form y separately published work icon And Then There Were None single work   film/TV   crime  
Issue Details: First known date: 1976... 1976 And Then There Were None
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Bluey recognises a sweet set-up when he sees one. Bust into a man's home, hold his family under threat of death while the victim is forced to open and empty his safe at the office, promise death to the family if the victim gives any descriptions or assistance to the police. That is a sweet set-up!

'There is one thing that even threats of violence cannot conceal or disguise. All the hold-ups have been from branches of the one organization - Federal Housing Services.

'If victims will not give information, there has to be some other way and in every game Bluey always has one ace up his sleeve - Truscott!

'But the search for the felons takes the men of Department B far from suburbia and the quiet, carpeted office of the world of commerce, through the raw, real, bustling life of the markets, through sleazy nightclubs, through areas only really safe for criminals - and Bluey.'

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


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

'JANOS (PRONOUNCED YANOS): A likeable Yugoslav in his late 20's - early 30's. He craves acceptance and friendship. His English is not brilliant and was mostly learned in the markets and sleazy night clubs. In spite of his criminal activities, it's hard not to feel sorry for Janos. He's the original loser. Drives a motorbike.

'GINGER MORGAN: Early 30's. A tough hard case. He'd rather fight than make love and he'd rather make love than work. Basically he's a heavy and that's the way he likes it. Australian. Drives.

'BERT TOMKINS: He'd be a good used car salesman if he wasn't a crim. In his early 40's, Bert Tomkins can look back on a career of violence and mayhem. He's smarter than most of his type, but only just. Australian. Drives.

'JENKINS: Early 50's. A humourless business man - and a white-collar crim who treats people like animals. He is confident and has a superior manner towards the less fortunate. He is the Branch Manager of a Housing Society, thus giving him access to a small fortune.

'JANEY (Judy McBurney): Already established ("The First Bloody Day"). She's a lithesome young call girl who fancies Bluey.

'DAVIES: About 40. A working class battler who's come up the hard way only to find the trip wasn't worth it. He is one of those poor unfortunate victims of the inflationary trend and the capitalistic class system.

'JOHN GRANGER: Late 40's. A respectable business man with little backbone. Drives.

'MRS. GRANGER: Mid-40's. An average housewife who prefers not to get involved and can't handle it when she is.

'SALLY GRANGER: About 17. Very pretty - has a good figure. She could almost be sexy, but Sally has the same dull mind as her mother has.

'MRS. JENKINS: Mid-40's and doing nothing to hide it. Very respectable and not aware of her husband's criminal activities.

'UNIFORMED CONSTABLE: No lines.

'DETECTIVE: Few lines.

'TRUCK DRIVER: Aggressive type - few lines. Drives.'

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 ; Seven Network , 1976 .
      Extent: 47 min., 14 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: 10
      1976 .
      person or book cover
      Script cover page (from the Crawford Collection at the AFI Research Collection)
      Extent: 62p.
      (Manuscript) assertion
      Note/s:
      • The script is labelled 'Code 11515' and 'Episode No. 11' on the cover page, although it aired as episode 10. There is no indication on the cover page of to whom this copy of the script was designated.
      • The script is typed on thin white paper, amended throughout with liquid paper. As with other scripts for this program, the amendments seem to be limited to copy-editing level corrections.
      • The archive also contains information on the breakdown of costs for this episode, access to which is highly restricted.

      Holdings

      Held at: AFI Research Collection
      Local Id: SC BLU : 10
Last amended 29 May 2013 10:25:01
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