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163-529: Blue Heelers is an Australian police drama series that was produced by Southern Star Group and ran for twelve years on the Seven Network , from 1994 to 2006. Although based around the policing of the town, the series generally depicted the everyday lives and relationships of the residents of Mount Thomas , a fictional small town in Victoria . The series was one of the highest-rated and most-awarded programs in

326-712: A compilation of Blue Heelers moments from over its 13-season run. Australian television quiz-show The Weakest Link , hosted by Cornelia Frances , also aired a Blue Heelers special episode on 9 August 2001. Cast members John Wood, Neil Pigot, Ditch Davey, Jeremy Kewley, Jane Allsop, Suzi Dougherty, Paul Bishop, Caroline Craig and Peta Doodson took part in this special event. In February 2014, repeats of series 12 started airing; and, in May 2014, repeats of series 13 aired on 7two . Blue Heelers has also screened on Hallmark Channel in Australia in various time-slots. Blue Heelers had

489-421: A darker, grittier place, the people and cops in it transformed by an invasion of evil". Consequently, the story changed its focus from the old Mount Thomas police station to the new one that was used until the show's cancellation in 2006. The Seven Network feared that in the modern post-9/11 world, a show about country police was no longer what audiences wanted. Storylines of the proceeding five episodes focused on

652-491: A father-daughter dynamic and Maggie came to look at Tom like a second father, though he remained willing to offer stern counsel on the rare occasions that Maggie made a mistake. Maggie was friendly with all her colleagues, even the occasionally dour Nick Schultz ( William McInnes ), but found her closest friendship with fellow female officer Dash McKinley ( Tasma Walton ). Despite the age difference between them, Maggie and Dash bonded over their shared experiences as females in

815-427: A fellow copper has disgraced that uniform. Despite her police heritage, Maggie is shown making her fair share of mistakes, which sometimes have the potential for serious consequences, including one time where her decision to leave her gun belt unattended to help what she thinks is a drowning youth almost ended in the death of a child. Maggie's attention to detail, interpersonal skills and stubbornness made her character

978-443: A helmet for a passenger. Arthur Stone was furious, and blamed Maggie for his son's death, so when her car was vandalised, he was the obvious suspect. The real culprit, Gavin's girlfriend, managed to surprise Maggie and was planning to have her drive head-on into a wall, but was prevented from doing so when Robbie arrived on the scene. For the rest of the season, Maggie was faced with the prospect that Robbie might be back on heroin and

1141-442: A jealous woman at an idyllic commune, all while developing a mutual attraction towards Ben, with more than a little nudge from Ben's youngest daughter, Emma. Eventually, P. J. tells Maggie that he will stand aside to allow her to explore a relationship with Ben, but changes his mind and proposes to her after an altercation with a group of Y2K survivalists. The engagement proved to be short-lived, however, when bent copper Barry Craig

1304-400: A local paramedic whose work often crossed path with that of the police before her death, which came after contracting Japanese encephalitis . Despite initially finding her boss, Tom Croydon ( John Wood ), to be gruff and something of a chauvinist, Maggie proved herself to be an excellent copper, which in turn gained her more respect from Tom. Over time, this respect developed into something of

1467-423: A male-dominated workplace. Following Gina's death, Dash became Maggie's roommate, sharing a house with her until she decided to leave Mount Thomas in the aftermath of her mother's death. With Dash gone, Maggie's new female colleague is Jo Parrish ( Jane Allsop ), but the two have little time together to begin bonding before Maggie is gunned down. For a lot of her career, Maggie's family connections – to her father,

1630-461: A more original approach. Still others, like Eddie Sullivan's and Charlie Schmidt's Radio Patrol and Will Gould's Red Barry , steered a middle course. One of the best post- Tracy procedural comics was Kerry Drake , written and created by Allen Saunders and illustrated by Alfred Andriola . It diverged from the metropolitan settings used in Tracy to tell the story of the titular Chief Investigator for

1793-627: A necessary decision made in the general interest . A report by Color of Change Hollywood and the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center revealed that police procedural shows were normalizing unjust practices such as illegal searches , surveillance , coercion , intimidation , violence , abuse , and racism . Criticisms have been raised against the genre for its unrealistic depiction of crime. Particularly, police procedurals have been accused of possessing an unrealistic preoccupation with incidents such as homicide and terrorism . In

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1956-450: A one-sided depiction of police as the "good guys". The roots of the police procedural have been traced to at least the mid-1880s. Wilkie Collins 's novel The Moonstone (1868), a tale of a Scotland Yard detective investigating the theft of a valuable diamond, has been described as perhaps the earliest clear example of the genre. As detective fiction rose to worldwide popularity in the late 19th century and early 20th century, many of

2119-408: A perfect foil for that of P. J. Hasham and they were frequently paired together on investigations. As the only female officer for the first two and a half seasons, Maggie is usually called upon to perform the roles which need a softer touch, like dealing with babies and young children, but she isn't one to shy away from wading into the middle of a brawling crowd. As the series went on, Maggie also filled

2282-440: A police officer. Intrigued, he inquired as to why this young boy, fresh out of school, would want to become a police officer, as opposed to the many other opportunities he had open to him. McElroy soon discovered that, at the time, a staggering 60% of Australian police officers were under the age of 26. This, coupled with McElroy's desire to create a country cop show, formed the basis of the programme. When this same young officer left

2445-421: A politician. The character of Maggie Doyle was initially conceived as a strong, opinionated woman who had little time for the outdated and chauvinistic views of her male colleagues and many of the townspeople who were not used to female police officers. Coming from a police family, she deeply believed in the ideals which the police uniform should stand for, and frequently took it personally when she perceived that

2608-513: A rookie police officer learns to cope with the physical, emotional, and mental stresses of law enforcement during her first patrol assignment. With superheroes having long dominated the comic book market, there have been some recent attempts to integrate elements of the police procedural into the universe of costumed crime-fighters. Gotham Central , for example, depicts a group of police detectives operating in Batman 's Gotham City , and suggested that

2771-572: A similar British TV series, Fabian of the Yard , Creasey decided to try a more down-to-earth series of cop stories. Adopting the pseudonym "J.J. Marric", he wrote Gideon's Day , 1955, in which George Gideon , a high-ranking detective at Scotland Yard, spends a busy day supervising his subordinates' investigations into several unrelated crimes. This novel was the first in a series of more than twenty books which brought Creasey his best critical notices. One entry, Gideon's Fire , 1961, won an Edgar Award from

2934-561: A slightly fictionalized New York City, have been filmed in settings outside New York, even outside the US. Akira Kurosawa 's 1963 film, High and Low , based on McBain's King's Ransom (1959), is set in Yokohama . Without Apparent Motive (1972), set on the French Riviera , is based on McBain's Ten Plus One (1963). Claude Chabrol 's Les Liens de Sang (1978), based on Blood Relatives (1974),

3097-517: A strong focus on the lead character, but the novels have always included subordinate members of his staff as supporting characters. Simenon, who had been a journalist covering police investigations before creating Maigret, gave the appearance of an accurate depiction of law enforcement in Paris. Simenon influenced later European procedural writers, such as Sweden's Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö , and Baantjer . Perhaps ranking just behind McBain in importance to

3260-403: A strong following not only in Australia but also worldwide; it has been sold to 108 territories and is shown in over 70 countries. In New Zealand Blue Heelers screened on TV One in a popular timeslot. However, following the on-screen death of Maggie Doyle , ratings fell, and the show was moved to a 9:30 pm slot on Friday. Following that, the show moved to a late night Thursday slot where

3423-500: A strong friendship with Chris Riley ( Julie Nihill ), a shire councillor and the publican of the Imperial Hotel, the local "watering hole" used by the local police. Chris is Maggie's landlord when she first moves into town, and remains a close friend and confidante after Maggie is forced to move out by pressure from superior officers. For around three years, Maggie's closest friend was her roommate, Gina Belfanti ( Rachel Blakely ),

