Chopper Squad is an Australia

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...

 series produced by 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...

 for the 0-10 Network (as it was then known).

The series was based around the work of a helicopter rescue team operating on Dee Why beach in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

. It has been said that the American series Baywatch was based upon Chopper Squad.

Pilot

The original pilot was made in 1976, airing in Melbourne in November 1976 and Newcastle (NSW) in August 1977. There was quite a time lag between the pilot and the series going to air in May 1978.

As with many series there were changes between the initial pilot and the series. Three actors from the pilot did not continue into the series - Rebecca Gilling, Max Osbiston and Tony Bonner. Additionally, the surnames of characters Phil and Tim were changed.

Series

The pilot was followed by two series with a total of 26 episodes airing between 1978 and 1979. Shortly after the show began, the " rescue helicopter base" moved its operations from Dee Why Beach Surf Life Saving Club to Palm Beach Surf Lifesaving Club.

Main Cast

The leading cast members included Dennis Grosvenor who played rescuer Jebbie Best, Robert Coleby

Robert Coleby

Robert Coleby is a British actor who has spent most of his career in Australia. Active since the 1970s, he has over 70 film and television credits to his name. Coleby has acted on stage in numerous productions for Queensland Theatre Company based in Brisbane, Australia.Robert's real name is Robert...

, Eric Oldfield

Eric Oldfield

Eric Oldfield is an Australian actor, who remains best known for his role in the soap opera The Young Doctors as Dr. Ben Fielding....

, Jeanie Drynan

Jeanie Drynan

Jeanie Dryan is an Australian film and television actress well known for her roles in the Australian television series Class of '74 and in the 1994 film Muriel's Wedding.-Career:...

 and Tom Richards

Tom Richards (actor)

Tom Richards is an Australian actor, best known for his appearances on television.He played Detective Steve York in Matlock Police during the 1970s and during the 1980s starred in the soap opera Sons and Daughters as David Palmer, for which he is probably best known...

.

Guest Actors

Notable guest actors included Rebecca Gilling

Rebecca Gilling

Rebecca Gilling is an Australian actress. Her first acting role was in Stone but who came to prominence as the "bad girl" flight attendant Diana Moore in the feature film version of soap opera Number 96 , in which she had several nude scenes...

, Vincent Ball

Vincent Ball

Vincent Ball is an Australian actor who has worked both in Australia and in the United Kingdom....

, Christine Amor

Christine Amor

Christine Amor is an Australian actress mostly remembered for her television work.She has acted extensively in television guest roles and in Australian film starting in 1973. Film roles include Alvin Purple , Petersen , Snapshot...

, Alwyn Kurts

Alwyn Kurts

Alwyn Kurts, also known as Alwyn Kurtis, was an Australian drama and comedy actor.Kurts originally worked as a war correspondent, before moving onto radio with his program "Raising a Husband" on radio station 3XY....

, Anne Haddy

Anne Haddy

Anne Haddy was an Australian film and television actress, best known for her role in the long-running soap opera, Neighbours.-Early and personal life:...

, Joanna Lockwood

Joanna Lockwood

Joanna Lockwood is an Australian actress who has played regular roles in various television series. After completing a brief stint in the closing episodes of soap opera Number 96 in 1977 she played the on-going lead role of police officer's wife and former stripper Valerie Johnson in police drama...

, Zoe Bertram

Zoe Bertram

Zoe Bertram is an Australian actress, whose first major role was in the teen-oriented television soap opera The Restless Years as Olivia Baxter from 1977 to 1981.Bertam has guested in numerous television series and appeared in movies, as well on stage...

, Adrian Wright

Adrian Wright

Adrian Wright is an actor remembered for his role in the 1970s children's television series Freewheelers....

, Normie Rowe

Normie Rowe

Norman John "Normie" Rowe AM was a major male solo performer of Australian pop music in the 1960s. Known for his bright and edgy tenor voice and dynamic stage presence, many of Rowe's most successful recordings were produced by Pat Aulton, house producer for the Sunshine Records, Spin Records and...

, Carmen Duncan

Carmen Duncan

Carmen Joan Duncan is an Australian actress.-Biography:Carmen Duncan is known to Australian audiences as a character actress in films and on television...

, Candy Raymond

Candy Raymond

Candida Raymond is an Australian actress active in film during the 1970s and early 1980s. she attended St Ives High School in Sydney. She is the sister of actress Victoria Raymond....

, Peter Bensley

Peter Bensley

Peter Bensley was an Australian "pin-up" actor of the 1980s.One of Bensley's earliest roles was as Dennis Braithwaite on the Seven Network drama series Class Of '74...

, Don Barker

Don Barker

Don Barker is a fictional character in the series Dream Team, played by Jon Morrison.Don Barker had a reputation of being a hard-nosed, tough manager, renowned for making teams achieve promotion in the lower leagues...

, Brian Wenzel

Brian Wenzel

Brian Wenzel is an Australian character actor, most famous for his long run as Police Sergeant Frank Gilroy on television program A Country Practice. He was an original cast member and remained along with Shane Porteous through the entire series, winning a Silver Logie for the role...

