Classic Aussie cop show, Blue Heelers, 25 years on.
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS ON, WE REMEMBER THIS CLASSIC AUSSIE COP SHOW
For the 12 years of cop drama Blue Heelers, the fictional country town of Mount Thomas was the most dangerous place in Australia. For the abundance of murders, assaults, kidnappings and heists that took place in the sleepy rural village, lead star John Wood had his own description of Mount Thomas.
“I called it ‘the crime capital of the Southern Hemisphere’,” John, 72, tells New Idea. “If something bad could happen, it would definitely happen in Mount Thomas, and that kept us busy for years!”
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the premiere o f the drama, which was once described as “A Country Practice meets Cop Shop”. It ran for 510 episodes across 13 seasons, from Jan. 18, 1994 until its finale on June 4, 2006. Blue Heelers remains TV’S fifth longestrunning Aussie drama.
In the central role of veteran cop Senior Sergeant Tom Croydon, John was the most established star name when the series launched, but recalls it had a secret weapon in its original line-up that guaranteed its success.
That secret weapon was then-newcomer Lisa Mccune in the role of young gun cop, Constable Maggie Doyle. Lisa would go on to win four Gold Logie awards.
“Any show Lisa would have gone into at that time would have been a smash hit with her in it,” John says. “She truly had ‘it’ – that something special – and she had it in spades. We were very lucky to have her.”
Also in the original line-up were Julie Nihill, Damian Walshe-howling and Grant Bowler. Over the years, other star names to emerge included Tasma Walton, Jane Allsop, Ditch Davey, Rupert Reid and Charlie Clausen.
Only John and Julie remained on the show from the first episode until the last.
Behind the cameras, Wood claims Blue Heelers was, “by and large, a very happy set and we all got on well together”.
He has, however, previously told about clashes with Tasma and called her “rebellious”, even though the pair later became close friends.
Julie, 62, says: “I have worked on unhappy sets, and Blue Heelers was never like that. It was actually like a family. It tapped into that country archetype of Australian storytelling.
“Lisa became so big on the show, there was a generation of young girls who grew up wanting to be a cop because of her.”
When Lisa announced she was leaving in 2001, many predicted it would mark the end of Blue Heelers.
Her character Maggie was gunned down in a hail of bullets, on the eve of her wedding to PJ (Marty Sacks) and died in his arms.
“It was a terrible time, and it was terrible they decided to kill her off,” John admits. “Lisa was pretty upset about that as it meant there was no chance she could ever come back.
“IF SOMETHING BAD COULD HAPPEN, IT WOULD HAPPEN IN MOUNT THOMAS”