Cirrus@Austlit

'In Bluey's book, Wally Avery is not a bird of prey. Bluey has known him for years and it just doesn't add up when "Birds" becomes the prime suspect in a murder case. Not only suspected. There are witnesses who swear "Birds" is as guilty as hell.

'Bluey's first job is to get to "Birds" before the Homicide squad and find out what really happened. But "Birds" does nothing to help himself. He's scared and takes flight.

'And when he finally comes home to roost, there is more trouble awaiting him.'

Source: Synopsis held in the Crawford Collection in the AFI Research Collection (RMIT).

The script held in the Crawford Collection in the AFI Research Collection contains the following character notes (excluding regular characters):

'BRENDAN CUSACK: Detective Sergeant in the Homicide Squad. The antithesis of Bluey. Playing it straight up and down the line he has little time for Bluey's style. He and Bluey actively dislike one another. Humourless and faintly pompous he is the epitome of honesty and a good police officer.

'WALLY AVERY ("BIRDS"): Known as "Birds". He is a weedy, scrawny sparrow - a description which has no relation to his physical size - very much out of his element in the big world of the birds of prey. His career in crime has been spectacularly unsuccessful and he goes to gaol quite happily when caught, which is often. He keeps body and soul together working as a gardener, lawn mower driver, occasional squizzing, a bit of stealing; but only from the rich; he does have his principles. Neither brave nor brainy he's one of life's losers.

'SUE REEVES (NEE AVERY): Bird's younger sister and only relative. She's the one member of the aviary with all the pretty feathers and brains. She's one of Bluey's many one, two or three nightstands, and would be quite happy to join the queue again were it not for her husband, whom we never see.

'KEVIN READ & ALAN PALMER: Two heavies, who don't look like heavies but like senior junior executives. Their menace is in the coldly efficient way they attempt to carry out their orders. They have criminal records and are two of Sir Moray's charges who are beyond redemption, as he wishes them to be.

'SIR MORAY RUISLIP: Late 40's. Industrialist. Philanthropist which brought him his knighthood. He offers employment in his many industrial complexes to ex-criminals and he's had a great deal of success rehabilitating many. But Sir Moray, ex-fighter pilot and subdued robber baron, has his black side which goes well with the dark side of capitalism.

'DETECTIVE JACK FROST: A contemporary of Gary's working on the Homicide Squad with Cusack. Frost is frankly pompous. A straight up and down detective.

'ARTHUR FERRIS: An Inspector.

'GAIL: Private secretary to Sir Moray.

'JOURNALIST:

'POLICEWOMAN JACKSON:

'DETECTIVE #1 & UNIFORM POLICE: At murder scene.

'EXTRAS IN BAR (3):

'DETECTIVE #2: With A.C. in scene 52.

'DESMOND TAYLOR: Body.

'DRIVER FOR A.C.'S CAR'.

According to Moran, in his Guide to Australian Television Series, Bluey (and its Sydney-based rival, King's Men) 'constituted an attempt to revive the police genre after the cancellations of Homicide, Division 4 and Matlock Police'.

Don Storey, in his Classic Australian Television, summarises the program as follows:

Bluey is a maverick cop who breaks every stereotype image. He drinks, smokes and eats to excess, and therefore is rather large, but it is his unusual investigative methods that set him apart. He has bent or broken every rule in the book at some stage, to the point where no-one else wants to work with him. But he gets results, and is therefore too valuable to lose, so the powers-that-be banish him to the basement of Russell Street Police Headquarters where he is set up in his own department, a strategem that keeps him out of the way of other cops.

Moran adds that 'Grills, Diedrich and Nicholson turned in solid performances in the series and the different episodes were generally well paced, providing engaging and satisfying entertainment.'

The program sold well overseas, especially in the United Kingdom. But though it rated well domestically, it was not the success that the Seven Network had hoped for, and was cancelled after 39 episodes.

Bluey had an unexpected revival in the early 1990s when selections from the video footage (over-dubbed with a new vocal track) were presented during the second series of the ABC comedy The Late Show as the fictional police procedural Bargearse. (The Late Show had given ABC gold-rush drama Rush the same treatment in series one.)

