Chopper Squad

I would like to point out that Chopper Squad was NOT filmed in Western Australia or set in Western Australia. It was in fact filmed and set entirely on Sydney's beautiful Northern Beaches, based predominately out of the Dee Why Surf Club, then later at the Palm Beach Surf Club. The show was instrumental in raising the profile of the fledgling Wales Rescue Helicopter Service that was based out of the COllaroy Communication cente nearby and staffed by volunteer surf lifesavers and other staff.

For factual info of the old Wales Rescue Helicopter Service, now known as the Westpac LifeSaver Rescue Helicopter Service (flying several BK-117's), I recommend the book "Helicopter Rescue" by Dr. Ken Wishaw, Australia's first full-time helicopter doctor. You can get the series on DVD through Ravetv.co.uk Regards.

From the same folks that also gave us "Sons and Daughters," "Prisoner: Cell Block H" and "Neighbours," "Chopper Squad" was set around the Australian coastline, but it was more in the footsteps of "Emergency!" than "Baywatch" - that is, the stories dealt more with the rescues and the people than with the bronzed beauties of either sex (in any case, the main cast was predominantly male).

As the only other person to comment on this pointed out, this did have a splendidly funky theme (by Mike Perjanik, who also wrote the more romantic themes for "A Country Practice" and "Home and Away" - oh for the days when you could settle with something cosy and Australian on ITV in the afternoons), and it remains the most memorable thing about the show. It passed the time, but in spite of the reliably beautiful Australian scenery and the Squad having a lower success rate than the Baywatch crew or Gage and DeSoto (in one episode the youngest member's female friend was injured on an island, and she died before he could get to her) you can see why this is less widely or fondly remembered than Skippy, Skippy, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo.

This followed a 90-minute pilot movie produced by the O-Ten Network (now Network Ten, and the network that showed "Chopper Squad" in Australia) with different cast and characters; both movie and series made it to the UK on ITV, and the movie was on TV here not that long ago. The movie starred Rebecca Gibney some years before she did "Return To Eden." That was dire as well.

Despite having the funkiest theme tune on a tv show ever this is poor quality tv.The acting was wooden and the sets cheap on the plus side though it is unintentionally funny the clothes the hairdo's all make for a laugh an episode tv show.You can see why it only had one series though.to sum it up budget was low.

I think in many ways the ultimate Aussie fantasy the world over. Australia has always been essentially Britain transferred to the sun, with lots of wilderness and gorgeous weather. Chopper Squad was always the epitome of this, saving beautiful young girls from the various evils the wild and untamed antipodean wilderness offered. That said, it had its' darker aspects, the psycho who would burn sunbathing beauties with acid, the elderly mountaineer who would succumb to a heart attack whilst scaling a cliff and the squad would be forced to just leave him to die, the old friend of the crew who would try to fake his own death in order to win an insurance payout. Ultimately it's a fairly lightweight series but just so amazingly entertaining.

Just thought I'd add a few details I can remember about the show. Bear in mind I only saw the show as a young fella at it's original screening(and I was young at the time). The series was shot around the Northern Beaches and Pittwater area of Sydney. A previous commenter stated it was based in Western Australia, I can't comment on that as I was too young to take note of these details at the time(I was more interested in the action and seeing local scenes on TV) however given the harbor and other local attractions it would surprise me. I grew up in the area around that time so here are my recollections. The series used the Dee Why Surf Lifesaving Club clubhouse as their base of operations. Can't remember if they used actual place names or had some fictitious location. The hospital they used was Mona Vale Hospital.

Looking back it wasn't too bad a show, might change my mind if I saw it now. And yes it did have a funky theme tune.