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Blue Heelers



It was announced on 13 January 2006 that Blue Heelers was to be axed after 12 years, 510 episodes and 24 Logies. At this time, the show was still drawing 1.2 million viewers per week on average, down from the 2.5 million it was drawing at its peak. This announcement was front-page news on nearly all of Australia's major newspapers including The Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney's Daily Telegraph, The Melbourne Herald Sun, The Melbourne Age and Brisbane's Courier Mail.[31]

All during 2005, speculation was rife that Blue Heelers may be cancelled but, in the hope that viewing would increase, an 11-episode season in 2006 was commissioned by the Seven Network. It soon became apparent that ratings were not increasing and the show was cancelled. Two different endings were shot for the final episode which finished filming on 20 December 2005, one wrapping up all the show's storylines and another which would leave the show open for another season; the first was used.

Blue Heelers is believed to be a casualty of Seven's AFL broadcast which saw Seven invest $780m for the 5 year broadcasting rights of the game.[4]

Even though the show had been axed, people still remained dedicated, shown by the Bring Back Blue Heelers Petition Site, launched by then 17-year-old Ashley Bentley which was signed by some 27,500 people. Bentley launched his campaign petition for Blue Heelers to be returned to the air and for Paramount to release the remaining season of Blue Heelers on DVD.

For Blue Heelers' final season, it was moved from its Wednesday night timeslot to the lower-rating Saturday night spot with the finale aired on the high rating Sunday night time slot.

[

Episodes

Main article: List of Blue Heelers episodes

Blue Heelers aired a total of 510 episodes in 12 full seasons and 1 shortened final season. This includes 509 hour-long standard episodes and one live episode. This live episode, titled "Reasonable Doubts", was filmed to celebrate Blue Heelers 10th year on the air;[32] this, something not attempted by a drama in Australian television history for forty years. This was a particularly brave feat considering the actors would be required to act for an entire hour straight; to prepare for this, the cast were given six days to memorise their lines.[33]

Season Ep. # Season Premiere Season Finale
Season 1 45 January 18, 1994 November 22, 1994
Season 2 41 February 21, 1995 November 21, 1995
Season 3 41 February 12, 1996 November 26, 1996
Season 4 42 February 10, 1997 November 25, 1997
Season 5 41 February 24, 1998 November 25, 1998
Season 6 42 February 10, 1999 November 24, 1999
Season 7 41 February 9, 2000 November 22, 2000
Season 8 41 February 21, 2001 November 28, 2001
Season 9 41 February 13, 2002 November 20, 2002
Season 10 42 February 12, 2003 November 26, 2003
Season 11 39 February 4, 2004 November 5, 2004
Season 12 42 February 2, 2005 November 26, 2005
Season 13 11 April 1, 2006 June 4, 2006

[

DVD releases

Blue Heelers DVD release.
Blue Heelers DVD release.
Further information: see the individual season pages

Currently, only seasons 1-6 of Blue Heelers have been released, although seasons 7 and 8 will be released in mid-late 2008. Blue Heelers DVDs are distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment.

In November 2005, Paramount Home Entertainment released their first Blue Heelers boxed set in Australia in Region 4 DVD format. They called this 'Blue Heelers – The Complete First Season' and this was shortly followed by 'Blue Heelers – The Complete Second Season: Part 1' and 'Blue Heelers – The Complete Second Season: Part 2 which were released together in December of 2005. These were released in 5 or 6 disc box sets where each season was divided into two parts, with the exception of the first season which was released as one part; this was, presumably, to keep size and cost per unit to a minimum.

However, the "seasons", as defined by the DVD releases, are markedly different to the original seasons as they aired on television. It appears that the episodes are being released according to what year the episodes were "produced" in, as opposed to the year they aired. For example: "The Complete First Season" DVDs contain some episodes from season 1 (1994). "The Complete Second Season" contains the remainder of season 1 (1994) episodes and some from season 2 (1995).

