Bluey | |
---|---|
Genre | Crime drama |
Written by | Jock Blair Ian Jones Vincent Moran James Wulf Simmonds Everett De Roche Gerald Murnane Robert Caswell John Drew Tom Hegarty Gregory Lindsay Scott Gwenda Marsh Colin Eggleston David Stevens |
Directed by | Graeme Arthur Gary Conway George Miller Kevin James Dobson David Stevens |
Starring | Lucky Grills Gerda Nicolson John Diedrich Ken Goodlet Terry Gill |
Theme music composer | Brian Bennett |
Country of origin | Australia |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 39 |
Production | |
Production location | Melbourne, Victoria |
Editors | Adrian Carr Philip Reid Ken Sallows |
Running time | 60 minutes (90-minute pilot) |
Original release | |
Network | Seven Network |
Release | 2 August 1976 – 25 April 1977 |
Bluey is an Australian television series made by Crawford Productions for the Seven Network in 1976.
The series was a police drama from Crawford Productions, but was different from their previous series— Homicide , Division 4 and Matlock Police —in that it focused on a single detective rather than an ensemble, and that the characters were not stock standard archetypes usually seen in police dramas. Stand-up comedian Lucky Grills was cast as the titular Det. Sgt. "Bluey" Hills who, in contrast to the relatively straight detectives seen in Crawford's previous shows, was obese, drank heavily (even on duty), smoked heavily, visited local prostitutes, and would often enact physical violence on criminals.
Bluey was set at Melbourne's Russell Street Police Headquarters, with "Bluey" Hills heading his own squad ("Department B"), due to his inability to work within the existing police squads. Department B was given cases that the other departments could not readily solve by conventional means, with Hills applying his unconventional methods to bring about their resolution.
Bluey was supported in his investigations by newly assigned Det. Gary Dawson (John Diedrich) long-time cohort Sgt. Monica Rourke (Gerda Nicolson), and undercover officer Det. Sgt. Reg Truscott (Terry Gill), who spent his time ostensibly working as a small-time burglar, and supplying Bluey with information on the activities of local criminals. Victoria Quilter also featured in early episodes as Dawson's girlfriend Jo Goldman, later replaced by Mercia Deane-Johns as Debbie Morley. Whilst a constant thorn in the side of the Assistant Commissioner (Ken Goodlet) and Superintendent (Fred Parslow), Bluey's methods were highly effective—while other squads didn't want him as a part of their team, they still sought him out when they could not get the job done.
Unlike other Australian TV series where it was common practice to shoot interior scenes on 2.5 cm quadruplex videotape and outdoor shots on film, the series was entirely shot on colour film. The final episode, "Son of Bluey", featured an appearance by actor Don Barker as Det. Sgt. Harry White—the same character he played in Homicide.
Lucky Grills told TV Week magazine that after playing a guest role in an episode of Matlock Police someone thought of him for the role of Bluey. [1]
His agent sent him a page of script, which he read and then went to audition. After the audition, it took ten days for the call to come through telling him he had the part. "It was Hector Crawford himself calling to tell me I had the role." [1]
Around the same time the series was airing, Grills featured as himself in an episode of Crawford's sitcom Bobby Dazzler , as a telethon guest, where reference was made to his role in Bluey.
Although the show only lasted for one year, Bluey found a new audience almost two decades later when dubbed clips from the show formed the basis for the popular The Late Show comedy sketch "Bargearse". In addition to two other guest appearances as himself, Grills also reprised his role as Bluey on The Late Show in order to protest the airing of the last Bargearse sketch. Another enduring element from the show, the theme music—a library music instrumental composed by Brian Bennett titled "New Horizons", is now best associated with coverage of cricket from Nine Network's Wide World of Sports from the 1970s until 2018. [2]
Since the original TV run Bluey was replayed a total of 3 times on Channel Seven, the first being in late 70s at a 2pm weekday timeslot. During the late 1980s period Seven replayed it at an early 4pm timeslot weekday mornings and the fourth and final screening was in 1994 usually at a late night time-slot around 11pm or 12pm weekly on Wednesday night or Thursday morning. The series has not been replayed on Channel Seven its original TV station since that period.
Of the cast members, Gerda Nicolson, died on 12 June 1992, and Lucky Grills died on 27 July 2007. As a result of commentary on the Bargearse DVD release, Victoria Quilter is listed on several Internet sites—including IMDb—as being officially listed as a "missing person". However, as of October 2010, she was alive and well and living in Sydney.
