Matlock Police

''Matlock Police'' is an Australian television police drama series made by Crawford Productions for The 0-10 Network (now known as Network 10) between 1971 and 1976. The series focused on the police station and crime in the Victorian town of Matlock and the surrounding district, and the backgrounds and personal lives of the main policemen.

Background

The series was the 0-10 Network's attempt to come up with a police show to rival ''Homicide'' (shown by the 7 Network) and ''Division 4'' (on the 9 Network). ''Matlock Police'' was different from its Melbourne-based predecessors by being set in a small country town, the fictional Matlock, Victoria (a real Matlock exists in Victoria but is much smaller than the town depicted by this series, which is loosely based on Shepparton). These programmes' introduction featured an overhead shot of a town with a divided road, thought to be of Bairnsdale in Victoria. Series writers had a reference manual giving full details of the town’s geography, amenities, social structure, etc., as well as that of the surrounding area - neighbouring towns included Wilga, Chinaman's Creek, Possum's Creek and Burrabri, and there was an offshoot of the Great Dividing Range called the Candowies. The town's colourful history included the local Aboriginal tribe (the ‘Bangerang’), the town founder (George Matlock), a gold rush, a bushranger (‘Holy’ Joe Cooper - so-called both for his theft of a shipment of holey dollars and because he was a preacher) and a town patriarchy (the Falconers). About the only landmark the Matlock district lacked for dramatic purposes was a beach.

Broadcast history

The first episode was broadcast in Melbourne on 22 February 1971. Initially filmed in black and white, the series switched to colour in episode 162, "Loggerheads". ''Matlock Police'' was canceled in 1975 after 229 episodes had been produced (while the final episode is numbered 228, an earlier episode had an A suffix, making a total of 229).

Cast

Main

Guests

A notable guest star was George Lazenby who appeared in a 1974 episode "In the Name of the Queen" (inspired by the case of Ronnie Biggs and the Great Train Robbery). Other noted Australian actors who made early appearances on the series include Andrew McFarlane, Bruce Spence, Jack Thompson, Robert McDarra, Judy Morris, Diane Craig, Briony Behets, Penne Hackforth-Jones, Wendy Hughes and Sigrid Thornton. After the sudden death of character actor Stewart Ginn in September 1971, Hector Crawford praised his performance in the episode titled "The Word is Progress" as one of the finest dramatic performances to come out of the Crawfords company.

Featured vehicles

Vehicles featured through the series included the HG Holden Monaro (base model), which featured until Crawford's contract with Chrysler Australia commenced, with a Holden Kingswood wagon also being featured as the station's general purpose vehicle. The Monaro and Kingswood were followed by VH and VJ Valiant Ranger models. A short wheelbase FJ40 Toyota Land-cruiser also featured. Gary Hogan rode a CB750 motorcycle for most of the series, which replaced a BMW R75 used in earlier episodes.

During the filming of a pursuit-sequence for episode 36 ("End Of The Road") in August 1971, a police vehicle driven by a principal actor struck and instantly killed a 21 year-old member of the camera crew, Colin Enor (or Ennor/Ennoh) after losing control while negotiating a gravel bend. The other crew managed to get out of the way.

DVD release

Crawford has released ''Matlock Police'' in 26-episode, 7-disc box sets; this resulted in a 9-volume collection for the full series.

See also

* ''Matlock''—US TV series from 1986 to 1995
* '' Solo One'': After ''Matlock Police'' ended, the character of Gary Hogan ( Paul Cronin) was spun off into a new series about a motorcycle policeman in a small country town. Crawfords have also released the series on dvd.

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

''Matlock Police''
at ''Crawford Productions''
''Matlock Police''
at the National Film and Sound Archive
''Matlock Police'' - "26 Hours"
at Australian Screen Online

Network 10 original programming
1970s Australian crime television series
1970s Australian drama television series
Television shows set in Victoria (state)
1971 Australian television series debuts
1976 Australian television series endings
Black-and-white Australian television shows
Television series by Crawford Productions