Homicide (TV series)

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For the American series, see Homicide: Life on the Street.
Title screen of Homicide
Title screen of Homicide

Homicide was an Australian television series made by Crawford Productions for the Seven Network between 1964 and 1977.

The series dealt with the homicide squad of the Victoria police force and episodes revolved around the various cases the detectives are called upon to investigate.

Contents

[edit] Broadcast history

The first episode aired on October 20, 1964. 504 episodes aired between then and June 1976. The remaining 6 produced episodes were aired in December 1976 and January 1977.

[edit] Technical specifications

Early episodes were in black and white with the bulk of material recorded on videotape in the studios of HSV7 using a Multicamera setup. Each episode also featured about ten minutes of location footage shot on 16 mm film. Total time per episode was 47 minutes.

The filmed segments did not have synchronised sound so featured little dialogue, concentrating more on dramatic shots of cars pulling in, gun battles, and fist fights.

Dialogue for the film scenes was done "post sync". This means that the dialogue was recorded on location but, due to the often low quality of audio recorded in this manner, the actor was required to record the dialogue in a sound proof studio in the standard filmaking process known as Additional Dialogue Recording. Location recordings were used on those occasions the sound quality proved to be of a high quality, often where it had been recorded in a quiet locale where extraneous noise had not intruded. Sound effects would be also dubbed onto the location-shot footage. Both pre-recorded sound effects recordings and the work of Crawford's foley artist would be used.

Episode 56, "Flashpoint", which first aired on 19 April 1966, was shot entirely on location on film, and most of the dialogue of this episode was post-synched. Over the years the ratio of film to videotape was increased, and synchronised sound became the norm. When the series switched from black and white to colour in 1973, it necessitated shooting entirely on film, as the HSV7 studios were yet to be converted to colour video production.

[edit] Stopover

Late in the show's run - sometime between episodes 470 and 480 - a feature length episode was filmed. This film was entitled Stopover, with the title Homicide not used at all, and was shot entirely on film on new sets and on location at Melbourne Airport. The story involved an international rock band who was held at the airport following the fatal overdose of a band member. The overdose was later suspected to be murder. Guest stars included Jon English as the band's lead singer, and Tony Bonner as the band member who overdosed. The film never received a cinema release but was shown on television as a special in 1976. It is officially listed as episode 504, with episodes 502 and 503 also being feature-length.

Lawson, White, Deegan and Redford are the detectives in the film.

[edit] Records

  • Homicide ran for 12 years and 6 months, making it the longest-running Australian weekly primetime drama in history.
  • With 510 episodes produced (the last episode is numbered 509, but the pilot episode was numbered with an 'A' suffix, making a total of 510), for many years it held the record for most episodes produced in an Australian weekly primetime drama. When it ended in 2006 Blue Heelers equalled this record.

[edit] Significance

Homicide was the first major television series to be produced in Australia, the domestic television market having been previously dominated by American and British imports. Homicide proved that that there was a market for home-grown programming and was highly successful. For this reason, as well as for inspiring a series of popular cop dramas that followed, it remains one of the most important programmes in the history of Australian television.

In 2004 the episodes "Flashpoint" and "Stopover" were screened by Melbourne Cinematheque, finally giving "Stopover" a cinema screening.

In November 2005 one of the first colour episodes of the series, Assassin, was repeated by HSV-7 Melbourne. Shot entirely on film this episode depicts Mackay receiving death threats as he completes his final assignment before being transferred out of the Homicide department. Returning to headquarters in a police car with Fox (Alwyn Kurts) they receive news over the radio that a sniper is on the roof. Fox orders intended victim Mackay to remain in the car and leaves to get help, but is himself fatally shot by the assassin. Mackay arrests the assassin and in the same episode leaves Homicide for his new post.

[edit] Regular Cast

Insp. Jack Connolly - John Fegan

Det. Sgt. Frank Bronson - Terry McDermott

Det. Rex Fraser - Lex Mitchell

Sen. Det. / Det. Sgt. David Mackay - Leonard Teale

Sen. Det. Bill Hudson - Leslie Dayman

Sen. Det. Peter Barnes - George Mallaby

Sen. Det. Bert Costello - Lionel Long

Insp. Colin Fox - Alwyn Kurts

Sen. Det. Jim Patterson - Norman Yemm

Sen. Det. Bob Delaney - Mike Preston

Sen. Det. Phil Redford - Gary Day

Insp. Reg Lawson - Charles Tingwell

Sen. Det. Pat Kelly - John Stanton

Det. Sgt. Harry White - Don Barker

Sen. Det. Mike Deegan - Dennis Grosvenor

[edit] External links

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