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3586-415: A sustained increase in ratings. Producers also hoped that a shift in direction, a change of mood and setting, and the addition of four cast members would cement Blue Heelers' long-term future. They also wanted the show to remain relevant and more accurately reflect today's modern world: Mount Thomas was created in 1993 and the world has changed... It will now be more reflective of today's country towns, not

3749-404: A tick. With Dr. Zoe Hamilton 's help, the tick was removed and eventually Maggie made a full recovery. Later that year, Maggie and P. J. were drawn into an investigation at the local gold mine when Adam and new constable Dash McKinley ( Tasma Walton ) found prospector Hec O'Farrell in the mine, despite him no longer holding the lease. Hec's mate, Bert, is found bashed and their jar of gold dust

3912-401: A warning and a chance to get the car repaired. She later found him driving the vehicle again, and was forced to write it off as defective. When she continued refusing to certify the vehicle as roadworthy, Gavin's father Arthur claimed that she was persecuting them. Gavin later solved his transportation problem by borrowing a motorbike, but was killed in an accident while going back to the farm for

4075-691: A weekly slot on Fridays at 20.00 as episodes became more recent. Episodes to the later part of the 1997 season were shown before the series was dropped, along with the entire channel shortly afterwards. Series 2, Episodes 1–9 Commentary on episodes 19 and 44 (season 1) Season 3, Episodes 1–10 Police procedural As its name implies, the defining element of a police procedural is the attempt to accurately depict law enforcement and its procedures, including police-related topics such as forensic science , autopsies , gathering evidence , search warrants , interrogation , and adherence to legal restrictions and procedures. While many police procedurals conceal

4238-431: A young constable just arriving in the town of Mount Thomas. Her early characterisation is that of a young woman, determined to prove herself, and who is unwilling to stand for any form of discrimination. Lisa McCune came to the role at the age of just 22, having appeared mainly in advertisements and theatre-work. McCune had her first audition with creator and producer Hal McElroy . She told Doug Aiton of The Age : "It

4401-456: Is a fictional character in the long-running Australian police drama Blue Heelers , portrayed by Lisa McCune . A feisty young constable from a policing family, Maggie arrived in Mount Thomas during the first episode, which follows her as she meets each of her colleagues in turn. The first female constable to join the station, she is faced with the prospect of not only learning how policing

4564-430: Is a little bit different in a country town, but also with overcoming the chauvinism of some of the locals, and of some of her colleagues. She remained with the show for exactly half of its run, departing during the second episode of the seventh season , and was the fifth-longest serving character, appearing in 250 of the 510 episodes to air. The character of Maggie Doyle was created by Hal McElroy and Tony Morphett as

4727-551: Is a widower and old school police officer who retires as a sergeant. Although he dotes on Maggie, Pat has shown a tendency towards "tough love" when it comes to his two sons. Maggie's eldest brother, Mick Doyle ( David Field , later Terry Serio ), first appears when the Internal Investigations Division (IID), with whom he is a detective sergeant, arrives in Mount Thomas and raids the home of her colleagues. Mick

4890-403: Is considered to be a male-dominant genre which very often portrays the masculine hero dedicated to the professional realm. The introduction of women as protagonists is commonly attributed to either adding sexual appeal , introducing gendered issues like investigating sex crimes , or delving into the personal relationships of the characters. It also often portrays rape myths , such as that rape

5053-434: Is less to show how cops work on the job, than how the job works on cops. It is difficult to disentangle the early roots of the procedural from its forebear, the traditional detective novel, which often featured a police officer as protagonist. By and large, the better known novelists such as Ngaio Marsh produced work that falls more squarely into the province of the traditional or "cozy" detective novel. Nevertheless, some of

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5216-454: Is missing, with P. J. believing that Hec had taken the gold himself, but Tom and Dash are skeptical. The investigation took an unexpected turn when the new miners, Matt Kinsella and Jamie Burgess, discovered a nugget of gold just when the police are on hand to play witness. A routine check into the men's backgrounds uncovers the fact that both men were guards on duty during a bullion robbery. With this information in hand, Maggie and P. J. return to

5379-405: Is more often committed by strangers rather than a known acquaintance of the victim, that the majority of rape claims are false, and that rapes only happen to "bad girls". The portrayal of the criminal justice system also under-represents issues of race and institutional racism . A report by Color of Change Hollywood and the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center identified that in these shows there

5542-442: Is nothing if not stubborn and this bloody-minded determination comes to the fore when she investigates the drug ring she believes led to her brother's death. Although Blue Heelers was not expected to become a popular programme, the show became a hit shortly after it began airing, with much of this success credited to the quality of the ensemble cast, including Lisa McCune as Maggie Doyle. During her time on Blue Heelers , McCune

5705-767: Is often cited as the first police procedural, by Anthony Boucher (mystery critic for the New York Times Book Review ) among others. Another early example is Hillary Waugh 's Last Seen Wearing... 1952. Even earlier examples from the 20th century, predating Treat, include the novels Vultures in the Dark , 1925, and The Borrowed Shield , 1925, by Richard Enright , retired New York City Police Commissioner , Harness Bull , 1937, and Homicide , 1937, by former Southern California police officer Leslie T. White , P.C. Richardson's First Case , 1933, by Sir Basil Thomson , former Assistant Commissioner of Scotland Yard , and

5868-872: Is set in Montreal . Even Fuzz (1972), based on the 1968 novel, though set in the US, moves the action to Boston . Two episodes of ABC's Columbo , set in Los Angeles, were based on McBain novels. A prolific author of police procedurals, whose work has fallen out of fashion in the years since her death, is Elizabeth Linington writing under her own name, as well as "Dell Shannon" and "Lesley Egan". Linington reserved her Dell Shannon pseudonym primarily for procedurals featuring LAPD Central Homicide Lieutenant Luis Mendoza (1960–86). Under her own name she wrote about Sergeant Ivor Maddox of LAPD's North Hollywood Station, and as Lesley Egan she wrote about suburban cop Vic Varallo. These novels are sometimes considered flawed, partly due to

6031-424: Is shown to be very close with his sister, calling her "Mitsy", with this closeness causing tension with both their father, and with Maggie's colleagues, all of whom resent the fact that Mick is a member of the "toe-cutters". Despite their closeness, it is revealed during the seventh season that Mick is responsible for his sister's murder. Maggie's younger brother, Robbie Doyle ( David Wenham , later Brett Climo ),

6194-480: The 87th Precinct series beginning with Cop Hater , published in 1956. Hunter continued to write 87th Precinct novels almost until his death in 2005. Although these novels focus primarily on Detective Steve Carella, they encompass the work of many officers working alone and in teams, and Carella is not always present in any individual book. As if to illustrate the universality of the police procedural, many of McBain's 87th Precinct novels, despite their being set in

6357-515: The Big Boy , was based on Ness's real-life nemesis Al Capone. Other members of Tracy's Rogues Gallery , like Boris Arson, Flattop Jones , and Maw Famon, were inspired, respectively, by John Dillinger , Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd , and Kate "Ma" Barker . Once Tracy was sold to the Chicago Tribune syndicate, Gould enrolled in a criminology class at Northwestern University , met with members of

6520-595: The Chicago Police Department , and did research at the department's crime lab, to make his depiction of law enforcement more authentic. Ultimately, he hired retired Chicago policeman Al Valanis, a pioneering forensic sketch artist, as both an artistic assistant and police technical advisor. The success of Tracy led to many more police strips. While some, like Norman Marsh's Dan Dunn were unabashedly slavish imitations of Tracy , others, like Dashiell Hammett 's and Alex Raymond 's Secret Agent X-9 , took

