''Division 4'' is an Australian

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

drama series broadcast by the

Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...

and created by

Crawford Productions Crawford Productions is an Australian Media (communication), 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, a ...

airing between 1969 and 1975 for 301 episodes.

Synopsis

The series was one of the first to follow up on the enormous success of the earlier Crawford Productions drama ''

Homicide Homicide is an act in which a person causes the death of another person. A homicide requires only a Volition (psychology), volitional act, or an omission, that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from Accident, accidenta ...

'' and dealt with the wide variety of cases investigated by police in the fictional

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

suburb of Yarra Central (modelled on St Kilda but with many features in common with

Port Melbourne Port Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of the Melbourne central business district, located within the Cities of City of Melbourne, Melbourne and City of Port Phillip, Port Phillip Local government ...

and South Melbourne). Initial publicity suggested that the 'emphasis throughout is on realism'. ''Division 4'' was more concerned with character motivation than ''Homicide''. The first episode included a human interest story for Frank Banner, played by Gerard Kennedy, whose pregnant wife Joy (played by Kate McKittrick) dies in part due to harassment from criminals pursuing a vendetta against him. This situation was recalled in Episode 20, 'The Threat', and in other early episodes in which Banner is seen to be haunted and troubled. In episode 29, 'The Price', an old flame of Banner's, June Anderson (Margaret Dunbar) attempts to rekindle the relationship they had before he met and married Joy, with no success: his job is too demanding.

Awards

The series won 10

Logie Awards The TV Week Logie Awards (known colloquially as The Logies) is an annual ceremony celebrating and honouring the best shows and stars in Australian television, sponsored and organised by the magazine ''TV Week''. The event is telecast live and ...

, including two Gold Logies (for Australia's most popular entertainer) for Gerard Kennedy, who played Frank Banner. It was also critically acclaimed, winning a number of AWGIE Awards and Penguin Awards for its scripts and actors. In 1972 Frank Taylor received the Penguin Award for the Best Supporting Actor in a Television Series. After Kennedy decided to leave ''Division 4'', the Nine Network summarily cancelled the series; only one episode was made with his replacement John Stanton.

Theme music

The opening library music theme Power Drive was composed by

Johnny Pearson John Valmore Pearson (18 June 1925 – 20 March 2011) was a British composer, orchestra leader and pianist. He led the ''Top of the Pops'' orchestra for sixteen years, wrote a catalogue of library music, and had many of his pieces used as the ...

in 1967. Different versions of the same music were used across the series. The theme was sampled by TISM in their 1998 single Thunderbirds Are Coming Out.

Cast

Regular cast

Other notable cast members

Filmmaker Nadia Tass had her first acting role, aged 14, in ''Division 4''.

Home media

As of February 2017, twelve volumes of this series have been released on DVD through Crawfords/WinTV, representing the entire series run (with the exception of episode 102A "Conspiracy", which exists as a partial episode only and was not included).

References and notes

External links

''Division 4''
at ''Classic Australian Television''
''Division 4''
at ''Crawford Productions''
''Division 4''
at the

National Film and Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting, and providing access to a national c ...

''Division 4'' - "Return of John Kelso"
at Australian Screen Online {{Authority control Nine Network original programming 1960s Australian drama television series 1960s Australian crime television series 1969 Australian television series debuts 1975 Australian television series endings Television shows set in Victoria (state) Black-and-white Australian television shows Television series by Crawford Productions 1970s Australian drama television series 1970s Australian crime television series