Division 4
Encyclopedia
Division 4 was an Australia
n television
police
drama series made by Crawford Productions
for the Nine Network
between 1969 and 1975 for 300 episodes.
The series was one of the first dramas to follow up on the enormous success of the earlier crime show Homicide and dealt with the wide variety of cases dealt with by police in the fictional Melbourne
suburb of Yarra Central (modelled on St Kilda
).
The series was both popular - winning 10 Logie Awards, including two Gold Logie awards (for Australia's most popular entertainer) for Gerard Kennedy - and critically acclaimed, winning a number Penguin and Awgie awards for its scripts and actors.
After Kennedy decided to leave Division 4, the Nine Network summarily cancelled the series; only one episode was made with his replacement John Stanton.
The opening theme was sampled by TISM
in their 1998 single Thunderbirds Are Coming Out
.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
drama series made by Crawford Productions
Crawford Productions
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.-History:...
for 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...
between 1969 and 1975 for 300 episodes.
The series was one of the first dramas to follow up on the enormous success of the earlier crime show Homicide and dealt with the wide variety of cases dealt with by police in the fictional Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
suburb of Yarra Central (modelled on St Kilda
St Kilda, Victoria
St Kilda is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km south from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Port Phillip...
).
The series was both popular - winning 10 Logie Awards, including two Gold Logie awards (for Australia's most popular entertainer) for Gerard Kennedy - and critically acclaimed, winning a number Penguin and Awgie awards for its scripts and actors.
After Kennedy decided to leave Division 4, the Nine Network summarily cancelled the series; only one episode was made with his replacement John Stanton.
The opening theme was sampled by TISM
TISM
TISM was a seven piece anonymous alternative rock band from Melbourne, Australia. The group was formed in 1982 and enjoyed a large underground/independent following. Their third album Machiavelli and the Four Seasons reached the Australian national top 10 in 1995...
in their 1998 single Thunderbirds Are Coming Out
Thunderbirds Are Coming Out
"Thunderbirds Are Coming Out" is the name of a single by TISM. It featured memorable video clip of 30 bands all playing the song. The bands are shown one at a time by use of a dolly shot and ends just as TISM are on screen.-Song:...
.
Regular cast
- Sen. Det./Det. Sgt. Frank Banner
(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...
), a hard, tough man who has become a loner after his pregnant wife, Joy, died during premature child-birth brought on after being terrorised by a criminal (in the first episode, "The Soldiers"); he tends to bury himself in his work as a result. He respects but sometimes disagrees with his superior, Sergeant Vickers, and although sometimes using roughhouse methods of handling criminals is both a fair man and a conscientious cop. Banner eventually falls in love with and marries an old friend, Jenny Franklin, and in the second-last episode resigns from the Victoria Police for an extended honeymoon and to find a 'safer' occupation. - Det. Sgt./Det. Snr. Sgt. Keith Vickers (Chuck Faulkner), head of the Yarra Central CIB, married with two sons. He often clashes with his younger son Jamie, a university student, over anti-Vietnam demonstrations. His bark is usually worse than his bite, and although he comes across as a very serious person most of the time, he has a dry sense of humour which lends itself to some nice comedy touches.
- Sen. Det. Mick Peters (Terence DonovanTerence Donovan (actor)Terence Donovan , also known as Terry Donovan, is an English-born Australian actor and the father of fellow actor and entertainer Jason Donovan...
), the station's third plain-clothes man. Peters has a happy-go-lucky nature and an eye for the ladies. He has a good record with the Victoria Police, although Vickers sometimes has to pull him into line for being too much of a comedian. - Sgt. Andrew "Scotty" MacLeod (Frank Taylor), head of Yarra Central's Uniform Branch. A meticulous man originally from Scotland (hence his nickname "Scotty"), he is married with four daughters (one of whom is kidnapped by a former adversary in episode 214, "Backlash"). Scotty's role is mainly confined to the station charge counter, and he therefore rarely appears in exterior scenes (allowing actor Frank Taylor to live in Sydney and commute to Melbourne for three days of filming a week).
- Const. Kevin Dwyer (Ted HamiltonTed HamiltonTed 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....
), an ambitious and dedicated cop who is always eager to work with the CIB. Hamilton was sacked from the series for breach of contract (he had filmed a commercial without permission from Crawfords) in September 1973, in the middle of filming an episode. Frantic script rewrites solved the problem of Dwyer's sudden disappearance by explaining that the character had been accepted for a position in the CIB and transferred out of Yarra Central to commence his detective training (noted in episode 225, "All For One"). Because of Hamilton's abrupt departure from the series (and the resulting production disruptions), Dwyer makes several other appearances until episode 231, but his final full appearance is in episode 227, "Mad About The Boy". - WPC Margaret Stewart (Patricia Smith), who lives with her mother, is a fairly conservative person, but is keenly interested in the reformation of criminals, and is friendly with and has great respect for Banner. Like Scotty MacLeod, the role of Stewart was a static one, allowing Patricia Smith to commute from Adelaide to Melbourne for filming. Stewart resigns from the force to get married in episode 238, "None So Blind".
- Det. Tom Morgan (John Stanton), Banner's replacement, a country cop transferred from Bairnsdale to Yarra Central. Morgan only appears in the final episode of Division 4, the Nine Network having cancelled the series after Kennedy left the show.