6683-493: The London Metropolitan Police . The West novels were, for the era, an unusually realistic look at Scotland Yard operations, but the plots were often wildly melodramatic, and, to get around thorny legal problems, Creasey gave West an "amateur detective" friend who was able to perform the extra-procedural acts that West, as a policeman, could not. In the mid-1950s, inspired by the success of television's Dragnet and

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6846-500: The Mystery Writers of America for Best Mystery Novel. The Gideon series, more than any other source, helped establish the common procedural plot structure of threading several autonomous story lines through a single novel. Hillary Waugh , in 1952, wrote Last Seen Wearing ... , a commercial and critical success, exploring detailed and relentless police work. Ed McBain, the pseudonym of Evan Hunter , wrote dozens of novels in

7009-409: The "old school" sergeant, and her brother, the "toe-cutter" – complicated her relationships with her fellow officers. Despite having a strong sense of pride in being a cop, Maggie found herself despising her profession on more than one occasion, describing the force as a "boys' club" after being pressured by her superiors to move out of her room at the Imperial Hotel while she was pursuing charges against

7172-403: The 3.5 million it was drawing at its peak. The announcement was front-page news on nearly all of Australia's major newspapers, including The Sydney Morning Herald , The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) , The Herald Sun , The Age and Brisbane's Courier Mail . Two different endings were shot for the final episode, which finished filming on 20 December 2005. The first ending wrapped up all

7335-497: The 8:30 pm timeslot on the same day. After the move, writers could explore more diverse storylines, as the show was restricted to an M rating. The third and fourth season premiers aired on Monday nights during the 8:30 pm timeslot, but the show moved back to its original slot before the next episode. In its fifth season, Blue Heelers moved to the Wednesday night 8:30 pm timeslot, which it occupied for most of its run, until

7498-518: The District Attorney of a small-town jurisdiction. Later, following a personal tragedy, he leaves the DA's Office and joins his small city's police force in order to fight crime closer to the grass roots level. As both a DA's man and a city cop, he fights a string of flamboyant, Gould-ian criminals like "Stitches", "Bottleneck", and "Bulldozer". Other syndicated police strips include Zane Grey 's King of

7661-483: The English ITV contractors reformatted as one company in late 2002, regionally-run programmes such as Blue Heelers and Shortland Street (which were at different points of the series in each region) disappeared from the schedules. No ITV region ever screened the series in full. Blue Heelers also aired on an early UK digital and cable channel, Carlton Select , in the late 1990s. Early episodes aired daily, and then in

7824-492: The Inspector on their backs, her colleagues faced a race against time to find the gun before the worst could happen. When the gun found its way into the hands of a young child, only pure luck prevented a tragic end. When IID raided the houses of several Mount Thomas police officers later that year, Maggie was one of the two officers not targeted in the raid. With one of the investigators being her brother Mick ( David Field ), she

7987-547: The Metropolitan Police. One semidocumentary, He Walked By Night (1948), released by Eagle-Lion Films , featured a young radio actor named Jack Webb in a supporting role. The success of the film, along with a suggestion from LAPD Detective Sergeant Marty Wynn, the film's technical advisor , gave Webb an idea for a radio drama that depicted police work in a similarly semi-documentary manner. The resulting series, Dragnet , which debuted on radio in 1949 and made

8150-457: The Mystery Writers of America in 1971. The books were translated from Swedish into 35 different languages, and have sold roughly ten million copies. Sjöwall and Wahlöö used black humour extensively in the series, and it is widely recognised as one of the finest police procedural series. Tony Hillerman , the author of 17 novels involving Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn, wrote procedurals in which

8313-565: The National Murder Squad, and the realistic depiction, as well as criticism of the Swedish welfare state at the time whilst the tedium of the police procedural continues in the background, is something still widely used today, with authors such as Jo Nesbø and Stieg Larsson . The books gave rise to the Swedish noir scene, and The Laughing Policeman earned a "Best Novel" Edgar Award from

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8476-514: The Police Academy, and her arrival in Mount Thomas . Without the family matriarch, the Doyle family were described by Tom Croydon as the most hide-bound and pig-headed family he'd ever met. Coming from a family of Irish Catholics , Maggie was educated, at least during her primary years, at an unnamed Catholic school staffed by nuns. On one occasion, she insisted on playing the part of Joseph in

8639-483: The Royal Mounted , depicting police work in the contemporary Canadian Northwest, Lank Leonard's Mickey Finn , which emphasized the home life of a hard-working cop, and Dragnet , which adapted stories from the pioneering radio-TV series into comics. Early comic books with police themes tended to be reprints of syndicated newspaper strips like Tracy and Drake . Others adapted police stories from other mediums, like

8802-532: The Seven Network had gained the rights to televise the 2004 Athens Olympic Games . In total, 510 episodes were aired: 509-hour-long standard episodes and one live episode. The live episode, titled "Reasonable Doubts", was filmed to celebrate Blue Heelers 10th year on the air. To prepare, the cast was given six days to memorise their lines. The final episode of the 13th season aired as a 2-hour tribute. It opened with an introduction from John Wood and concluded with

8965-610: The UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Canada and other countries. The series launched the careers of many Australian actors, such as Lisa McCune, Grant Bowler , Ditch Davey , Rachel Gordon , Tasma Walton , Charlie Clausen and Jane Allsop . While many of these actors are still best known for their work on Blue Heelers , some have gone on to bigger roles. Many other actors of today also appeared in guest roles, including Hugh Jackman , Charles 'Bud' Tingwell , Peter O'Brien , John Howard and Robert Rabiah . John Wood, alongside Julie Nihill remained

9128-562: The United States of America in the early 2000s on the short-lived cable channel Trio (carried primarily by DirecTV ). No episode after number 76 was ever shown in the United States, and when Trio changed their programming in 2004, Blue Heelers was dropped from the schedule. The series returned to US airwaves in September 2021 on the new digital network DigiTV , a channel devoted mainly to imported British and Australian series. Blue Heelers

9291-570: The United States, plot points involving murder investigations appear at more frequent rates than those involving theft , substance abuse , or domestic violence , which citizens are more likely to personally experience. Police procedurals have additionally portrayed attempted terrorism incidents at unrealistically high rates since the September 11 attacks and the start of the war on terror , prompting accusations of racial profiling and fear-mongering . The manner in which crime has been portrayed in

9454-473: The academy, she was gazetted to an unspecified station in Melbourne's western suburbs and served there until she was posted to Mount Thomas . Upon her arrival in town, Maggie was called into action even before her first shift when her new landlady, Chris Riley ( Julie Nihill ), asked for help when one of her kitchen staff arrived at the pub in the middle of the night claiming she'd been raped. On her way to work

9617-485: The acts of deluded criminals. Of these, one of the more significant events is the bombing of the police station during the show's twelfth season. Whenever overwhelmed, the Heelers call on the assistance of the police in the larger town of St Davids, home of the resident police inspector Russell Falcon-Price. An antagonist in the series, Falcon-Price often tries to terminate the employment of the Mount Thomas sergeant or to close

9780-484: The author's far-right political viewpoint (she was a member of the John Birch Society ), but primarily because Miss Linington's books, notwithstanding the frequent comments she made about the depth of her research, were all seriously deficient in the single element most identified with the police procedural, technical accuracy. However, they have a certain charm in their depiction of a kinder, gentler California, where

9943-504: The award four times in succession between 1997 until 2000 . She was also nominated three times at the People's Choice Awards , being nominated for Favourite Actress in a Drama or Serial in 1998, and Favourite TV Star in both 1998 and 1999, winning both awards in 1998. As a result of her time on the show, McCune rapidly progressed from being relatively unknown to being one of the most recognisable, and popular, faces on Australian television. At

