''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 South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at the 2021 ...

). 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 Gerard Michael Kennedy (born July 24, 1960) is a Canadian politician in Ontario, Canada. He served as Ontario's minister of Education from 2003 to 2006, when he resigned to make an unsuccessful bid for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Ca ...

, 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 Logie The Gold Logie Award for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television, commonly referred to simply as the Gold Logie, is an award presented annually at the Australian Logie Awards. The Gold Logie was first awarded at the 2nd Annual TV We ...

s (for Australia's most popular entertainer) for

, who played Frank Banner. It was also critically acclaimed, winning a number of

AWGIE Awards The AWGIE Awards are annual awards given by the Australian Writers' Guild (AWG), for excellence in screen, television, stage, and radio writing. History The AWGIE awards were conceived in 1967, with the first event being held in 1968. Bettina ...

and Penguin Awards for its scripts and actors. In 1972 Frank Taylor received the

Penguin Award The Penguin Award was an annual award given for excellence in broadcasting by the Television Society of Australia. It was founded in 1954. The award trophy depicts an ear listening to a television tube, but strongly resembles a penguin, hence the ...

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 TISM ( ; an acronym of This Is Serious Mum) are a seven-piece anonymous alternative rock band, formed in Melbourne, Australia on 30 December 1982 by vocalist/drummer Humphrey B. Flaubert, bassist/vocalist Jock Cheese and keyboardist/vocalist ...

in their 1998 single

Thunderbirds Are Coming Out ''www.tism.wanker.com'' is the fourth studio album by Australian alternative rock group TISM (This Is Serious Mum), released in June 1998. The album peaked at number 26 on the ARIA charts. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1998, the album was nominat ...

Cast

Regular cast

Other notable cast members

Filmmaker

Nadia Tass Nadia Tass (born Tassopoulou or Tassopoulos; ), is an Australian theatre and film director and film producer. She mostly makes films with her writer-producer husband David Parker, through their production company Cascade Films. Tass is known ...

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 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 ...

{{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