a drunk Ben,
• Jonesy proving ulterior motives behind Josh's marriage to Tess,
• Jo and PJ drifting apart with them both moving on to other relationships but realising they love each other and start a full time relationship,
• Ben falling for, and proposing to, Salvation Army Captain Marissa Craddock (Heidi Arena),
• The arrival in town of Ben's daughter Maddie,
• Tom dealing with his teenage stepson's problems,
• Tess leaving town, pregnant with Josh's child, due to a natal condition,

in reality, Caroline Craig had taken time off for the Melbourne Playhouse production of Falling Petals, but chose not to return to Blue Heelers,

• and the arrival of Constable Susie Raynor, whose paralysed husband Brad (Matt Passmore
  Matt Passmore
  Matt Passmore , an Australian actor. He is known for McLeod's Daughters , Blue Heelers , and his first American television show, The Glades .-Personal:Passmore grew up in Wynnum-Manly, Brisbane....
  
  ) became wrongly suspicious of Ben and Susie's friendship, ending in a confrontation where Ben had no choice but to shoot and kill Brad in front of Susie.

Reception

The show was at an all-time low rating, down from 1.9 million–1.7 million, and the director and producers are thinking about a revamp.

Awards

Episodes

DVD Season	Episode #	Title	Director(s)	Writer(s)	Original airdate (Aust.)

DVD release

Season 10 Parts 1 and 2 was released on 4 May 2010.

The Complete Tenth Season (Parts 1+2)
	Set Details			Special Features
	Episodes 349-388 (Aprox 1800 Mins.) Episodes 349-388 10-Disc Set 16:9 Widescreen Aspect Ratio English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)			Slipcase Packaging Photo Gallery
	Release Dates
	4 May 2010