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10106-565: The basis of the show being from a police officer's perspective became a firm reality. (The only bending of this rule was with scenes featuring publican Chris; as she was billed with the main cast, she was given the same on-screen "rules" as the officers. In early episodes, before she worked at the station, this "rule" also applied to Wayne Patterson's wife Roz). Hal McElroy gives his police adviser's opinion: He had been posted to Yass (in New South Wales) and he really loved it up there because

10269-447: The bombing of the station and the four new main characters: Rachel Gordon as Amy Fox, Geoff Morrell as Mark Jacobs, Samantha Tolj as Kelly O'Rourke, and Danny Raco as Joss Peroni. Popular former cast member William McInnes also returned to the show, temporarily reprising his role as Nick Schultz . Producers hoped the new tone of the series, the new younger actors, and McInnes's role reprisal would lure back viewers who had stopped watching

10432-524: The caped crime-fighter is disliked by many Gotham detectives for treading on their toes. Meanwhile, Metropolis SCU tells the story of the Special Crimes Unit, an elite squad of cops in the police force serving Superman 's Metropolis . The use of police procedural elements in superhero comics can partly be attributed to the success of Kurt Busiek 's groundbreaking 1994 series Marvels , and his subsequent Astro City work, both of which examine

10595-465: The celebration looked like it might be put on hold when a bag of heroin went missing in the middle of a station full of cops. Luckily, the bag had seemingly just been misplaced, and the party went on as scheduled. The next morning, Maggie and her father took part in a raid on a suspected drug house, where they found the last thing they could've expected: Robbie ( David Wenham ) unconscious from an overdose. Later, they realised that Robbie had stolen some of

10758-439: The center of the story, showing exclusively their vision of the world. This approach has been denounced as enforcing the idea that the life and views of policemen are more important than the ones of the communities being policed. In police procedurals, police officers are more often than not presented as the "good guys" or even close to superhuman, leading to a potentially biased narrative. Illegal practices are often presented as

10921-526: The coffee table and fled. With Robbie still on the loose, Tom decided to have Maggie work out of the normally closed Widgeree Police Station during the annual powerboat festival to keep her away from the investigation. Within minutes of arriving in town, she was plunged headfirst into a fight for survival with Samuel, a young boy in witness protection, against a crazed man, Hank, after being forced to surrender her gun. After hiding in an old hut, they were discovered by Hank, who knocked Maggie unconscious after Samuel

11084-422: The criminal's identity until the crime is solved in the narrative climax (the so-called whodunit ), others reveal the perpetrator's identity to the audience early in the narrative, making it an inverted detective story . The police procedural genre has faced criticism for its inaccurate depictions of policing and crime, depictions of racism and sexism, and allegations that the genre is " copaganda ", or promotes

11247-415: The day. Only about half of the footage for each episode was shot on location. Most of the scenes, including scenes in the police station and pub, were filmed at the Seven Network studios in Melbourne. Much of the filming on location was carried out in towns such as Williamstown , and the more established parts of Werribee . The scenes of the outside of the Mount Thomas police station were actually filmed at

11410-582: The detectives in Powers were "normal" (unpowered) humans dealing with super-powered crime, Alan Moore and Gene Ha 's Top 10 mini-series, published by America's Best Comics in 2000–01, centered around the super-powered police force in a setting where powers are omnipresent. The comic detailed the lives and work of the police force of Neopolis, a city in which everyone, from the police and criminals to civilians, children and even pets, has super-powers, colourful costumes and secret identities. The police procedural

11573-618: The development of the police procedural. Dragnet marked a turn in the depiction of the police on screen. Instead of being corrupt laughingstocks, this was the first time police officers represented bravery and heroism . In their quest for authenticity, Dragnet 's producers used real police cars and officers in their scenes. However, this also meant that in exchange, the LAPD could vet scripts for authenticity. The LAPD vetted every scene, which would allow them to remove elements they did not agree with or did not wish to draw attention to. Over

11736-456: The development of the procedural as a distinct mystery subgenre is John Creasey , a prolific writer of many different kinds of crime fiction, from espionage to criminal protagonist. He was inspired to write a more realistic crime novel when his neighbor, a retired Scotland Yard detective, challenged Creasey to "write about us as we are". The result was Inspector West Takes Charge , 1940, the first of more than forty novels to feature Roger West of

11899-449: The differing approaches of P. J. and their colleague Ben Stewart ( Paul Bishop ) to the case of a sick child and her parents. This comes to a head when P. J. puts himself in Maggie's line of fire in a misplaced attempt to protect her, leading her to tell him that he needs to stop smothering her. Over the following months, Maggie is indecently assaulted by a politician and later drugged by

12062-409: The drastic moves by Seven and Southern Star: The recent shake-up at the old station has swept aside an unhealthy staleness that had settled on the place and there's some much-needed fresh energy provided by the new recruits, including Samantha Tolj as true-blue Aussie gal Kelly O'Rourke and Danny Raco as Italian stallion Joss Peroni. In the hope that viewing would increase, an 11-episode season in 2006

12225-498: The end of its twelfth season. This move was made to make way for hospital drama All Saints . Starting in 2004, the Seven Network aired Blue Heelers weekdays at 2:00 pm. All episodes aired with the final episode airing in 2007. This made way for the broadcast of early episodes of All Saints . Seasons generally ran in Australia from early February to late November. Each season generally consisted of 41 to 42 episodes. The eleventh season however, only consisted of 39 episodes, as

12388-469: The entire station, which in reality would be almost entirely out of his control. Along with their police work, aspects of the Heelers' personal lives are regularly featured, notably the relationship between Maggie and PJ , which ends with Maggie's death in one of the most watched moments on Australian television. On average, 42 episodes of Blue Heelers were broadcast per year on Australian television, with each episode comprising fifty scenes. One episode

12551-470: The final batch of episodes shown in these regions were from Season 7, finishing the season on Wednesday, 20 November 2002 (Australian air date: 22 November 2000). Blue Heelers also aired on Anglia Television , Meridian Television and Channel Television , typically Mondays at 14:20-15:15. During the summer school holidays, it was broadcast daily in a morning slot, usually from 11:05, until late 1998. Granada Television and Border Television also screened

12714-561: The first season, Maggie was shown to have a previous romantic relationship with Wayne Patterson ( Grant Bowler ), a classmate at the Academy who became her colleague at Mount Thomas. She also had brief relationships with Glenn Ritchie (Jeremy Callaghan), the press liaison for a local politician, and Sean Neale (Richard Huggett), a detective based in St Davids. In later seasons, she shared a kiss with Ben Stewart ( Paul Bishop ), but this relationship

12877-684: The first to broadcast Blue Heelers , and they began with three half-hour weekly episodes, Monday to Wednesday, 14:20-14:50, starting from 3 January 1995. Later in the year, they then switched to airing hour-long episodes, 14:20-15:20, on Mondays. Central Television were next to start in February 1995 with a late night 23.40-00:35 slot on Tuesdays, before following Carlton with the half-hour 14.20-14:50 slot on Mondays and Tuesdays from March. Central also reverted to hour long episodes in 1996, usually on Monday and Friday, 14:20-15:15, but went back down to one hourly episode per week in 1997, on Mondays, 13:50-14:45, as

13040-408: The following morning, Maggie got her first taste of the town's attitude to a female constable when she was heckled by a couple of local men. After reporting for duty, her first day was a whirlwind which saw her shoot a vicious dog before saving the rape victim from a suicide attempt, and finished it off by exposing the rapist for what he truly was in the midst of a crowded pub. Later that year, Maggie

13203-425: The force only a year later due to the shooting death of his colleague, McElroy was even more intrigued to learn about the very fickle, yet rewarding job of policing the community. McElroy continued his quest by asking ex-police officer Michael Winter to write down what it was like to be a city cop who transferred to a country town. These became the ideas that Blue Heelers was based around. Michael Winter also conceived

