Cirrus@Austlit

'When Bluey cannot get the co-operation he wants from the Assistant Commissioner, he sets up an elaborate ruse using Truscott, and nearly loses him a close friend. [sic]

'Department B has been given the job of investigating Lonely Hearts Clubs which are somehow involved in burglary of houses whilst women are out on dates set up through the clubs.

'Things start to go wrong when Truscott, in the process of investigating an office, is caught red handed and it appears that he will have to serve time for breaking and entering unless Bluey can come up with a plan to get him off. Bluey's plan, however, gets Truscott into more trouble.'

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):

'BERNIE FIELD Around 35, fair looks, but nothing special. He runs a small chain of lonely hearts clubs which he uses to his criminal advantage.

'GEORGE BURROUGHS 40, a grotty little man, who runs a grotty little club. He works for Field, but runs a prostitution racket on the side.

'ARTHUR RICE 30. works [sic] for Burroughs, knows the ins and outs of the business but is more interested in the prostitution side of the job.

'WALLY WATERS 35/6, a good thief who has the respect of the police as a square shooter. It is only by accident that anyone gets hurts when he works, but that's no excuse.

'JUNE PETERS 40 odd, a lonely woman, looking for companionship. Victim of the racket.

'JOHN LEACH Not at all good looking, inthe [sic] same age group as June. He isa [sic] male equivalent of her.

'FAT SALLY Wow. Around 35. Very large but a delightful person. Sense of humour and happy.

'FORENSIC MAN Happy in his work.

'DETECTIVE Knows how to tap a phone.

'UNIFORM P/c [sic] Seen once.

'GIRL Bash victim.

'BEAUTY Young, ravishing -'.

'Monica inadvertently becomes witness to a homicide and sees the face of one of the killers. He also sees Monica.

'There seems no way the killers can be tracked down and they closer they get to tracing Monica's identity and whereabouts, the more people are hurt, and the more Bluey becomes concerned for her safety.

'Debbie, Gary's reporter girlfriend, makes an error in judgement which places her life in danger and leaves Bluey with a feeling of guilt.

'Monica and Bluey's great respect and affection for each other comes to the fore when Bluey tries everything to protect Monica and Monica insists that there is only one thing to be done - to use herself as bait.'

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):

'GEOFF EASTMAN: About 27, tall, good looking and a killer. He doesn't care that he gets other people in trouble as long as he gets what he wants.

'FRED RANDALL: Around the same age as Eastman. He's weak, and goes along with the one who's holding the upper hand.

'TRACY CARTER: Late 20's. Attractive Street Girl. Heart of gold.

'INSPECTOR ARTHUR FERRIS: Established.

'SERGEANT WILLIAMS: Homicide cop. Like any other.

'EDITOR: In his late 40's. Knows his job.

'FORENSIC: Happy in his work.

'COP *2: (DRIVES. NO LINES) Seen once.

'COP *1: Seen once.

'POLICE ARTIST: Good with a pencil.

'EXTRA: Body in Supermarket.'

'Against Bluey's advice, Gary takes on an undercover assignment with the drug squad.

'Gary's one-time modelling career brought him into contact with a model named Sandra Gibson. Now she appears to be very much involved in a shipment of heroin.

'It's Gary's job to make use of their previous friendship to find out how and when the shipment is to be made. He poses as a buyer from Sydney, after a good supply of drugs. But his job becomes increasingly difficult when he realises the girl has fallen in love with 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):

'SANDRA GIBSON: About 25. Beautiful and intelligent, a one time model - now hooked on drugs. All her money is tied up an a [sic] drug shipment. If it falls through, she fears she'll end up on the streets hussling [sic] for drug money.

'LARRY DAVIS: Mid 30's. One of Sandra's partners in the drug shipment. Davis is a tall, and good looking. Dresses well. But underneath the suave exterior he is venomous. (DRIVES)

'GEORGE PALMER: Around 40. The main money man in the drug shipment. Seems an average type of business man, but Palmer sees drugs as an easy way to make money. Leaves the final decisions to Davis.

'INSPECTOR FRANK LORD: 50's. O.I.C. of the Drug Squad. Lord is a tough, honest, hard-working cop. He and Bluey are on a first name basis only when it suits him. Plays the game straight down the line and leaves the deviations to his underlings.

'JOHN CLANCY: Mid 30's. Only a small time crim, but very handy to have around. His thinking is all done for him. If he's told to keep his mouth shut, there's no way in the world you'll get it open.

'UNIFORM COP #1: Seen one you've seen 'em all.

'UNIFORM COP #2: No lines (DRIVES)

'HEAVY #1: No lines. (DRIVES TRUCK)

'HEAVY #2: No lines.

'HEAVY #3: No lines. (DRIVES LAUNCH)

'HEAVY #4: No lines.

'INFORMER: Small time junkie, no great importance. (NO LINES)'.

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.)