In January 2007, Paramount Home Entertainment announced that they would henceforth release each season of Blue Heelers as one complete boxset, rather than in two parts as they had done prior to this announcement. Each DVD boxset now consists of 10 or 11 discs, rather than 5 or 6 each. They released these on 15 February 2007.[34]

In October 2007, Paramount Home Entertainment stated that they were planning to release Season 7 of Blue Heelers and that they intended it to be released in March/April 2008. They stated that the reason for the delay in its release was due to "contractual negotiations" with the actors of the series and the Seven Network. They claim that all negotiations have been resolved for the release of seasons 7-13. It has now been finalised that season 7 shall be available in August 2008, and season 8 and October 2008.

At this time, Blue Heelers DVDs are only available from retailers in Australia and New Zealand and are in Region 4 DVD Format. It is unknown if Paramount Home Entertainment plan to release the DVD sets in any other country or format.

Blue Heelers Initial Season Release Dates for Australia (DVD)
DVD Name Release Date Episodes
Complete First Season November 2, 2005[35] Season 1 episodes 1 -> 17.
Complete Second Season December 1, 2005[36] Season 1 episodes 18 -> 45, Season 2 episodes 46 -> 54.
Complete Third Season February 16, 2006[37] Season 2 episodes 55 -> 86, Season 3 episodes 87 -> 96.
Complete Fourth Season April 6, 2006[38] Season 3 episodes 97 -> 128, Season 4 episodes 129 -> 139.
Complete Fifth Season June 6, 2006[39] Season 4 episodes 140 -> 170, Season 5 episodes 171 -> 181.
Complete Sixth Season August 10, 2006[40] Season 5 episodes 182 -> 211, Season 6 episodes 212 -> 223.
Complete Seventh Season July 31, 2008[41] TBA
Complete Eighth Season October 2, 2008 TBA

[

Awards

Main article: List of awards and nominations for Blue Heelers

Blue Heelers has been the recipient of many awards over its years of broadcast including 25 Logie Awards, five of which are the prestigious Gold Logie, 3 AFI Awards, 3 People's Choice Awards, and 1 AWGIE Awards.[42][43]

In terms of awards, Blue Heelers is regarded as one of the most successful programmes on Australian television[44] and is currently in third place in the Logie wins tally, with a total of 25 Logie wins. This includes the four Gold Logies Lisa McCune won for her portrayal of Maggie Doyle - the role which rocketed her into view of the public and made her one of Australia's most successful actresses[45] - and the Gold Logie John Wood won.

Blue Heelers award summary[46]
Award Won Nominated
Gold Logie Awards[47]
 5 3
Silver Logie Awards[48]
 20 35
AFI Awards[49]
 3 4
AWGIE Awards[50][51]
 1 1
People's Choice Awards[52][53]
 3 6
Australian Screen Editors' Awards[46]
 0 1
TOTAL
 32 50

[

Broadcasting

Blue Heelers has a strong following not only in Australia, but also worldwide; it has been sold to 108 territories.[29]

Flag of Australia Australia

From 1994, Blue Heelers originally aired on Tuesday nights at 7:30pm on the Seven Network and thus was limited to a PG content level restriction. When the series was hailed as a success, it began the transition from this timeslot to the 8:30pm timeslot on the same day, thus allowing the writers to explore a more diverse amount of storylines and restricted the show to an M rating. In its third season, it was temporarily moved to the Monday night 8:30pm timeslot, but was moved back to its original slot before season's end. In its fifth season, Blue Heelers moved to the Wednesday night 8:30pm timeslot which it occupied for most of its run, from then until the end of its twelfth season. This move was made to make way for hospital drama All Saints, which still occupies this slot to this day.

Starting in 2004, the Seven Network aired Blue Heelers in their weekday "early days drama" slot at 2pm in the afternoon. They aired all episodes of Blue Heelers, starting from its first season. In this slot, Blue Heelers was a replacement for the broadcast of the early episodes of Home and Away. Blue Heelers concluded airing in this slot in 2007, with the broadcast of its final episode, and made way for the broadcast of early episodes of All Saints.

Blue Heelers also re-ran on The Hallmark Channel in Australia at 12.00am.

Flag of New Zealand New Zealand

In New Zealand, Blue Heelers screened on TV One in a popular timeslot. However, as of January 2008, it was moved to an off-peak late-night timeslot. It aired its final episode on TV One on 20 March 2008.

