Crawford Productions
Encyclopedia
Crawford Productions is an Australian television
production company founded by Hector Crawford; the present incarnation of the company, Crawfords Australia, is now a subsidiary of the WIN television corporation
.
Early Crawford TV productions included "Wedding Day" (HSV-7, 1956), the first Australian-produced sit-com - "Take That!" (HSV-7, 1957-59), "The Peters Club (GTV-9, 1958), "Raising A Husband" (GTV-9, 1958), and the drama play "Seagulls Over Sorrento
" (HSV-7, 1960). They also produced segments of the "Export Action" documentary series, a cartoon, "The Flying Dogtor", and a local adaptation of the game show "Video Village
" (HSV-7, 1962-66).
Crawfords generally had a reputation for higher quality productions than its nearest rival, the Reg Grundy Organisation
, which specialized in quiz and game shows. Company co-founder Hector Crawford was also well-known as an orchestral conductor leader, and he was a prominent figure in the ongoing campaign for local content regulations on Australian television.
During the 1960s and the first half of the 1970s Crawford Productions dominated Australian-produced series drama in that country. They gained an early foothold with their first major TV series, Consider Your Verdict
(1961-64), which presented dramatisations of court cases, but like all other local producers, Crawfords faced massive competition from imported overseas programming.
This was primarily because there were no local content regulations governing Australian television at the time, and as a result of this de facto free-trade agreement, the vast majority of programs shown on Australian TV content were imported from America. At the time Homicide premiered in early 1964, more than 80% of all content broadcast on Australian TV came from America, and American product enjoyed a virtual monopoly over the field of TV drama -- the report of the 1963 Vincent Commission into the Australian media found that 97% of all drama shows broadcast in Australia between 1956 and 1963 were American productions.
Australian producers had to compete against high-quality, high-budget imported programs that could draw on an international talent pool and a skill-base that had grown out of the Hollywood studio system. The massive competitive advantage enjoyed by imported content was exacerbated by the fact that the once-thriving Australia film industry had been decimated by competition from the major American studios; by the start of the 1960s film production in Australia had come to a standstill, and only one locally produced and funded feature film was made in Australia in the decade between 1959 and 1969. One of the major impacts of the suppression of the local film industry was a rapid erosion of skills and experience among local film-makers and a "brain drain" of local talent to Britain and the USA.
Crawford Productions broke through to mainstream success with their popular and long-running police drama Homicide, which premiered in October (1964) on the Seven Network
. It became the first TV drama series produced by a local company in Australia to become a major ratings success and compete effectively with imported American programming.
Because video technology was still in its infancy in Australia at that time, Crawfords developed a highly efficient integrated production schedule to combine studio scenes recorded on videotape with location footage captured on film for each weekly episode. This location footage was frequently shot on the streets and alleyways of inner-city and suburban Melbourne and became a trademark of the series.
Encouraged by the success of Homicide (which continued in production until 1975) Crawfords' next drama project was the ambitious espionage drama Hunter
(1967), which was purchased by the Nine Network
. It starred Tony Ward
and also made a star out of the actor who played its villain, Gerard Kennedy
.
After Hunter ended in 1969, a new police drama, Division 4
(1969) was conceived as a vehicle for Kennedy's talents and also screened on the Nine Network; the other stars included former game show host and newsreader Chuck Faulkner, Terry Donovan
, and Ted Hamilton
. Unlike Homicide, which concentrated on murder plots, Division 4 was set in a suburban Melbourne police station, and covered a broad range of police work, as well as occasionally featuring more light-hearted episodes. It too became an enduring popular success and earned Kennedy two Logie Award
s as Australia's most popular TV personality.
Crawfords next venture was a rural police series Matlock Police
(1971), which was sold to the Network Ten
; this too became a popular success; it starred veteran Australian actor Michael Pate
, who had spent many years in Hollywood in the 1950s and 1960s, and featured Paul Cronin
, who was later given his own spinoff series, Solo One
. With the success of Matlock Police, Crawfords cemented its position as Australia's leading drama production house, and gained the unique distinction of having a successful weekly drama series running simultaneously on each of the three major commercial networks.
