Terry Stapleton Terry Stapleton i(A31091 works by) (birth name: Terrence Anthony Stapleton)
Born: Established: 1933 Victor Harbor, Victor Harbor - Goolwa area, Fleurieu Peninsula - Lake Alexandrina, South Australia, ; Died: Ceased: 1991
Gender: Male
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BiographyHistory

Stapleton, noted for his scriptwriting and producing for Crawford Productions, contributed to such iconic television series as Embassy (1990), The Flying Doctors (1986), Carson's Law (1983), Skyways (1979), Cop Shop (1977), Bobby Dazzler (1977), The Last of the Australians (1975), Matlock Police (1971), Hunter (1967), Homicide (1964) and Consider Your Verdict (1961). He began his writing career with short stories and as the Adelaide correspondent for The Bulletin. Stapleton was active in the early 1960's in Adelaide Theatre, gaining acclaim with award winning roles in The Night of the Iguana (1964), and Streetcar Named Desire in 1965. His later plays, A Few Good Friends (1986) and Say Goodbye (1987) were performed but not published. He has also designed costumes for television and was working with composer David Reeves on an Australian musical, Favourite Son when he died.

Most Referenced Works

Notes

  • National Film & Sound Archive has an Albert Moran interview with Terry Stapleton in their Oral History Sound Recordings : Television collection.

Personal Awards

1977 winner Sammy Award Best Writer for TV Comedy (Bobby Dazzler)

Awards for Works

form y separately published work icon Cop Shop ( dir. Marie Trevor et. al. )agent Melbourne : Crawford Productions , 1977 Z1815191 1977 series - publisher film/TV crime detective

Set in the fictional Riverside Police Station, Cop Shop combined self-contained stories focusing on specific police investigations with the type of open-ended serial storylines familiar from soap operas. This allowed Crawford Productions to make use of the expertise gained from their highly successful police procedurals (all recently cancelled) and serials such as The Sullivans (then still airing).

According to Moran, in his Guide to Australian Television Series,

Although the format may sound predictable and routine, in fact it was pioneering. In putting women police on the screen, Crawford's were moving Australian crime drama away from being an all-male domain. In addition, by choosing a suburban police station populated both by uniformed police and plainclothes detectives, Cop Shop introduced an upstairs and a downstairs world. The latter, in particular, began to exert its own attractions with handsome young men and women in the roles of the new constables.

1978 won Logie Awards Best New Drama
form y separately published work icon Cop Shop ( dir. Marie Trevor et. al. )agent Melbourne : Crawford Productions , 1977 Z1815191 1977 series - publisher film/TV crime detective

Set in the fictional Riverside Police Station, Cop Shop combined self-contained stories focusing on specific police investigations with the type of open-ended serial storylines familiar from soap operas. This allowed Crawford Productions to make use of the expertise gained from their highly successful police procedurals (all recently cancelled) and serials such as The Sullivans (then still airing).

According to Moran, in his Guide to Australian Television Series,

Although the format may sound predictable and routine, in fact it was pioneering. In putting women police on the screen, Crawford's were moving Australian crime drama away from being an all-male domain. In addition, by choosing a suburban police station populated both by uniformed police and plainclothes detectives, Cop Shop introduced an upstairs and a downstairs world. The latter, in particular, began to exert its own attractions with handsome young men and women in the roles of the new constables.

1978 won Logie Awards Best New Drama
form y separately published work icon Matlock Police ( dir. Colin Eggleston et. al. )agent 1971 Melbourne Australia : Crawford Productions Network Ten , 1971-1976 Z1638563 1971 series - publisher film/TV detective crime

The Matlock Police series (originally simply titled Matlock) was commissioned from Crawford Productions by ATV-0, in response to the popularity of rival-network police dramas such as Homicide and Division 4. Crawford's was initially reluctant to create another police series, but ATV-0 pressured the company for some time. Eventually, Ian Jones and Terry Stapleton devised the concept of a regional (Victorian) police series to provide viewers with something different. The more relaxed atmosphere of the country-town setting also allowed the writers to delve into the private lives of the main characters, rather than focusing heavily on big-city organised crime. In this respect, the series was situated somewhere between Homicide/Division 4 and Bellbird. The series did, however, cover typical rural policing, including such issues as break and enters, domestic issues, itinerant workers, brawls, petty crime and robberies, road accidents, the occasional homicide, and cattle rustling. On other occasions, the Matlock police also assisted Melbourne police in locating criminals on the run (among other problems). The idea behind the show was to reflect the causes of crime in a small community and show the effects on both the community and the officers themselves.

The fictional town of Matlock (loosely based on Shepparton in Victoria) is situated inland on the Central Highway, approximately 160 kilometres north of Melbourne. Although the town's population is only seventeen thousand, this increases to around seventy-five thousand when the district is included. The Matlock Police Station is typical of a Victorian country town, with a Uniform Branch and a Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB). The CIB is headed by Detective Sergeant Vic Maddern, who grew up in the Matlock district and is an accomplished bushman. Second in command is Detective Allan Curtis, aged in his mid-twenties. Previously from Melbourne, Curtis has just been sent to his first country posting (against his will) when the series begins. Head of the Uniform Branch is Sergeant Bert Kennedy, an Englishman who migrated to Australia in 1950. A thorough but also easy-going man with a good sense of humour, Kennedy is married to Nell and enjoys the country life in Matlock, so much so that he has knocked back promotion to avoid moving to Melbourne. Several constables are attached to the Uniform Branch, but the most prominent is a motorcycle cop, Constable Gary Hogan, who performs a wide variety of duties. Hogan is about thirty, a friendly, easy-going person who grew up in the country and is always willing to help in whatever work is going.

1972 winner Logie Awards Best New Drama
Last amended 27 May 2013 12:26:24
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