form y separately published work icon One-man Band single work   film/TV   crime  
Issue Details: First known date: 1976... 1976 One-man Band
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Bluey gets wind of an attempted gaol break. After weighing the pros and cons, and sleeping on it, he decides to let it go ahead.

'His decision could spell the beginning of the end for Department B. According to Bluey, this is probably their one and only chance to recover the $200,000 stashed away by Eric Frances Yates before he went into Pentridge. Gary disagrees. It's all too risky. He argues that they should inform the Assistant Commissioner. And is tempted to, whether Bluey likes it or not. But he knows if he goes over Bluey's head, it will spell finis to their relationship.

'The Assistant Commissioner finds out anyway and gives Bluey one option: get Yates and the $200,000 back. Or else.

'For once, it looks as if Bluey's bitten off more than he can chew.'

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


The script for this episode held in the Crawford Collection in the AFI Research Collection contains the following character notes:

'YATES: About 30. A recognised tactician in the well-planned, well-executed robbery. Never makes a move until he's examined all the angles. Serving a 15 year sentence for a robbery that netted $200,000. Although by a freak accident the police caught up with Yates, he still has the loot stashed away somewhere.

'LAUREL YATES: 25 - 30. Yates' wife. Ostracised by his middle-class family -- they believe she led him into crime -- she has taken up with a heavy called Drummond. Unnerved, it seems, about what Yates will do to her when he finds out about Drummond.

'DRUMMOND: Early thirties. Standard heavy with an eye to the main chance. Not all that bright. Appears more interested in Yates' $200,000 than Yates' wife.

'DOYLE: Thirtyish. A heavy who aspires to be like Drummond -- which'll give you some idea.

'MOODY: Twenties. A skilled high-speed driver. (NO LINES. MUST BE ABLE TO DRIVE WELL.)

'MATHESON: A specialist in his trade -- thieving cars -- who operates with style and panache.

'ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER: As previously cast.

'PLAINCLOTHES MAN #3: Keeps surveillance on Yates' house.

'EXTRAS: Drinkers (4). Mourners (4).

'WORKMEN: (2)

'PLAINCLOTHES MEN #1, #2: At funeral.

'V.K.C.:

'CAB DRIVER #1:

'CAB DRIVERS #2, #3: Actuals.'

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

    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Crawford Productions , 1976 .
      Extent: 48 min. 12 secs (according to the script)p.
      Series: form y separately published work icon Bluey Robert Caswell , Vince Moran , Everett de Roche , James Wulf Simmonds , Tom Hegarty , Gwenda Marsh , Colin Eggleston , David Stevens , Peter A. Kinloch , Keith Thompson , Gregory Scott , Peter Schreck , Denise Morgan , Monte Miller , Ian Jones , John Drew , David William Boutland , Jock Blair , Melbourne : Crawford Productions Seven Network , 1976 Z1815063 1976 series - publisher film/TV crime detective

      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.)

      Number in series: 5
      1976 .
      person or book cover
      Script cover page (Crawford Collection at the AFI Research Collection)
      Extent: 85p.
      (Manuscript) assertion
      Note/s:
      • The script is an original script, typed on thin white paper and labelled 'Code 11513' and 'Episode No: Eight' on the cover page, although it was produced as episode 5. There is no indication on the cover page of to whom this copy of the script was designated.
      • The archive also contains information on the breakdown of costs for this episode, access to which is highly restricted.
      • Pages 29 and 30 appear to have been typed on a different machine.
      • The script is amended with liquid paper, but the amendments are fewer in number than with other Bluey scripts: there are no signs of amendments prior to page 26. The amendments are copy-editing level corrections.

      Holdings

      Held at: AFI Research Collection
      Local Id: SC BLU : 5
Last amended 8 Nov 2018 13:07:42
Subjects:
  • Pentridge Prison, Coburg, Brunswick - Coburg area, Melbourne - North, Melbourne, Victoria,
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