13366-400: The form, like Hillary Waugh , Ed McBain , and John Creasey started to appear regularly. In 1956, in his regular New York Times Book Review column, mystery critic Anthony Boucher , noting the growing popularity of crime fiction in which the main emphasis was the realistic depiction of police work, suggested that such stories constituted a distinct subgenre of the mystery, and, crediting

13529-478: The gap with Australian broadcasts narrowed. By 2000, half-hour editions were being aired again, 13:30-14:00, but now on Tuesday and Wednesday, where it remained until 2002. Central were one of the most consistent ITV regions to broadcast Blue Heelers , completing series 6 by early 2002. When the three Carlton-owned ITV regions (Carlton, Westcountry and Central) started a uniform programme schedule during 2002, Blue Heelers continued to air as two half-hour episodes, and

13692-402: The genre has been facing increased scrutiny. As a result, some television networks have been making an effort to address and correct the aforementioned criticism. In August 2020, it was announced that CBS writing staff would partner with 21CP Solutions, an advisory group on public safety and law enforcement , on the network's legal dramas and police procedurals. CBS producers stated that

13855-490: The heroin from the station and, after briefly considering covering-up, the whole family went down to the station and had him charged. As Pat left to take Robbie to a drug rehabilitation clinic, the whole family resolved to support him. In early 1997, the Mount Thomas district was gripped by fears that cattle were dying from mad cow disease , and the tension sky-rocketed when the first cases were reported in humans. Two people were already dead, including Gina Belfanti, when Maggie

14018-605: The history of Australian television , having won 25 Logie awards, and having equal standing with The Don Lane Show as the most awarded show in the history of the Logies (with five wins). It is also noted for its two main stars Lisa McCune , a four-time recipient of the Gold Logie , and John Wood , who also won Gold. Blue Heelers was first aired on 10 September 1993, with the episode "A Woman's Place". The last episode, episode #510 titled "One More Day" aired on 4 June 2006. The series

14181-463: The killer is her brother Mick. With Maggie avenged, and the last of Pat's children now dead, the two men closest to her are able to grieve properly, scattering her ashes over the landscape outside Mount Thomas. Maggie joined the Victoria Police in 1991. At the beginning of the series in 1994, she held the rank of Constable. Maggie never married, but was briefly engaged before her death: During

14344-435: The lives of homicide detectives as they investigated superhero-related cases. Bendis's success has led both Marvel Comics and DC Comics to begin their own superhero-themed police procedurals ( District X and the aforementioned Gotham Central ), which focus on how the job of a police officer is affected by such tropes as secret identities, superhuman abilities, costumes, and the near-constant presence of vigilantes . While

14507-457: The long-running Crawford Productions series Homicide , Blue Heelers holds the Australian record for most episodes produced of a weekly prime-time drama. It was also nearly the longest-running series, but Homicide lasted one calendar month longer and, due to five feature-length episodes, had more time on air. Blue Heelers was sold to 108 territories and gained international recognition in

14670-510: The media has subsequently been linked with discrepancies both in popular perception of crime rates , as well as sentencing . In a 2005 study conducted on the German public , it was found that despite a decline in total offences between 1992 and 2003, "the German public believes or assumes, on balance, that crime has increased". It has been further posited that the distorted public perception arising from

14833-497: The mine ceiling. Through mere chance, and a discarded Minties wrapper, Dash and Adam realised that their colleagues were trapped in the mine while searching for Kinsella and Burgess. The rescue was complicated by the fact that the blast which caused the cave-in had made the rest of the tunnel unstable, but the State Emergency Service volunteers managed to extricate them both before the roof caved-in completely. Once free of

14996-409: The mine to investigate, only to be trapped by a cave-in caused by an explosion. Trapped in close quarters together, they finally have a chance to explore a side of their relationship which they'd been suppressing for a long time. While waiting for rescue, the trapped couple discussed, among other things, their hopes and dreams for the future while managing to stay hydrated thanks to water dripping from

15159-504: The mine, Maggie and P. J. were set on nailing the two men for the bullion robbery, and for attempted murder, only to learn that Burgess' partner had killed Kinsella, and tried to kill Burgess. In September of that year, Maggie's brother Robbie (now played by Brett Climo ) returned to Mount Thomas for the first time since finishing rehab. Meanwhile, she encountered Gavin Stone driving a seriously un-roadworthy car, but initially decided to give him

15322-422: The moment I was driving home up River Road and I thought, 'Then we can have two shows'. I said to this copper 'What are you called in the country? What is your nickname?' And he said they call highway patrol 'tyre biters' and coppers 'blue heelers'. And I thought 'That's the title!' So I rang [scriptwriter] Tony Morphett and said 'Let's do a show about young cops in the country. It's called Blue Heelers. By creating

15485-607: The most-watched moments in Australian television history. In her fictional backstory, the character is the only daughter of police officer Pat Doyle and his wife, Kathleen. She is the youngest member of a policing family, with her eldest brother Mick serving as a detective in the Internal Investigations Division (IID), later known as the Ethical Standards Department (ESD), while her second eldest brother Robbie worked primarily in an administrative role. Kathleen Doyle died sometime between her daughter's graduation from

15648-406: The name of the programme by recounting the common names for a country police officer: "tyre-biters"—referring to the fact that country cops are often involved in car chases—and "blue heelers"—referring to their blue uniforms and overall similar appearance and persona to a Blue Heeler dog , a protective and intuitive breed of Australian dog. From the time that McElroy's idea was initially conceived, to

15811-458: The nativity play and, on another, the eight-year-old Maggie performed a citizen's arrest on a classmate and dragged him down to the police station for squirting one of the nuns with the bubbler. Maggie officially joined the Victoria Police midway through 1992, having graduated from the Academy in the same class as her then lover, and later colleague, Wayne Patterson ( Grant Bowler ). After

15974-554: The next few years, the number of novelists who picked up on the procedural trend following Dragnet 's example grew to include writers like Ben Benson, who wrote carefully researched novels about the Massachusetts State Police , retired police officer Maurice Procter , who wrote a series about North England cop Harry Martineau , and Jonathan Craig, who wrote short stories and novels about New York City police officers. Police novels by writers who would come to virtually define

16137-471: The official first episode of Blue Heelers , telling the story of a new cop in town, Maggie Doyle, and her beginnings in Mount Thomas. Hal McElroy chose to discard the second pilot, realising it was a fatal mistake to be "with the criminals as they plotted the crime". He also conceived his rule that the producers of the show "couldn't have a camera in a room unless there was a copper there as well" (a rule shared by long-running UK Police drama The Bill ). Hence,

16300-621: The old, disused Williamstown police station, which was then a private residence. Scenes at Mount Thomas High School were filmed at Williamstown High School. The town of Castlemaine was most often used as the backdrop for Mount Thomas, seen in almost every episode. Although the Blue Heelers' pilot was shot in Castlemaine, the cast and crew very rarely returned there to shoot further episodes; images of Castlemaine were usually just establishing shots. Chris Riley's fictional Imperial Hotel, for example,

16463-405: The only actors with Blue Heelers to remain during its entire 12-year run, portraying Senior Sergeant Tom Croydon and publican Chris Riley respectively. The series primarily focuses on the daily lives of police officers working at a police station in the fictional small town of Mount Thomas in the Australian state of Victoria. Each episode is presented from the perspective of the officers. This

16626-493: The party. Although the investigation uncovered the fact that she had sex with Adam Cooper ( Damian Walshe-Howling ) at the party, he was discounted as a suspect and the police decided to use Maggie as bait for the rapist. Heading home after the operation was called off, she found herself face-to-face with the rapist but was able to hold him off until Gina came to her aid. During the third season , Maggie's father and two brothers arrived in town to celebrate her 25th birthday, but