In 1973 Crawfords created the action-adventure series Ryan
(1973). starring Rod Mullinar
as a private investigator. This was an all-film colour production (at a time when Australian TV was still in black and white) made with an eye to overseas sales but it only lasted one series of 39 episodes. In 1974 Crwafords moved into the realm of soap opera
with its sex-comedy serial The Box, which was set in a TV station. With the top-rating 0-10 Network serial Number 96
as its lead in The Box was an instant success.
Homicide, Division 4, and Matlock Police remained highly popular through the early 1970s, and The Box was a big hit in its premiere year, ranking as Australia's second highest-rated program for 1974. With a highly popular police drama on each commercial network the production company was booming. However, in 1975 and 1976, Homicide, Division 4, and Matlock Police were all abruptly cancelled. It has been suggested that this was because Hector Crawford and several of the actors who featured in his shows (notably Charles Tingwell
(Homicide), Ted Hamilton
, Terry Donovan, and Gerard Kennedy) figured prominently in the contemporary "TV: Make It Australian" campaign, which was agitating for stronger local content regulations to promote and protect local TV production. Tingwell and Kennedy both later made comments to the effect that they felt that the cancellation of the three series -- which were all axed within a few months of each other -- was an act of revenge against Crawfords, because the networks were bitterly opposed to any tightening of Australian content rules.
Crawfords persevered with The Box through 1975 and 1976 although its ratings were well down on the figures it achieved in its first year. The Box was cancelled in early 1977 and production ended on the series 1 April 1977. The company also created situation comedy
series The Bluestone Boys (1976) which was set in a prison, and Bobby Dazzler
, a vehicle for pop singer John Farnham
, in 1977. Bluey
(1976) saw a return to police drama but with a new spin, however the series was not a major success.
Greater success came with The Sullivans
(1976-82), a critically acclaimed and highly popular World War II family serial co-starring Lorraine Bayly
and former Matlock lead Paul Cronin. Continuing the trend at that time for evening soap opera type shows on Australian television they later launched Cop Shop
(1977-84), a meld of soap opera with the Crawfords staple of police drama, and the series emerged as a popular success. Cop Shop featured George Mallaby and former Bellbird
star Terry Norris
. Skyways
(1979-81) replicated the soap opera-meets-weekly adult drama hybrid of Cop Shop in an airport setting, with less success.
Later programmes included legal drama Carson's Law
(1983-84), a vehicle for former The Sullivans star Lorraine Bayly
, children's series Halfway Across the Galaxy and Turn Left
and the popular outback medical drama The Flying Doctors
.
The Crawford studios in Box Hill, Victoria (cnr Middleborough and Clarice Rds) were demolished in March 2006. A Bunnings Warehouse
opened on the site on 30 June 2006.
The company is still in existence and recently completed work on the third series of The Saddle Club
which is showing on Saturday afternoons at 1pm around Australia on Channel Nine, WIN TV & NBN TV.
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
production company founded by Hector Crawford; the present incarnation of the company, Crawfords Australia, is now a subsidiary of the WIN television corporation
WIN Corporation
The WIN Corporation is a Wollongong based media company, that owns the WIN Television network, NWS, and STW in Australia.It began broadcasting in Wollongong with one station in 1963. Bruce Gordon acquired control of the company in 1979 and initiated a period of growth which has seen the Network...
.
History
Crawford Productions was founded in 1945 by brother and sister Hector and Dorothy Crawford as a producer of drama, light entertainment and educational programs for radio. With the introduction of broadcast television to Australia in 1956, Crawfords was one of the few Australian radio production houses that was able to make a successful transition to the new medium.Early Crawford TV productions included "Wedding Day" (HSV-7, 1956), the first Australian-produced sit-com - "Take That!" (HSV-7, 1957-59), "The Peters Club (GTV-9, 1958), "Raising A Husband" (GTV-9, 1958), and the drama play "Seagulls Over Sorrento
Seagulls Over Sorrento
Seagulls Over Sorrento is a 1954 British wartime drama film made by the Boulting Brothers based on the play of the same name by Hugh Hastings. The film stars Gene Kelly and was one of three made by Kelly in Europe over an 18 month period in order to make use of frozen MGM funds...
" (HSV-7, 1960). They also produced segments of the "Export Action" documentary series, a cartoon, "The Flying Dogtor", and a local adaptation of the game show "Video Village
Video Village
Video Village is an American television game show produced by Heatter-Quigley Productions which aired on the CBS network in daytime from July 11, 1960 to June 15, 1962 and in primetime from July 1 to September 16, 1960....
