Wildside

This is widely viewed in Australia as one of the best cop dramas ever produced here ... and for my money, anywhere. It's raw, gritty, the characters are real, the situations are believable and it doesn't shy away from the darker side of life confronted every day by cops and the criminals, victims, lawyers and other people in their various orbits.

This show ran for 2 seasons and was discontinued because the show didn't sell well overseas. We are all sorry for its loss: however, like Fawlty Towers, we will be able to revere this as a limited-length series of uniformly high quality.

Wildside still continues on New Zealand and to hear now thats its been canned is tragic.This show could finish after one hour of unravelling plots and still have you gasping at its greatness.Alex Dimitriades is close to the best Australian actor to enter my television screen.I would like to say **** you to the ABC for pulling what has become so popular on both sides of the tasman believe it of not.Now i'm stuck with Stan Zemarnik instead I guess then.

Alas on Friday the 2nd of July 1999 this brilliant show came to an end. But all good things do. Wildside was the best cop drama ever. One of the few shows that did not ask you to like the characters. A refreshingly original premise, especially where the "goodies" and "baddies" are all so clear cut on todays shows. One episode where Sgt McCoy handcuffs a suspect to a car and proceeds to drive at high speed remains vividly in the mind.

The conflict was brilliantly balanced by the crisis centre across from the police station, thus we are not stuck in the police station all day listening to search search warrant requests and the like.

It is impossible to single out any one person, cast or crew as both were outstanding in every facet. All performances were first rate, set design refreshingly original, cinematography and direction flawless and stories that were hard hitting not afraid to go into the underbelly of society.

Wildside will be greatly missed. A superb show that ended before its time

I saw this show fifteen years after the fact, and it still feels like it is before its time. Many of the issues explored are still unresolved in our current society, and some have become worse.

The performances are amazing and feature a who's who of Australian talent from yesteryear and the years that followed.

It is cinematic and gritty, and holds up against any of the modern productions currently available to watch. If you have the time, I can't recommend enough that you should watch this.

This is more classic ABC drama in the vein of Blue Murder but lengthened out to a regular series