The script held in the Crawford Collection in the AFI Research Collection contains the following character notes (excluding regular characters):

'HENRY JOHN TYLER: 28-30. The murderer. A psychopath-sadist. Tyler is handsome, well-spoken and plausible. He was educated at an English Public School and he is of average intelligence, and while he can be charming and witty, people do not seek his company. He has committed numerous petty crimes, such as stealing cars when it suited him and forging cheques and has masqueraded as people in different walks of life.

'When first seen he is full-bearded - later on clean-shaven. Driver.

'LINDA TYLER 25-28. Tyler's ex-wife - Divorced him because of his ineptness as a man and his propensity for petty crime. She is attractive, intelligent and strong-minded, and she knows Tyler's weaknesses well enough to be able to use them to prevent his killing her.

'KIM RIDLEY 25. An attractive model, recently returned from a couple of years in Europe. Wealthy, she really only models for cigarette money, but still likes to be successful. She knows Tyler from a couple of earlier modelling assignments. When she knowingly becomes aware of a dangerous fact about him he tries to kill her.

'DEIDRE 23-28. An attractive young married out [sic] on the loose after a serious argument with her husband. Driver.

'JACKIE 30-35. An ex-model who is running a model agency with much vim and gusto.

'SIMONE BOUCHÉ A mature French lady who manages the Chapeau Noir Restaurant. She wears lots of jewellery, dresses well, exudes sympathy, understanding and a love of life.

[Note: the accent above the 'e' has been added by hand, perhaps on this copy of the script but more likely on the master script from which this one was copied.]

'MR. HARTLEY Middle forties. An ex-Petty Officer, R.A.N., now the manager of a motel. He is deceived by Tyler's deceptions when passing himself off as a naval officer.

'MRS. HARTLEY Middle forties. Hartley's wife and co-manager of the motel. She is slightly disapproving of Tyler.

'JANE MORTON 22-24. The first victim. She is discovered in bed, waking from a drunken sleep. Her expression changes to one of terror when she appreciates her predicament.

'FORENSIC MAN Helps examine the motel room with the D's. A couple of lines.

'BOY A school-boy to whom Tyler gives a letter.

'MAN BY PHONE BOX A man who waits patiently outside a phone box while Tyler talks to the police. Should look very different to Tyler.

'MAN IN CAR Driver.

'POLICE PHOTOGRAPHER Using a movie camera while Tyler shows the D's how he killed Deidre.

'AN ATTRACTIVE MODEL No dialogue.'

'The Blind Balance of Justice weighs out the lives and destinies of two young people, whose meeting has brought about personal tragedy.'

Source:

[Television guide], The Canberra Times, 8 August 1966, p.16.

'Finding his wife's lover comfortably installed in his home, a husband uses an unexpected measure to meet the situation. And his answer suggests a new breed of men.'

Source:

[Television guide], The Canberra Times, 11 July 1966, p.14.

Running for twelve years and a total of 510 episodes, Homicide was a seminal Australian police-procedural program, set in the homicide squad of the Victoria Police. According to Don Storey in his Classic Australian Television, it represented a turning point for Australian television, prompting the development of local productions over the purchase of relatively inexpensive American dramas. Indeed, Storey quotes Hector Crawford as saying that his production company intended three outcomes from Homicide: demonstrating that it was possible to make a high-quality local drama series, counteracting criticism of local performers, and showing that Australian audiences would watch Australian-made dramas.

As Moran notes in his Guide to Australian TV Series, the program adopted a narrative structure focusing on crime, detection, and capture, rather than on character studies of the lead detectives. The early episodes were produced by a small crew (Storey notes that the crew was frequently limited to four people: cameraman, grip, director, and assistant director), requiring some degree of ingenuity to achieve a polished result (including, in some cases, the actors performing their own stunts). However, the program received extensive support from the Victoria Police (who recognised, in its positive portrayal of police officers, a valuable public-relations exercise) and, as its popularity grew, from the public.

The program's cast changed extensively over its twelve years on the air, though it remained focused on a small group of male detectives, with the inclusion of irregular characters such as Policewoman Helen Hopgood (played by Derani Scarr), written on an as-required basis to reflect the involvement of women in the police force. In Moran's words, 'The other star of Homicide was the location film work. These ordinary, everyday familiar urban locations were what gave the series a gritty realism and familiarised audiences with the shock of recognition at seeing themselves and their milieus on air'.