" (HSV-7, 1962-66).
Crawfords generally had a reputation for higher quality productions than its nearest rival, the Reg Grundy Organisation
Reg Grundy Organisation
The Reg Grundy Organisation was an Australian television production company founded in 1959 by businessman Reg Grundy . It has since branched out into Europe and the USA. The company first produced game shows, before branching into soap operas in 1973...
, which specialized in quiz and game shows. Company co-founder Hector Crawford was also well-known as an orchestral conductor leader, and he was a prominent figure in the ongoing campaign for local content regulations on Australian television.
During the 1960s and the first half of the 1970s Crawford Productions dominated Australian-produced series drama in that country. They gained an early foothold with their first major TV series, Consider Your Verdict
Consider Your Verdict
Consider Your Verdict is an Australian television series made by Crawford Productions for the Seven Network originally screening from February 1961 through to June 1964. It was based on a radio series with the same name broadcast on 3DB in Melbourne from 1958 to 1960.The television series was...
(1961-64), which presented dramatisations of court cases, but like all other local producers, Crawfords faced massive competition from imported overseas programming.
This was primarily because there were no local content regulations governing Australian television at the time, and as a result of this de facto free-trade agreement, the vast majority of programs shown on Australian TV content were imported from America. At the time Homicide premiered in early 1964, more than 80% of all content broadcast on Australian TV came from America, and American product enjoyed a virtual monopoly over the field of TV drama -- the report of the 1963 Vincent Commission into the Australian media found that 97% of all drama shows broadcast in Australia between 1956 and 1963 were American productions.
Australian producers had to compete against high-quality, high-budget imported programs that could draw on an international talent pool and a skill-base that had grown out of the Hollywood studio system. The massive competitive advantage enjoyed by imported content was exacerbated by the fact that the once-thriving Australia film industry had been decimated by competition from the major American studios; by the start of the 1960s film production in Australia had come to a standstill, and only one locally produced and funded feature film was made in Australia in the decade between 1959 and 1969. One of the major impacts of the suppression of the local film industry was a rapid erosion of skills and experience among local film-makers and a "brain drain" of local talent to Britain and the USA.
Crawford Productions broke through to mainstream success with their popular and long-running police drama Homicide, which premiered in October (1964) 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...
. It became the first TV drama series produced by a local company in Australia to become a major ratings success and compete effectively with imported American programming.
Because video technology was still in its infancy in Australia at that time, Crawfords developed a highly efficient integrated production schedule to combine studio scenes recorded on videotape with location footage captured on film for each weekly episode. This location footage was frequently shot on the streets and alleyways of inner-city and suburban Melbourne and became a trademark of the series.
Encouraged by the success of Homicide (which continued in production until 1975) Crawfords' next drama project was the ambitious espionage drama Hunter
Hunter (Australian Crawfords TV series)
Hunter was an Australian espionage adventure television series screened by the Nine Network from 5 July 1967 to 1969. The series was created by Ian Jones and produced by Crawford Productions....
(1967), which was purchased by the Nine Network
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
. It starred Tony Ward
Tony Ward (Australian actor)
Tony Ward was an Australian television actor and current affairs reporter. He is regarded as Australian television's original action star, on Hunter, and was an inaugural reporter on two national current affairs programs, Seven Days and A Current Affair.-Life:Anthony John Ward was born in Sydney,...
and also made a star out of the actor who played its villain, 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...
.
After Hunter ended in 1969, a new police drama, Division 4
Division 4
Division 4 was an Australian television police drama series made by Crawford Productions for the Nine Network between 1969 and 1975 for 300 episodes....
(1969) was conceived as a vehicle for Kennedy's talents and also screened on the Nine Network; the other stars included former game show host and newsreader Chuck Faulkner, Terry Donovan
Terry Donovan
Terry Donovan is a former Irish football player.He played for Grimsby Town, Aston Villa, Portland Timbers, Burnley and Rotherham United during his club career and also played for Ireland's national team on two occasions....
, and Ted Hamilton
Ted Hamilton
Ted Hamilton is an Australian film and television actor and producer.Hamilton is best known for such films and television series as The Pirate Movie and Division 4....
