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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
1968.
Script cover page (Crawford Collection at the AFI Research Collection)
Div4Ep3CoverScan_FX[equals]e.jpg
Extent:59p. (Manuscript)assertion
Note/s:
The script has not been assigned either episode code or episode number.
The script contains neither character notes nor crew information.
There are no signs of annotation on this copy of the script.
The script appears to have been written well before casting occurred: the version of the 'standard opening' included at the beginning of this script simply has '(actor)' or '(actress)' where necessary, instead of the names of any of the cast.
The script's cover page has been signed in red ink next to the copyright information: the signature appears to read 'Geoff Gallent'. Crawford Productions' tribute website (crawfordproductions.tv) lists a Geoff Gallent as working for Crawfords, but has no information on his role.
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.