Flag of Ireland Ireland

Irish broadcaster RTÉ originally aired Blue Heelers on Friday afternoons from 1994 - 2000. These episodes were one season (42 episodes approx.) behind the Australian broadcast. The series then took a break before re-commencing in a five-day-week timeslot at 10.30am in early 2002. As a result of the 5 episode a week output, the show was quickly catching up with the Australian broadcast once again. The show was then dropped back to the original one episode a week in 2004 and moved to a late night Thursday/early Friday morning timeslot, typically about 1:00am. Season 12 is currently being screened on RTÉ 1, as at October 2007. RTÉ has aired the series since 1994, in the original unedited version directly from Australia. It proves very popular in Ireland and rates very well.

Flag of the United States United States

Blue Heelers aired briefly in the U.S. in the early 2000s on the short-lived cable channel, Trio (carried primarily by DirecTV). No episode after 76 was ever shown in the United States and when Trio changed their programming in 2004, Blue Heelers was dropped from the schedule.

Flag of Italy Italy

In Italy was broadcasted on Italia 7, from the 1st to th 6th season.

Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom

The series has also had international success including various regions of the United Kingdom where the series was broadcast on most stations on the ITV Network. Many companies tended to screen the show as hour-long episodes in the afternoon (occasionally with necessary edits to suit the time slot) whereas Central Television started with a late night 11.40pm slot before following other regions with a typically 2.20pm slot.

In Britain, several periods, including the last batch of episodes that they ran, Carlton Television showed the episodes in two halves as was common with other Australian soap operas in London such as A Country Practice. Several regions including Yorkshire Television and Tyne Tees Television chose not to import the show. When the ITV contractors reformated as one company in 2002, regionally-run programmes such as Blue Heelers (which were at different points of the series in each region) disappeared from screens. No ITV region screened the series in full.

The show also aired on UK cable channel Carlton Select in the late '90s, stripping the early episodes daily, and then in a weekly slot Fridays at 8pm as episodes became more recent. They showed episodes through the later part of the 1997 season, before dropping the series. It is entirely possible the channel intended to bring the series back after a break, however it ceased broadcasting in 2000.

ITV Regional Schedule
ITV Region
Programme Schedule Pattern
Start Date
Days Screened
End Date
Central Television February 1995 Tuesdays, 23.40-00.35, from February 1995 effectively replacing the repeat run of Prisoner which was cancelled after episode 95 in January. Blue Heelers was not particularly successful in this timeslot and it moved to Monday afternoons from July 1995 at 1350-1450. Then half-hour episodes on Thursdays and Fridays at 1450-1520 from 1998. Last episodes screened on Central were from Season 6 (1999), still in the edited half-hour format. 2002 (around episode 220)
Yorkshire Television (YTV) Never bought Never screened Never screened
Granada Television  ???  ???  ???
Meridian Television  ??? Typically Mondays at 14.20; some episodes also aired in a morning slot during school holidays  ???
Westcountry Television Tuesday 3 January 1995 14.50 Mondays to Wednesdays at 14.50 from January 1995 for half episodes. Then ???  ???
Channel Television As Meridian As Meridian As Meridian
Carlton Television Tuesday 3 January 1995 14.50 Mondays to Wednesdays at 14.50 from January 1995 for two-part half hour episodes. Then switched to 14.20 on Mondays for hour-long episodes for much of the regions run, then ??(several day changes, later reverting back to two-part half hour episodes)?? 2002 (mid-Season 7)
Anglia Television  ???  ???  ???
Tyne Tees Television Never bought Never screened Never screened
Scottish Television (STV)  ??? Hour-long episodes, airing on Fridays after Home and Away, and then replacing A Country Practice on Tuesdays. Dropped after episode 106 for more repeats of Murder, She Wrote.  ???
Grampian Television  ???  ???  ???
HTV Wales  ???  ???  ???
HTV West ??? ??? ???
Border Television  ???  ???  ???
Ulster Television (UTV) Early 1995 Initially 3 times a week. Monday, Wednesday & Friday afternoons at 1.50pm after Home and Away. Then moved to 2.20pm slot later in the series, a few episodes also ran at 11.40pm on Thursday nights as they were considered unsuitable for daytime viewing. 1998