16789-629: The pioneering and most popular characters, at least in the English-speaking world, were private investigators or amateurs. See C. Auguste Dupin , Sherlock Holmes , Sam Spade , Miss Marple and others. Hercule Poirot was described as a veteran of the Belgian police, but as a protagonist he worked independently. Only after World War II would police procedural fiction rival the popularity of PIs or amateur sleuths. Lawrence Treat 's 1945 novel V as in Victim

16952-507: The plodding nature of the investigators. For details see the PhD dissertation by Antony Stephenson (2019). The comic strip Dick Tracy is often pointed to as an early procedural. Tracy creator Chester Gould seemed to be trying to reflect the real world. Tracy himself, conceived by Gould as a "modern-day Sherlock Holmes ", was partly modeled on real-life law enforcer Eliot Ness. Tracy's first, and most frequently recurring, antagonist,

17115-566: The police were always "good guys" who solved all the crimes and respected the citizenry. Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö planned and wrote the Martin Beck police procedural series of ten books between the 1960s and 1970s, set in Sweden . The series is particularly renowned for its extensive character development throughout the series. Beck himself is gradually promoted from detective in a newly nationalised Swedish police force to Chief Inspector of

17278-539: The popularity of a number of American films which dramatized and fictionalized actual crimes. Dubbed " semidocumentary films" by film critics, these motion pictures, often filmed on location, with the cooperation of the law enforcement agencies involved in the actual case, made a point of authentically depicting police work. Examples include The Naked City (1948), The Street with No Name (1948), T-Men (1947), He Walked by Night (1948), and Border Incident (1949). Films from other countries soon began following

17441-408: The prevalence of police procedurals has been a factor in influencing sentencing rates. Countries such as the US, UK and Germany—while experiencing declines in crime rates—reported increases in the volume and severity of incarceration . Alongside protests against police brutality in the United States and abroad, and debates on the role of entertainment in the portrayal of law enforcement in society,

17604-565: The procedures were those of the Navajo Tribal Police . Though not the first police officer to write procedurals, Joseph Wambaugh 's success has caused him to become the exemplar of cops who turn their professional experiences into fiction. The son of a Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , policeman, Wambaugh joined the Los Angeles Police Department after a stint of military duty. In 1970, his first novel, The New Centurions ,

17767-427: The producers and executives of Blue Heelers realised that there were apparent problems which could potentially lead to the series' downfall. In 2004, Blue Heelers lost the top ratings spot to McLeod's Daughters . During 2003 and 2004, Australian television drama was also at its "lowest point in a decade" and many popular shows were cancelled. As the show remained basically unchanged from its debut ten years earlier,

17930-568: The producers wanted her for Maggie. McCune admitted that she did not think she would get the part, as she thought she was not strong or "weighty" enough, but she was "delighted". She was also aware that as it was just the pilot she was cast for, it might not work out, but two weeks later the cast were informed that the show was going ahead for an initial run of 13 weeks. According to Ann Tenna, also of The Age , station bosses believed that, despite her inexperience, McCune would "take our sitting rooms by storm". Although it had been claimed that McCune

18093-420: The production team decided that a revamp was in order. At the beginning of season 11, the revamp began with new, more modern opening credits, using an electric guitar, rather than an acoustic. Later in that season, a live episode, "Reasonable Doubt", was broadcast in hope of offering a short-term ratings boost and encourage more long-term viewers. Although an immediate success, the live episode did not bring about

18256-409: The programme, McElroy and Morphett hoped to close the gap between to police and the public. They hoped to show the human side of the policing and that, like other citizens, police officers have feelings, regrets, aspirations and fears. They also hoped that the show would act as a tribute to the courage of police officers, who risk their lives everyday, never knowing if they would return home at the end of

18419-460: The programme. This new style of programme that Blue Heelers was embracing was a sign of the show trying to keep up with other larger television shows, particularly the CSI franchise . The revamp of the series resulted in a 25% ratings increase, bringing the series' weekly viewership to 1.6 million people. Critical response after the event was reassuring, and it appeared that critics were approving of

18582-431: The radio-inspired anthology comic Gang Busters , Dell's 87th Precinct issues, which adapted McBain's novels, or The Untouchables , which adapted the fictionalized TV adventures of real-life policeman Eliot Ness. More recently, there have been attempts to depict police work with the kind of hard-edged realism seen in the novels of writers like Wambaugh, such as Marvel's four-issue mini-series Cops: The Job , in which

18745-406: The regular cast members, the show employed 4,300 guest actors annually, plus 30 extras every week. A total of 150 people were involved in some way with the show's production each week, including cast members, crew, wardrobe, publicists and writers. Blue Heelers creator/producer, Hal McElroy , conceived the idea of Blue Heelers when he heard that an eighteen-year-old friend was planning to become

18908-434: The rest of the episodes played out, with the show beginning anywhere between 11:30 pm and midnight. It aired its final episode on TV One on 20 March 2008. Debuted on RTÉ on 15 September 1995 and continued every Friday afternoon at 4:30 pm. In 1998, the show moved to Thursday's around 1.00am on RTE 2. In September 2001, season 5 debuted airing weekday mornings at 10:30 am on RTE 1. The 5 episode per week output meant

19071-479: The role of mentor to the less experienced constables joining the station, in particular the new female constables. Maggie is an idealist and a feminist, willing on more than one occasion to put her career on the line to expose corruption and chauvinism, including at least two occasions where she brings charges against politicians who are very different to their public personas. Although higher-ups have tried to convince her to back down on more than one occasion, Maggie

19234-652: The routine was so simple and straightforward-most often you knew the victim and sometimes you knew the culprit, and someone in charge would give them a clip behind the ear and say 'wash the police car' or 'sweep the yard' and 'don't ever do it again', rather than sending a juvenile to jail. I loved it, and I said 'Hey this is great'. But all the writers said, 'No it's boring, we want that gritty, inner-city police stuff'. (We had Boys in Blue set up in Leichhardt in Sydney.) And I still remember

19397-515: The semi-documentary trend. In France , there was Quai des orfevres (1947), released in the United States as Jenny Lamour . In Japanese cinema , there was Akira Kurosawa 's 1949 film Stray Dog , a serious police procedural film noir that was also a precursor to the buddy cop film genre. In the UK , there were films such as The Blue Lamp (1950) and The Long Arm (1956) set in London and depicting

19560-633: The series from 1995 in the hour long format but by 1998, these regions had dropped the series. Ulster Television (UTV) began airing Blue Heelers in early 1995. The show initially screened 3 times a week, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons at 13:50-14:20. They then moved it to an hourly 14:20-15:20 slot later in the year. A few episodes also ran at 23:40 on Thursday nights, as they were considered unsuitable for daytime viewing. UTV cancelled Blue Heelers in 1998. Scottish Television began aired hour-long episodes from 1995, airing on Fridays, and then later on Tuesdays from mid 1996, until episode 106, when

19723-436: The series was replaced by Murder She Wrote. The series then reappear on most Saturday afternoon during 1998 until 19 December. During 1999 From April until early August the series was broadcast at 04.30 most weekday morning before being dropped completely. Grampian Television , HTV , Yorkshire Television , and Tyne Tees Television all chose not to purchase Blue Heelers , opting for locally made programming instead. When

19886-473: The short story collection Policeman's Lot , 1933, by former Buckinghamshire High Sheriff and Justice of the Peace Henry Wade . The procedural became more prominent after World War II , and, while the contributions of novelists like Treat were significant, a large part of the impetus for the post-war development of the procedural as a distinct subgenre of the mystery was due, not to prose fiction, but to