Survivors is a British post-apocalyptic fiction drama television series created by Terry Nation and produced by Terence Dudley at the BBC, that broadcast from 1975 to 1977. It concerns the plight of a group of people who have survived an apocalyptic plague pandemic, which was accidentally released by a Chinese scientist and quickly spread across the world via air travel. Referred to as "The Death", the plague kills approximately 4,999 out of every 5,000 human beings on the planet within a matter of weeks of being released.
The Late Show is a popular Australian comedy sketch and satire show, which ran for two seasons on the ABC. It aired weekly on Saturday nights from 18 July 1992 to 30 October 1993.
Gerda Maureen Nicolson was an Australian actress, who worked across all major forms of media, including theatre and television actress and films, she was best known for several long-running television roles, including in rural series Bellbird police detective series Bluey and as Governor Ann Reynolds of the Wentworth Detention Centre in soap opera Prisoner and briefly as Robyn Taylor in Neighbours
Stingers is an Australian police drama television series. It premiered on 29 September 1998, and ran for eight seasons on the Nine Network before it was cancelled in late 2004 due to declining ratings, with its final episode airing on 14 December 2004. Inspired by true events, Stingers chronicled the cases of a deep undercover unit of the Victoria Police. The series also followed their personal lives, which sometimes became intertwined with their jobs. The original cast members include Peter Phelps, Joe Petruzzi, Kate Kendall, Ian Stenlake, Anita Hegh, and Jessica Napier. Phelps and Kendall were the only actors to remain with the show for its entire run.
Cop Shop is a long-running Australian police drama television series produced by Crawford Productions that ran for seven seasons between 28 November 1977 and 23 July 1984. It comprised 582 one-hour episodes.
The 19th Annual TV Week Logie Awards were presented on Friday 25 March 1977 at Southern Cross Hotel in Melbourne and broadcast on the Nine Network. Bert Newton from the Nine Network was the Master of Ceremonies. American film star Burt Lancaster and television actors Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Susan Seaforth and Bill Hayes, British actors Robin Nedwell and Geoffrey Davies, and Australian actor Jack Thompson appeared as guests. Kate Jackson, star of Charlie's Angels, was scheduled to appear but cancelled at the last minute to start filming on the television movie James at 15.
Crawford Productions is an Australian media production company, focused on radio and television production. Founded in Melbourne by Hector Crawford and his sister, actress and voice artist Dorothy Crawford, the company, also known as Crawfords Australia, is now a subsidiary of the WIN Corporation.
Skyways is an Australian television soap opera drama series made by Crawford Productions for the Seven Network.
Waterloo Station was a short-lived Australian television soap opera created by Reg Watson and produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation for the Nine Network in 1983.
Homicide was an Australian television police procedural drama series made by production firm Crawford Productions for the Seven Network. It was the television successor to Crawfords' radio series D24. The "Consummate Homicide cast" includes the four characters that are the best known: Det. Snr. Sgt. David "Mac" MacKay, Det. Sgt. Peter Barnes, Inspector Colin Fox and Sen. Det. Jim Patterson.
Special Squad is an Australian television series made by Crawford Productions for Network Ten in 1984.
Bellamy was an Australian television series made by the Reg Grundy Organisation for the Ten Network in 1981.
Hunter was an Australian espionage adventure television series screened by the Nine Network from Tuesday 4 July 1967 to March 1969. The series was created by Ian Jones and produced by Crawford Productions.
John Orcsik, credited also variously as Jon Orcsik, John Orschik, John Orscik and John Crosik, is an Australian actor, screenwriter, director and producer of Hungarian descent, known for his television roles starting from the late 1960s, but also for the film version of the soap opera Number 96. He was married to actress Paula Duncan.
Leo Dennis Grills OAM professionally billed as Lucky Grills, was an Australian actor and comedian. His best known acting role was in the crime drama TV series Bluey playing the title role. Grills took his professionally working name after the Italian-American gangster Lucky Luciano.
Donald Gordon Battye was an Australian composer, writer and television producer, best known for his work with Crawford Productions and Reg Grundy Organisation.
Boney is an Australian television series produced by Fauna Productions during 1971 and 1972, featuring James Laurenson in the title role of Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte. Two series, each of thirteen episodes, were filmed.
Robert Raglan was a British actor best known for his semi-regular role in Dad's Army as Colonel Pritchard. He also starred in a number of other television series and films such as Fabian of the Yard (1954–56) and The Haunted House of Horror (1969). He also appeared in Danger Man with Patrick McGoohan, and Scotland Yard.
New Scotland Yard is a police drama series produced by London Weekend Television (LWT) for the ITV network between 1972 and 1974. It features the activities of two officers from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in the Metropolitan Police force headquarters at New Scotland Yard, as they dealt with the assorted villains of the day.