Blue Heelers

I've been binging on cop shows from all over the world and found this show after watching all of Water Rats, City Homicide, Rush, etc. This has the most episodes and I watch a season at time, enjoying the events in Mount Thomas, learning about Australia and growing fond of all the characters- except Jo.

She is the most annoying, entitled, spoiled, smug, judgemental arrogant brat and has no respect for anyone. She has to argue, defy orders, whine when she can't get her way and is reluctant to take responsibility for her own stupidity and thinks she knows everything-and she is manipulative and the moost selfish cop I've ever seen who was not a villian. I am only in Season Nine and I expect her to get even more obnoxious.

Genuinely intriguing long-running series about a police station in a small country town. Consistently good writing and acting helped to make "Blue Heelers" one of the best and most-watched homegrown dramas on Australian television, arguably spawning other admirable programs such as "water Rats" and "Murder Call" (all three were and are made by Hal McElroy (spelling?) productions). "Blue Heelers" utilised the careers of well-established actors (John Woods and Martin Sachs) at the same time as providing a head start for less well-known but still talented actors (Grant Bowler, Lisa McCune, Tasma Walton etc.). Genuinely three dimensional character writing helped avoid the cliche saccharine nature too common to the genre, all of the characters can be seen to be realistic, they all have their faults and personal obstacles. Although it can be quite often seen to be a little unrealistic, why should a town as small as Mt. Thomas have so much crime and intrigue??, this is easily forgivable as the viewer gets immersed in the storyline. "Blue Heelers" utilises the continually evolving sub-plot to further distance itself from the routine one-case-an-episode formula. Will PJ and Maggie ever get together? What about Dash and her fight against breast cancer etc. The characters have also established themselves with the Australian public as a source of concern. The higher rating episodes have been those involving major life changes for the main characters, recently Maggie's struggle with her heroin addicted brother and Nick Schultz's departure from the show. I would argue, that, had the series not been so well-constructed, this phenomenon would not be in evidence.

Blue Heelers, is truly one of Australia's most successful television programs. However i feel that the current series is really de-grading to the previous series. What i mean is that it's is just not as good as it once was. I feel that now the show has been axed, it is just too over due. Blue Heelers has definitely run it's course and in my opinion should have ended with the death of Maggie Doyle (Lisa McCune). The reasons for this is because Magggie was Blue Heelers, she was indisputably the most successful cast memeber and really captured the audience and was the 'golden girl' in Mount Thomas. Her sudden death was devastating and should have resulted in the show being canceled.

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!

I was born and raised in Melbourne. Only recently have I moved to the US to get an education and find work. One thing I have missed as a result of moving away is Blue Heelers. I have heard rumours that it is playing on some US Cable companies, but I do not know which ones and where. Anyway if anyone stumbles across the television show, just sit down, have a beer and relax while you watch it. I think it is a little off the realistic track when it comes to police violence, corruption, etc. But it does cover a lot of the boring mundane tasks that police often have to put up with, such as cold burgs, etc. Or perhaps I just miss it because it is Australian??