20049-641: The show quickly caught up with the Australian broadcast, and in 2004, RTÉ dropped back to single weekly episodes airing late night Thursday's, typically around 1 am. RTÉ began airing the final season on 30 May 2008 in a late night Saturday timeslot, and the final episode screened on 30 November 2008. RTÉ began re-airing Blue Heelers weekly from episode one, commencing on 24 June 2009, usually around 4 am Sunday mornings. RTÉ screened all episodes in their original unedited state. The drama proved very popular in Ireland and rated very well. Blue Heelers aired briefly in

20212-469: The show's main protagonist, Senior Sergeant Croydon. After the bombing it was revealed that Croydon's wife, the Reverend Curtis, was missing. It was later revealed she had been brutally raped and murdered. These events brought about sweeping changes to the mood of not only Croydon but also the mood of the entire show. The Daily Telegraph television writer Marcus Casey commented, "Mount Thomas has become

20375-650: The show's storylines, while the second left the show open for another season; the second version was used. For Blue Heelers' final season in 2006, it was moved from its primetime Wednesday-night timeslot , to a lower-rating Saturday-night timeslot. In the Saturday timeslot, Blue Heelers competed with The Bill , a British police drama which had become quite popular in Australia on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation , and Saturday Night AFL Coverage on Fox Footy Channel and Network Ten . This move

20538-584: The sleepy backwater it was. It wasn't an easy task but the creative team responded brilliantly and there's a real feeling of excitement again... The old girl can still dance. And dance to new tunes. The main plot, setting and character changes started in July 2004, with the airing of the episode "End of Innocence". In this episode, the main storyline was the bombing of the Mount Thomas police station. The blast killed popular main character Snr. Const. Jo Parrish (Jane Allsop) and recurring cast member Clancy Freeman, and injured

20701-500: The stressful world of young police officers who are "thrown into the deep end where they are left to sink or swim". Police procedurals were enormously popular in Australia in the 1960s and 1970s, but by the 1980s they had been replaced by home-grown soap operas and mini-series, like Neighbours and Home and Away . Blue Heelers , however, was Australia's most popular television drama while it lasted. The series drew more than 2.5 million viewers every week at its peak. Along with

20864-668: The success of Dragnet for the rise of this new form, coined the phrase "police procedural" to describe it. As police procedurals became increasingly popular, they maintained this image of heroic police officers who are willing to bend the rules to save the day, as well as the use of police consultants . This would allow Hollywood to form a friendly relationship with law enforcement who are also responsible for granting shooting permits. This, however, has garnered criticisms. French roman policier (fr) value induction over deduction, synthesis of character over analysis of crime. The Inspector Maigret novels of Georges Simenon feature

21027-398: The team, including civil rights experts, lawyers and police veterans, would fix issues with CBS police procedurals to make them more realistic and accurate. As a result, the main objectives and partnership's attention is supposed to focus on an increase of inclusivity, diversity and authenticity in the production of police procedurals. Margaret %27Maggie%27 Doyle Maggie Doyle

21190-466: The time slot, usually regarding profanity ). Some ITV regions edited each episode into two half-hour editions, and stripped these episodes across two or three days. This half-hour format of broadcasting Australian series was well established by ITV with A Country Practice . Very early hour-long episodes of Blue Heelers also ran unedited later in the evening, around midnight, on both Central and UTV. Carlton Television and Westcountry Television were

21353-400: The time the programme was ready to air, three years passed. During the early development of Blue Heelers two completely different pilots were shot: one depicting the story from the perspective of a police officer and the other from the perspective of a criminal. When these were presented to the Seven Network, the network committed to 13 episodes of the first pilot. The pilot went on to become

21516-476: The transition to television in 1951, has been called "the most famous procedural of all time" by mystery novelists William L. DeAndrea , Katherine V. Forrest and Max Allan Collins . The same year that Dragnet debuted on radio, Pulitzer Prize -winning playwright Sidney Kingsley 's stage play Detective Story opened on Broadway . This frank, carefully researched dramatization of a typical day in an NYPD precinct detective squad became another benchmark in

21679-454: The tutelage of P. J. Hasham ( Martin Sacks ). During the second season , Maggie found herself in trouble when her gun-belt was stolen after she discarded it in order to save a boy who was apparently drowning. The police were faced with the prospect of children in possession of a loaded weapon which had been modified to require less pressure to pull the trigger, a nightmare waiting to happen. With

21842-463: The typical superhero universe from the viewpoint of the common man who witnesses the great dramas from afar, participating in them tangentially at best. In the wake of Busiek's success, many other writers mimicked his approach, with mixed results – the narrative possibilities of someone who does not get involved in drama are limited. In 2000, however, Image Comics published the first issue of Brian Michael Bendis 's comic Powers , which followed

22005-490: The wisdom of telling the truth, who in turn convinced Forbes to take the rap. Following the completion of her probation period, Maggie applied for a trainee vacancy with the St Davids Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB), which would be the first step on the road to becoming a detective , however she was beaten out by Rose Egan (Dale Stevens) who then completed the trainee-ship at Mount Thomas under

22168-433: The wishes of her father and P. J., Maggie begins a dogged pursuit of the drug ring which killed Robbie. As her pursuit of the ring continued, Maggie suddenly went missing in the wake of the revelation that a crooked cop was supporting the syndicate. With her name in the frame as the culprit, P. J.'s emotional response to her disappearance reveals that their relationship was far more than professional. News arrived that Maggie

22331-426: The work of authors less well known today, like Freeman Wills Crofts 's novels about Inspector French or some of the work of the prolific team of G.D.H. and Margaret Cole , might be considered as the antecedents of today's police procedural. British mystery novelist and critic Julian Symons , in his 1972 history of crime fiction, Bloody Murder , labeled these proto-procedurals "humdrums", because of their emphasis on

22494-483: The year, Maggie's father arrived in town and started sniffing around the victim of a road rage incident. The victim, an antiques dealer, is revealed to be the man who got her brother Robbie onto drugs, and Maggie finds herself in the crossfire of a family argument when her brother Mick arrives in town and takes over the accident investigation. When the dealer shows up dead, P. J. wonders if Pat had something to do with it, leading to Maggie insisting on some time apart. Against

22657-429: Was a fabulous audition because everyone in the room was going for the part they were reading." McCune did two more auditions, and told Aiton that for the first time, she felt relaxed. The producers also made everyone feel like they wanted them to do well. She then spent the days after the auditions talking to her agent Cluny Morton, who would keep her updated on the casting progress. Eventually, Morton informed McCune that

22820-503: Was a severe lack of portrayal of racial bias in the criminal procedure, discussion about criminal justice reform , and victims who are women of color. There is also little representation of people of color in the creation of these shows. The police procedural genre is becoming increasingly popular and has accounted for about 22% of all scripted shows on US broadcast network in the last 10 years. This prevalence implies that viewers are often facing TV series that place police officers at

22983-467: Was a specific technique that creator Hal McElroy chose to employ. The police officers, commonly referred to as "Heelers", are always active sorting out the town's many problems. These problems range from trivial complaints such as land and fencing disputes to more serious offences, such as homicides and assaults. The small town is also faced with many other significant occurrences including bank robberies, escaped criminals, police shootings, kidnappings and

23146-441: Was able to escape. Ultimately, she was found by Robbie and P. J. but events ended in tragedy when Robbie took a bullet meant for his sister and died in her arms, while P. J. disarmed Hank and wrestled him to the ground. Early in 1999, Maggie and Dash McKinley were handed a delicate case involving an alleged sexual assault at the local retirement home. The victim is in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease and claims her assailant

23309-709: Was actually the real Imperial Hotel in Castlemaine. Mount Thomas' fictional Commercial Hotel was filmed at the Willy Tavern in Williamstown. The second Mount Thomas police station, adopted during the programme's reform of 2004, was filmed at Newport Railway workshops. The Mount Thomas Hospital was filmed at the Werribee Mercy Hospital. Sunbury railway station was commonly used as the Mount Thomas railway station. Hobson's Bay, and Wyndham, Victoria were also locations used in Blue Heelers. After low ratings in 2003 and 2004,