. Unlike Homicide, which concentrated on murder plots, Division 4 was set in a suburban Melbourne police station, and covered a broad range of police work, as well as occasionally featuring more light-hearted episodes. It too became an enduring popular success and earned Kennedy two Logie Award
Logie Award
The TV Week Logie Awards are the Australian television industry awards, which have been presented annually since 1959. Renamed by Graham Kennedy in 1960 after he won the first 'Star Of The Year' award, the name 'Logie' awards honours John Logie Baird, a Scotsman who invented the television as a...
s as Australia's most popular TV personality.
Crawfords next venture was a rural police series Matlock Police
Matlock Police
Matlock Police was an Australian television police drama series made by Crawford Productions for the 0-10 Network between 1971 and 1975....
(1971), which was sold to the Network Ten
Network Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...
; this too became a popular success; it starred veteran Australian actor Michael Pate
Michael Pate
Michael Pate was an Australian actor, writer and director.-Early life:He was born Edward John Pate in Drummoyne, Sydney...
, who had spent many years in Hollywood in the 1950s and 1960s, and featured Paul Cronin
Paul Cronin
Paul Cronin is an Australian actor who has played iconic roles in the Australian television series Matlock Police and The Sullivans.-Personal Life:...
, who was later given his own spinoff series, Solo One
Solo One
Solo One is an Australian television series made by Crawford Productions for the Seven Network and screened in 1976. There were 13 half hour episodes....
. With the success of Matlock Police, Crawfords cemented its position as Australia's leading drama production house, and gained the unique distinction of having a successful weekly drama series running simultaneously on each of the three major commercial networks.
In 1973 Crawfords created the action-adventure series Ryan
Ryan (TV series)
Ryan was an Australian adventure television series screened by the Seven Network from 27 May 1973. The series was produced by Crawford Productions and had a run of 39 one hour episodes....
(1973). starring Rod Mullinar
Rod Mullinar
Rod Mullinar is an actor, noted for his roles on Australian television.He took a regular leading role in Hunter late in the show's run in 1968, however he appeared in just eight episodes due to the cancellation of the series...
as a private investigator. This was an all-film colour production (at a time when Australian TV was still in black and white) made with an eye to overseas sales but it only lasted one series of 39 episodes. In 1974 Crwafords moved into the realm of soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
with its sex-comedy serial The Box, which was set in a TV station. With the top-rating 0-10 Network serial Number 96
Number 96 (TV series)
Number 96 was a popular Australian soap opera set in a Sydney apartment block. Don Cash and Bill Harmon produced the series for Network Ten, which requested a Coronation Street-type serial, and specifically one that explored adult subjects...
as its lead in The Box was an instant success.
Homicide, Division 4, and Matlock Police remained highly popular through the early 1970s, and The Box was a big hit in its premiere year, ranking as Australia's second highest-rated program for 1974. With a highly popular police drama on each commercial network the production company was booming. However, in 1975 and 1976, Homicide, Division 4, and Matlock Police were all abruptly cancelled. It has been suggested that this was because Hector Crawford and several of the actors who featured in his shows (notably Charles Tingwell
Charles Tingwell
In 1941, aged 18, he volunteered for war service overseas with the Royal Australian Air Force. Under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, personnel from Commonwealth air forces were part of a joint training and assignment system. Consequently, Tingwell trained as a pilot in Canada during 1942...
(Homicide), Ted Hamilton
Ted Hamilton
Ted Hamilton is an Australian film and television actor and producer.Hamilton is best known for such films and television series as The Pirate Movie and Division 4....
, Terry Donovan, and Gerard Kennedy) figured prominently in the contemporary "TV: Make It Australian" campaign, which was agitating for stronger local content regulations to promote and protect local TV production. Tingwell and Kennedy both later made comments to the effect that they felt that the cancellation of the three series -- which were all axed within a few months of each other -- was an act of revenge against Crawfords, because the networks were bitterly opposed to any tightening of Australian content rules.
Crawfords persevered with The Box through 1975 and 1976 although its ratings were well down on the figures it achieved in its first year. The Box was cancelled in early 1977 and production ended on the series 1 April 1977. The company also created situation comedy
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
series The Bluestone Boys (1976) which was set in a prison, and Bobby Dazzler
Bobby Dazzler
- External links :*...
