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Homicide (TV series)
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- For the American series, see Homicide: Life on the Street.
Homicide was an Australian police procedural television series made by Crawford Productions for the Seven Network between 1964 and 1977.
The series dealt with the homicide squad of the Victoria police force and episodes revolved around the various cases the detectives are called upon to investigate.
first episode aired at 7:30 p.m Tuesday October 20, 1964.
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Encyclopedia
- For the American series, see Homicide: Life on the Street.
Homicide was an Australian police procedural television series made by Crawford Productions for the Seven Network between 1964 and 1977.
The series dealt with the homicide squad of the Victoria police force and episodes revolved around the various cases the detectives are called upon to investigate.
Broadcast history
The first episode aired at 7:30 p.m Tuesday October 20, 1964. 504 episodes aired between then and June 1976. The remaining 6 produced episodes were aired in December 1976 and January 1977.
Repeat screenings of the series continued throught the 1970's, and ended in the early 1980's. Since them, only seven episodes have been screened:
- ep. 376 - "Initiation", as part of the HSV-7 nostalgia program "Those Were The Days"
- episodes 379 ("The Last Way Out"), 385 ("The Friendly Fellow"), 394 ("Patterns & Stripes Don't Mix"), 410 ("Bill"), and 463 ("The Life & Times Of Tine Kennedy") as part of the program's 30th anniversary celebration in 1994
- ep. 383 - Assassin, shown in November 2005 as part of HSV-7's 50th year celebrations.
In 2004 the episodes "Flashpoint" (ep. 56) and "Stopover" (ep. 504) were screened by Melbourne Cinematheque, finally giving "Stopover" a cinema screening.
Technical specifications
Early episodes were in black and white with the bulk of material recorded on videotape in the studios of HSV7 using a Multicamera setup. Each episode also featured about ten minutes of location footage shot on 16 mm film. Total time per episode was 47 minutes.
With occasional exceptions, the filmed segments did not have synchronised sound and so featured little dialogue, concentrating more on dramatic shots of cars pulling in, gun battles, and fist fights.
Dialogue for the film scenes was done "post sync". This means that the dialogue was recorded on location but, due to the often low quality of audio recorded in this manner, the actor was required to record the dialogue in a sound-proof studio in the standard filmmaking process known as Additional Dialogue Recording. Location recordings were used infrequently, and usually limited to brief dialogue snatches in enclosed spaces, such as the interior of a car. Sound effects would be also dubbed onto the location-shot footage. Both pre-recorded sound effects recordings and the work of Crawford's foley artist would be used.
Episode 56, "Flashpoint", which first aired on 19 April 1966, was shot entirely on location on film, and most of the dialogue of this episode was post-synched. Over the years the ratio of film to videotape was increased, and synchronised sound became the norm. When the series switched from black and white to colour in 1973, it necessitated shooting entirely on film, as the HSV7 studios were yet to be converted to colour video production.
If a script was amended, a Crawford Productions staff member who lived near the actor concerned, would be required to deliver the new script to their house. Quite often this new dialogue had to be memorised for filming the next day.
Stopover
Late in the show's run - sometime between episodes 470 and 480 - a feature length episode was filmed. This film was entitled Stopover, with the title Homicide not used at all, and was shot entirely on film on new sets and on location at Melbourne Airport. The story involved an international rock band who was held at the airport following the fatal overdose of a band member. The overdose was later suspected to be murder. Guest stars included Jon English as the band's lead singer, and Tony Bonner as the band member who overdosed. The film never received a cinema release but was shown on television as a special in 1976. It is officially listed as episode 504, with episodes 502 and 503 also being feature-length.
Lawson, White, Deegan and Redford are the detectives in the film.
Records
Homicide ran for 12 years and 6 months, making it the longest-running Australian weekly primetime drama in history.
- With 510 episodes produced (the last episode is numbered 509, but the pilot episode was numbered with an 'A' suffix, making a total of 510), for many years it held the record for most episodes produced in an Australian weekly primetime drama. When it ended in 2006
Blue Heelers equalled this record. However, "Homicide" ran on-air for longer than "Blue Heelers", and had a greater cumulative running time due to five "feature-length" episodes.
Significance
Homicide was the first major television series to be produced in Australia, the domestic television market having been previously dominated by American and British imports. Homicide proved that that there was a market for home-grown programming and was highly successful. For this reason, as well as for inspiring a series of popular cop dramas that followed, it remains one of the most important programmes in the history of Australian television.
In 2007, Homicide was chosen for a 50 cent stamp to celebrate 50 years of television in Australia.
Regular Cast
Insp. Jack Connolly - John Fegan
Det. Sgt. Frank Bronson - Terry McDermott
Det. Rex Fraser - Lex Mitchell
Sen. Det. / Det. Sgt. David Mackay - Leonard Teale
Sen. Det. Bill Hudson - Leslie Dayman
Sen. Det. Peter Barnes - George Mallaby
Sen. Det. Bert Costello - Lionel Long
Insp. Colin Fox - Alwyn Kurts
Sen. Det. Jim Patterson - Norman Yemm
Sen. Det. Bob Delaney - Mike Preston
Sen. Det. Phil Redford - Gary Day
Insp. Reg Lawson - Charles Tingwell
Sen. Det. Pat Kelly - John Stanton
Det. Sgt. Harry White - Don Barker
Sen. Det. Mike Deegan - Dennis Grosvenor
External links
Sydney Morning Herald" article about "Homicide" - Senses of Cinema
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