Homicide

Homicide
Title screen of Homicide
Format	Police procedural
Starring	John Fegan Terry McDermott Lex Mitchell Leonard Teale Leslie Dayman George Mallaby Lionel Long Alwyn Kurts Norman Yemm Mike Preston Gary Day Charles Tingwell John Stanton Don Barker Dennis Grosvenor
Country of origin	Australia
No. of episodes	510
Production
Running time	50 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Seven Network
Original run	20 October 1964 – January 1977

Homicide was an Australian police procedural 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.

Broadcast history

The first episode aired at 7:30 p.m Tuesday October 20, 1964. The debut episode was not the first episode filmed, the pilot being slotted later into the run. 504 episodes aired between then and June 1976. The remaining 6 produced episodes were aired in December 1976 and January 1977.

Repeat screenings of the series continued through the 1970s, and ended in the early 1980s. Since them, only seven episodes have been screened:

• ep. 376 - "Initiation", as part of the HSV-7 nostalgia program "Those Were The Days"
• episodes 379 ("The Last Way Out"), 385 ("The Friendly Fellow"), 394 ("Patterns & Stripes Don't Mix"), 410 ("Bill"), and 463 ("The Life & Times Of Tina Kennedy") as part of the program's 30th anniversary celebration in 1994
• ep. 383 - Assassin, shown in November 2005 as part of HSV-7's 50th year celebrations.

In 2004 the episodes "Flashpoint" (ep. 56) and "Stopover" (ep. 504) were screened by Melbourne Cinematheque, finally giving "Stopover" a cinema screening.

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.

With occasional exceptions, the filmed segments did not have synchronised sound and 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 filmmaking process known as Additional Dialogue Recording. Location recordings were used infrequently, and usually limited to brief dialogue snatches in enclosed spaces, such as the interior of a car. 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.

If a script was amended, a Crawford Productions staff member who lived near the actor concerned, would be required to deliver the new script to their house. Quite often this new dialogue had to be memorised for filming the next day.

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.

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. However, "Homicide" ran on-air for longer than "Blue Heelers", and had a greater cumulative running time due to five "feature-length" episodes.

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 2007, Homicide was chosen for a 50 cent stamp to celebrate 50 years of television in Australia.

Characters

• 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) -

External links

• TV Eye - Classic Australian Television
• Crawford Productions
• "Homicide" episode guide
• Homicide at the Internet Movie Database
• Law Suits - "Sydney Morning Herald" article about "Homicide"
• "Homicide" episode 'Flashpoint' - Senses of Cinema
• Homicide at the National Film and Sound Archive
• For behind the scenes information and photos of cast and crew, please visit http://www.crawfordproductions.net/