, Belinda Giblin

Belinda Giblin

Belinda Giblin is an Australian actress.She played Kay Webster in the risqué, satirical 1970s soap opera The Box, and the scheming Alison Carr in the 1980s melodrama Sons and Daughters...

, Tina Bursill

Tina Bursill

Tina Bursill is an Australian actress usually seen on television playing sophisticated and coolly self-reliant women such as Louise Carter in Skyways. Det. Sgt...

, Serge Lazareff

Serge Lazareff

-Acting:Lazareff performed in many Australian television series from the late 1960s to the late 1980s and made numerous appearances in Crawford Productions police shows including Homicide, Division 4, Matlock Police and Chopper Squad. He had a featured part in the 1970 ABC-TV drama series Dynasty...

, Maggie Kirkpatrick

Maggie Kirkpatrick

Maggie Kirkpatrick is an Australian actress, who is best known for her portrayal of the iconic character Joan Ferguson, a sadistic and corrupt lesbian prison officer known to the prisoners as "The Freak" in the popular Australian television soap opera, Prisoner...

, Ian Gilmour

Ian Gilmour (actor)

Ian Gilmour is a New Zealand-born actor.He has acted in several Australian television series, most notably as Kevin Burns in Prisoner in 1980...

, Vince Martin

Vince Martin (actor)

Vince Martin or Vin Martin , born Vincent Markesteijn, is a television and film actor. He mostly acted in film and television productions in Australia, where he was raised and started his career....

, Delvene Delaney

Delvene Delaney

Delvene Delaney is an Australian actress and television presenter.The beauty pageant winner found fame on Australian television in the 1970s, initially as a weather presenter on Brisbane television...

, Patsy King

Patsy King

Patsy King, is an Australian charactor actress ,a Melbourne theatre performer who trained as a Shakespearean actress with the Melbourne National Theatre; she spent her early days in the United Kingdom...

, James Condon

James Condon

James Condon is an Australian actor.He has made many appearances on television, including The Story Of Peter Grey, Homicide, Matlock Police, Number 96 , Bellamy, The Young Doctors, Carson's Law, Sons and Daughters, Prisoner, The Flying...

, Chris Orchard, Gordon Piper

Gordon Piper

Gordon Piper was an Australian film and television actor and theatre director. Piper was born in Sydney....

, Abigail

Abigail (actress)

Abigail is an actress who emigrated to Australia in 1968 and via the media of television became one of that country's significant sex symbols of the mid-1970s. Although born in England, she was educated in France. Her mother was a Ceylonese of Dutch Burgher/Eurasian ethnicity...

, Nick Tate

Nick Tate

Nicholas John "Nick" Tate is an Australian actor best known for his role as Eagle pilot Alan Carter in both seasons of the 1970s science fiction television series Space: 1999, as well as for playing the role of Gordon Hamilton's errant brother James in the 1980's soap opera "Sons and...

, Richard Moir

Richard Moir

-Biography:In 1990, Moir was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, the degenerative effects of which gradually brought his acting career to a premature end...

, Vincent Gil

Vincent Gil

Vincent Gil is an Australian film and television actor best known for his portrayal of the character Nightrider in the 1979 film Mad Max. Gil has also starred in many Australian television shows such as Neighbours, A Country Practice and Prisoner.-External links:...

, Elizabeth Alexander, George Spartels

George Spartels

George Spartels is an Australian actor of Greek descent, who is best known for his role on the television soap opera Neighbours, playing Benito Alessi. He was married to actress Elizabeth Alexander....

, Shane Porteous

Shane Porteous

John Shane Porteous is an Australian television character actor, TV screenplay scriptwriter, theatre actor, animation layout artist, and animation voice artist.-Biography:...

, Gerda Nicolson

Gerda Nicolson

Gerda Nicolson, was an Australian theatre and television actor best known for several long-running television roles....

, Sigrid Thornton

Sigrid Thornton

Sigrid Thornton is an Australian multi-award winning actress.-Early years:Thornton was born in Canberra, the daughter of Merle, a teacher of women's studies and writer, and Neil Thornton, an academic. She spent most of her formative years growing up and attending school at St. Peter's Lutheran...

, Sean Scully

Sean Scully (actor)

Sean Scully Sean Scully Sean Scully (born 28 September 1947 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia is an actor.-Career:Scully began his acting career at the age of 12, going on 13, in the 1960 Children’s Film Foundation film Hunted in Holland, which won the Diploma of Honour at the Cannes Film...

, Briony Behets

Briony Behets

Briony Behets is a British-born actress who found fame acting in Australian soap operas of the 1970s.-Early life:...

, Alan Cinis

Alan Cinis

Alan Cinis , an Australian politician and actor, is a Councillor on Leichhardt Council, Sydney, New South Wales representing the NSW Greens since 2008. As an actor, Cinis has starred in television, musical drama and film.-Acting career:Cinis commenced his acting career in October 1969, aged nine...

 and Diane Craig

Diane Craig

Diane Mary Craig is an actress born in County Down, Northern Ireland but who is best known for her performances on Australian television....

.

External links

• TV Eye - Classic Australian Television
• Chopper Squad at the National Film and Sound Archive