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The script for this episode held in the Crawford Collection includes neither episode synopsis nor character notes.
Notes
This entry has been compiled from archival research in the Crawford Collection (AFI Research Collection), undertaken by Dr Catriona Mills under the auspices of the 2012 AFI Research Collection (AFIRC) Research Fellowship.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Division 4, which Don Storey notes in Classic Australian Television was 'the only drama series on Australian television to rival the popularity of Homicide', was created as a vehicle for Gerard Kennedy, who had risen to popularity playing the complicated enemy agent Kragg in spy-show Hunter, after Tony Ward's departure left Hunter's future in doubt.
The series differed from Homicide in being more oriented to the situation and milieu of a suburban police station staffed by a mixture of plainclothes detectives and uniformed policemen. This kind of situation allowed Division 4 to concentrate on a range of crimes, from major ones such as murder to minor ones such as larceny.
Though set in the fictional Melbourne suburb of Yarra Central, 'Sets were constructed that were replicas of the actual St Kilda police station charge counter and CIB room, with an attention to detail that extended to having the same picture hanging on the wall', according to Storey.
Division 4 ended in 1976. Storey adds:
Division 4's axing was a dark day for Australian television, as within months the other two Crawford cop shows on rival networks, Matlock Police and Homicide, were also axed. It was widely believed, and still is, that the cancellation of the three programs was an attempt by the three commercial networks--acting in collusion--to wipe out Crawford Productions, and consequently cripple the local production industry.
Number in series:2
1968.
Script cover page (Crawford Collection at the AFI Research Collection)
Div4Ep2CoverScan_FWxk.jpg
Extent:62p. (Manuscript)assertion
Note/s:
This script is labelled 'Episode H2' on the cover page. The script contains neither character notes nor cast and crew information.
The script is labelled 'Police File', since the program had not yet settled on the name 'Division 4': other scripts from this era are labelled 'Saints and Sinners'.
There is no indication on the cover page of for whom this copy of the script was designated.
The script contains minimal annotations in black felt pen. A marginal note on page 4 reads, 'NICE NIGHT'. This may be a mis-spelling, since a subsequent annotation on page 10 reads, 'NICE TIGHT 2'. An annotation on page 51 reads, 'REFLECTED LIGHTS IN CAR'. On the reverse of the final page are four notes: 'HAND HELD GOOD. GIRL WEAK. LIGHTS REFLECTED IN CAR. SPLIT DIRECTION'. There are no further annotations on this copy of the script.
The final page contains a list of crew credits:
Written by Terry Stapleton.
Edited by Dorothy Crawford.
Typed by Margaret Younger, Christine Rook, Hilary Burgess.
Checked by Hilary Burgess, Christine Rook, Margaret Younger.
Roneod by Tim Shanasy, Ian Dewhurst.
Below this is a section for 'Producer's Comments, but it has been left blank.
Note: Ian Dewhurst, here credited with duplicating the script, was working as best boy on Crawford Productions in the mid-1970s. See, for example, the Bluey episode 'The First Bloody Day'.