, a vehicle for pop singer John Farnham
John Farnham
John Peter Farnham, AO, formerly billed as Johnny Farnham , is an English-born Australian pop singer. He was a teen pop idol from 1964 to 1979, and has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer. His career has mostly been as a solo artist although he briefly replaced Glenn Shorrock as...
, in 1977. Bluey
Bluey
Bluey is an Australian television series made by Crawford Productions for the Seven Network in 1976.The series was another crime TV series from Crawford Productions, but was different from previous series - Homicide, Division 4, Matlock Police - in that it focused on a single detective rather than...
(1976) saw a return to police drama but with a new spin, however the series was not a major success.
Greater success came with The Sullivans
The Sullivans
The Sullivans is an Australian drama television series produced by Crawford Productions which ran from 1976 until 1983. The series told the story of an average middle-classMelbourne family and the effect World War II had on their lives...
(1976-82), a critically acclaimed and highly popular World War II family serial co-starring Lorraine Bayly
Lorraine Bayly
Lorraine Daphne Bayly AM is an Australian actress.She is best known to television audiences for her portrayal of Grace Sullivan, the dignified, warm-hearted mother figure in the drama series The Sullivans 1976-1979, dealing with life for an ordinary Australian family during the Second World...
and former Matlock lead Paul Cronin. Continuing the trend at that time for evening soap opera type shows on Australian television they later launched Cop Shop
Cop Shop
Cop Shop was an Australian police drama television series produced by Crawford Productions that revolved around the everyday operations of both the uniformed police officers and the plain-clothes detectives of the fictional Riverside Police Station....
(1977-84), a meld of soap opera with the Crawfords staple of police drama, and the series emerged as a popular success. Cop Shop featured George Mallaby and former Bellbird
Bellbird (TV series)
Bellbird was an Australian soap opera set in a small Victorian rural township. The series was produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation at its Ripponlea TV studios in Elsternwick, Melbourne, Victoria. The series was produced between 28 August 1967 and December 1977...
star Terry Norris
Terry Norris (actor)
Terry Norris is an Australian actor who interrupted his career for 10 years with a stint in state politics.-Acting career:...
. Skyways
Skyways (TV series)
Skyways is an Australian television series made by Crawford Productions for the Seven Network.The series, which aired from 1979 to 1981, was set at the fictional Pacific International Airport and dealt with the lives of the pilots, airline staff and management team who worked there.Skyways was...
(1979-81) replicated the soap opera-meets-weekly adult drama hybrid of Cop Shop in an airport setting, with less success.
Later programmes included legal drama Carson's Law
Carson's Law
Carson's Law is an Australian television series made by Crawford Productions for the Ten Network between 1983 and 1984. The series was a period piece set in the 1920s and starred Lorraine Bayly as progressive solicitor Jennifer Carson...
(1983-84), a vehicle for former The Sullivans star Lorraine Bayly
Lorraine Bayly
Lorraine Daphne Bayly AM is an Australian actress.She is best known to television audiences for her portrayal of Grace Sullivan, the dignified, warm-hearted mother figure in the drama series The Sullivans 1976-1979, dealing with life for an ordinary Australian family during the Second World...
, children's series Halfway Across the Galaxy and Turn Left
Halfway Across the Galaxy and Turn Left
Halfway Across the Galaxy and Turn Left is a 1985 novel by Australian children's author Robin Klein which also became a children's television series.The story focuses on an alien family who seek refuge on Earth, in the small town of Bellwood...
and the popular outback medical drama The Flying Doctors
The Flying Doctors
The Flying Doctors is an Australian drama series produced by Crawford Productions that revolved around the everyday lifesaving efforts of the real Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia....
.
The Crawford studios in Box Hill, Victoria (cnr Middleborough and Clarice Rds) were demolished in March 2006. A Bunnings Warehouse
Bunnings Warehouse
Bunnings Warehouse is Australia's largest hardware chain with stores in Australia and New Zealand. The chain is owned by Wesfarmers Limited.-History:-Pre 1900s:...
opened on the site on 30 June 2006.
The company is still in existence and recently completed work on the third series of The Saddle Club
The Saddle Club
The Saddle Club is a children's television series based on the books written by Bonnie Bryant and is an Australia/Canada co-production. Like the book series, the scripted live action series follows the lives of three teenage girls in training to compete in equestrian competitions at the fictional...
which is showing on Saturday afternoons at 1pm around Australia on Channel Nine, WIN TV & NBN TV.