Roz Patterson

Roz Patterson (née McGregor) was a fictional character in the Australian police drama series ‘Blue Heelers’. She was a starring character in the series since it began; but was the first character to leave the series, staying not even a year. She was portrayed by Western Australian actress, Ann Burbrook.

In the series, she is married to Wayne Patterson, one of the Mount Thomas Police constables. She arrives with him from the city and stays with him in the police residence. Roz is a very friendly and warm person and one who is very loyal to her friends. She may perhaps be a little naive and gullible and may make some mistakes, but she has good intentions and a kind heart.

Character Storylines

Season 1

At the beginning of season 1, Roz is introduced to us as the wife of Wayne Patterson and she was, at that time, cleaning the station as she was the wife of the watch-house keeper. She resented this job and resented that she was forced to do this job and have little life of her own. She was always a city girl and liked to have her friends around her and the comforts of life, not much of this in Mount Thomas she thought. After a failed attempt to run a beauty business out of the police residence, Roz purchased a car of her own, which she used for her new idea of a mobile beauty business. This was all going fine for her until she was pulled over, after speeding, by Nick who gave her a ticket. Roz had previously had many traffic infringements against her name and, as a result, her license was suspended putting an end to her driving and business. Roz was furious at Nick for this and both Roz and Wayne tried to reason with him with no success. She was then lucky enough to get a job as a clerical assistant at the Mount Thomas police station and she enjoyed doing this. This did put strain on Roz and Wayne’s marriage but they made it work. After a while, though, it became too much for Roz to deal with. When she took the job, she had been exposed to all the terrible things that Wayne had to put up with and she was seeing all that Wayne had never told her; These things scared her and she just seemed to worry about Wayne more and more. With this job, Roz became very attached to some of the people she had to deal with. One particular women caught her eye and she began to feel sorry for this mother who was trying to support her children and working at the pub at the same time. When she wanted some information that Roz had access to, Roz felt obligated to get her this information that could change her life for the better. Roz stole the information from the police computer and was found out, Roz was dismissed from her job and she returned to the old boring life she had before. The last straw for Roz finally came when, one night, Wayne received a call of a burglary out of town at an old farm. He left to attend but the complainant called back and started talking to Roz who then witnessed a shooting over the telephone. She was terrified that maybe Wayne had again been shot and this was too much for her. She decided to move back to the city to her parents' house and end the marriage, much to Wayne's dismay.

Other Appearances

Roz also appeared in Episode 97 (Unfinished Business) as a guest. This was the episode after Wayne’s final episode and she came to attend the funeral and tie up all the loose ends.

See also

• Blue Heelers
• Ann Burbrook