23472-413: Was also a police officer, and was a senior constable serving in a mainly administrative position when he was dismissed after being charged with the theft of heroin from Mount Thomas and related drugs charges. Robbie continued to recur on the show until his character's death, with Maggie putting her career on the line for him several times as he went through drug rehabilitation. After he relapsed again, Maggie

23635-560: Was broadcast on Showcase in Canada, last airing on 15 May 1998. In the United Kingdom, Blue Heelers was broadcast on most of the regional franchises of the ITV Network. At least ten out of the fourteen regional companies that formed ITV aired the first few years of the series and most initially broadcast it in the original hour-long format during the afternoon (with necessary edits to suit

23798-522: Was brought into the hospital with exactly the same symptoms as the dead women. The autopsies for the two dead women identified the cause of death as encephalitis and an investigation found it to be the Japanese strain , but P. J. realised that Maggie couldn't be infected because of the 5 to 15-day incubation period: she'd only been to the host farm more recently than that. After retracing her steps with Adam's help, P. J. discovered that Maggie had been bitten by

23961-411: Was commissioned by the Seven Network. However, the ratings spike begun in 2004 was not sufficient for the Seven Network to commit to continuing to produce the show. In January 2006, Seven officially announced that they had cancelled Blue Heelers but would air a final shortened season of 11 episodes in mid–2006. At the time, the show was still drawing 1.2 million viewers per week on average, down from

24124-439: Was eventually forced to make the heartbreaking decision to arrest him again on drugs charges, with the likely result being his incarceration. Shortly after she was appointed acting sergeant during the fifth season , Maggie was left reeling when Robbie turned up her doorstep in the middle of a storm, having escaped from gaol with just a couple of weeks left to run on his sentence. She tried to arrest him, but he threw her against

24287-408: Was forced to arrest him, resulting in his incarceration. He later escaped from gaol, again putting Maggie's career in jeopardy, before being killed by an armed assailant while protecting his sister. Over the course of some six years in Mount Thomas, Maggie is shown to have developed friendships, or at least close acquaintances, with a number of local personalities. Like most of her colleagues, she has

24450-419: Was gunned down by an unknown assailant and died in P. J.'s arms when he arrived on the scene. P. J. was initially fingered for the murder by a witness and the disappearance of his service weapon from the safe, but the case quickly fell apart, leaving P. J. free and determined to find the true killer. After a long investigation, P. J. and Pat confront the killer, uncovering an unimaginable act of betrayal:

24613-477: Was killed in prison after doing a deal with Maggie. The deal included the names of everyone involved in the syndicate, including several cops, and she was now in danger. When her house is torched, it became clear that she needed to return to witness protection. Despite P. J.'s demands to go with her, her brother Mick (now played by Terry Serio ) organises for her enter the program alone. On her last day in Mount Thomas before returning to protective custody, Maggie

24776-468: Was limited to a few dates before Maggie became engaged to P. J. shortly before her death. Of all the characters in Blue Heelers , Maggie has one of the best known family backgrounds. Her father, Pat Doyle ( Dennis Miller , is a frequently recurring character throughout the first seven seasons of the show, often arriving in Mount Thomas after hearing that his daughter needs help. Pat is Maggie's idol, and

24939-442: Was made every week. The scripts were written to a formula which allowed one day for rehearsal, two days on location and two days in the studio. Episodes were shot eight to ten weeks ahead of their scheduled broadcast date. There were 16 episodes in various stages of production at any one time (from the conception of new storylines to post-production). In addition, there were always seven complete episodes waiting to go to air. Apart from

25102-446: Was meeting with a new dealer, but by the time the Heelers arrived on the scene, her car was already in flames, with a charred body inside. Fortunately, the body wasn't Maggie's, but with someone wanting her dead, it was clear that she would need to enter witness protection for her own safety. After she returned from six weeks in the witness protection program, Maggie began having doubts about her relationship with P. J. when she witnesses

25265-415: Was mistaken and Glenn had been driving. Maggie insisted on going through with the charges, backed up by Tom Croydon ( John Wood ), and was soon put under intense pressure from several sources to drop the case, which resulted in her father, Pat ( Dennis Miller ), coming to help. When she was forced to move out of the pub by Inspector Ted Faulkner , Pat took matters into his own hands, and "convinced" Glenn of

25428-591: Was nominated for twelve individual Logie Awards . After winning the Silver Logie Award for Most Popular New Talent at the 1995 ceremony , McCune was nominated for the Silver Logie Award for Most Popular Actress each year from 1996 until 2000 , winning the award on all five occasions. Additionally, she was nominated for the Gold Logie Award for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television on six consecutive occasions between 1996 until 2001 , winning

25591-584: Was originally cast as Roz Patterson , but swapped roles with Ann Burbrook , this was denied by Hal McElroy in an interview with TVFlashback.com , who confirmed that McCune had always been intended to play Maggie Doyle. Maggie's departure from the show was the culmination of a three-year-long arc which saw her deal with her brother's addiction to drugs, and then attempt to bring down the drug ring which had ultimately contributed to his death. Although McCune has stated that she fought to prevent her character being killed off, Maggie's death went ahead, and became one of

25754-451: Was out on a solo patrol when she intercepted a vehicle being driven erratically. The only occupants of the car were a local member of parliament (MP), Ken Forbes, and his press liaison, Glenn Ritchie. Forbes had been driving, but refused to undertake a breath test and insisted on talking to her boss. Back at the station, Forbes finally took the breath analysis and was found to be nearly twice the legal limit , but both men insisted that Maggie

25917-405: Was produced by Southern Star Group for the Seven Network . During its 13-season run it won a total of 32 awards and was nominated for a further 50. This included 25 Logie Awards, five of which were the Gold Logie , the most coveted television award in Australia. As well as everyday policing matters, the series deals with many controversial and "touchy" subjects. The series was the first to examine

26080-480: Was published. This followed three police officers through their training in the academy, their first few years on the street, culminating in the Watts riots of 1965. It was followed by such novels as The Blue Knight , 1971, The Choirboys , 1975, Hollywood Station , 2006, and acclaimed non-fiction books like The Onion Field , 1973, Lines and Shadows , 1984, and Fire Lover , 2002. Wambaugh has said that his main purpose

26243-431: Was slammed by leading cast member John Wood. Blue Heelers ' cancellation may also be related to Seven's AFL broadcast, which saw Seven invest $ 780m for the 5-year broadcasting rights of the game. Blue Heelers originally aired on Tuesday nights at 7:30 pm on the Seven Network, thus it was limited to a PG content level restriction. When the series was hailed as a success, it began the transition from this timeslot to

26406-475: Was the devil, leading some people to dismiss her claims. The two female Heelers are more inclined to believe the victim though, especially after they discover devil masks at the local video store. The case took an ugly turn when Maggie was attacked and soon the town was in an uproar. The assailant is eventually unmasked during the course of another attack but escapes to his hideout, and it is up to Maggie to overcome her fears and lead her colleagues there. Later in

26569-648: Was torn between her relationship with her brother, and her loyalty to her colleagues. The news of a crashed prison bus saw Maggie manning a checkpoint on one of the roads out of town and, after her boss is shot while negotiating with a hostage taker, she found herself at the hospital and faced with the mastermind of the escape. Some quick thinking allowed her to single-handedly take down two criminals and rescue an abducted paramedic. At Tom Croydon's annual Christmas party that year, everything appeared to have gone well, at least until Maggie discovered her friend Gina Belfanti ( Rachel Blakely ) had been raped on her way home from

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