Max Sims Max Sims i(A151510 works by)
Gender: Male
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2 form y separately published work icon Just a Bit of Fluff Max Sims , 1969 (Manuscript version)x402493 Z1935599 1969 single work film/TV crime

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

'HENRY PRESTON. A middle-aged investment lawyer who has departed from his usual conservative business methods in an attempt to make a stock market "killing" using his clients' money. The scheme backfires, leaving him desperate for cash to restore his books.

'LYNNE PRESTON. A 20-year-old, pretty and personable girl. Henry's daughter.

'PAUL LANG. A 28-year-old philanderer living off a deceased estate. Nominally a veterinarian, he does not work (except when he has to) and is an inveterate gambler. He is heavily in debt to S.P. bookie Jason Baker. He is a flat dweller.

'MARGARET PRESTON. Henry's wife, she is 50-55, and a highly-strung but reticent woman. She accepts the dominance of both her husband and mother.

'LOUISE JAMES. Margaret's mother. She is 75, a widow and very rich. She is intelligent, straight-spoken and possessive. A constant "adviser" to Margaret and Lynne, she barely tolerates her son-in-law and dislikes and distrusts Lang. She lives with the Prestons.

'DOUG PHILLIPS. A 45-year-old, slow-thinking mechanic who runs a small garage (lubes and minor repairs) in Richmond. An ex-thief, he bragged to Lang about an undetected robbery.

'PHYLLIS PROCTOR. An ex-nurse, long thrown out of her profession for performing abortions, which she still does. An alcoholic, she is rough and ready, sarcastic and has a rapier wit. She is about 45.

'JASON BAKER. A rails bookie and also an S.P. operator. He is 45, avaricious and with few principles, especially with those who owe him money. A high liver.

'MERVYN MASON. Baker's bully boy and constant working companion. He is 35, not too bright and sadistic. Enjoys his "work".

'TWO CONSTABLES. A few lines of dialogue.

'FINGERPRINT MAN. A few lines of dialogue.'

1 9 form y separately published work icon Homicide Sonia Borg , Vince Moran , Phil Freedman , Luis Bayonas , Everett de Roche , Peter A. Kinloch , Ted Roberts , Roger Simpson , Charles E. Stamp , Margaret Kelly , Colin Eggleston , James Wulf Simmonds , Keith Hetherington , Michael Harvey , Cliff Green , Patrick Edgeworth , James East , John Drew , John Dingwall , Alan Cram , Ian Cameron , John Bragg , David William Boutland , Jock Blair , Don Battye , Fred Parsons , David Minter , Monte Miller , Ron McLean , George Mallaby , Ian Jones , Maurice Hurst , Barry Hill , Max Sims , Keith Thompson , David Stevens , Amanda Spry , Peter Schreck , Martin Robbins , Della Foss Pascoe , Bruce Wishart , ( dir. Bruce Ross-Smith et. al. )agent Melbourne : Crawford Productions , 1964-1975 Z1813076 1964 series - publisher film/TV crime detective

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'.

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