[

See also

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

[

References

  1. ^ Editors. Blue Heelers: Release Dates, IMDb. Retrieved 4 May 2008.
  2. ^ a b c Idato, Michael. "Final Farewell", Sydney Morning Herald, 29 May 2006.
  3. ^ television.au AUSSIE COP SHOWS
  4. ^ a b "Blue Heelers axed, and AFL the main suspect, Sydney Morning Herald, 14 January 2004.
  5. ^ a b "Paranoia (Part 2)". Blue Heelers. 1995-07-25. No. 26, season 2.
  6. ^ "Random Breath". Blue Heelers. 1997-06-03. No. 17, season 4.
  7. ^ "A Fair Crack Of The Whip (Part 1)". Blue Heelers. 1996-04-30. No. 14, season 4.
  8. ^ "The Lord Giveth". Blue Heelers. 2001-10-03. No. 32, season 8.
  9. ^ "Small Potatoes". Blue Heelers. 2000-07-05. No. 22, season 7.
  10. ^ "Burning Up". Blue Heelers. 2007-05-13. No. 7, season 13.
  11. ^ "Unfinished Business". Blue Heelers. 2000-04-05. No. 9, season 7.
  12. ^ "Just Deserts". Blue Heelers. 1995-10-03. No. 33, season 2.
  13. ^ "The Discount Suit". Blue Heelers. 1995-11-07. No. 39, season 2.
  14. ^ "Happy Families". Blue Heelers. 1996-04-09. No. 12, season 3.
  15. ^ "Moonlighting". Blue Heelers. 2006-05-27. No. 9, season 13.
  16. ^ "Lost". Blue Heelers. 2005-11-26. No. 41, season 12.
  17. ^ "Chasing Smoke". Blue Heelers. 2005-03-02. No. 5, season 12.
  18. ^ "Killing Time". Blue Heelers. 2006-04-13. No. 10, season 12.
  19. ^ a b c Farmer, Monique. "Bush Bobbies", Sydney Morning Herald 17 January 1994
  20. ^ a b Government of the Commonwealth of Australia. Small screen, big picture, big future, Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, July 2000. Retrieved 17 May 2008.
  21. ^ a b Schembri, Jim: "A Country Cop Show", The Age, 14 January 1994
  22. ^ a b Hallett,Bryce "Bush coppers show mettle", The Australian, 18 January 1994.
  23. ^ a b c d Blue Heelers in town, Bendigo Advertiser, 8 April 2005. Retrieved 6 May 2008.
  24. ^ a b c Webster, Di. Blue Appealers, Who Weekly, 10 February 1997. Retrieved 3 May 2008.
  25. ^ Webb, Caroline; Idato, Michael. "Axe falls on Blue Heelers", The Age, 14 January 2006. Retrieved 26 March 2008.
  26. ^ a b Castlemaine, Australia, Australia eguide. Retrieved 3 May 2008.
  27. ^ a b Victorian Government. Famous television locations, Australian Centre for the Moving Image. Retrieved 3 May 2008.
  28. ^ Hobson's Bay City Council. Tourism & Places of Interest. Retrieved 4 May 2008.
  29. ^ a b c Blue Heelers Final Episodes to Air in 2006, Southern Star Group, January 13, 2006. Retrieved June 4, 2008.
  30. ^ "Can John get Heelers out of the woods?", The Daily Telegraph, 1 July 2004
  31. ^ "Blue Heelers" (1994) - Trivia
  32. ^ Witham, Katrina. Live and Laughing, The Courier-Mail, 15 April 2004. Retrieved 9 June 2008.
  33. ^ Miller, Kylie. Heelers Try New Trick, The Age, 15 April 2004. Retrieved 9 June 2008.
  34. ^ Editors. Blue Heelers: Season 1 DVD. Chaos.com. Retrieved 26 April 2008.
  35. ^ Idato, Michael. Blue Heelers - Season 1 - DVD Review, Sydney Morning Herald, 14 January 2007.
  36. ^ Editors. Blue Heelers: Season 2, Part 1 DVD. Chaos.com. Retrieved 26 April 2008.
  37. ^ Editors. Blue Heelers: Season 3, Part 1 DVD. Chaos.com. Retrieved 26 April 2008.
  38. ^ Editors. Blue Heelers: Season 4, Part 1 DVD. Chaos.com. Retrieved 26 April 2008.
  39. ^ Editors. Blue Heelers: Season 5, Part 2 DVD. EzyDVD.com. Retrieved 26 April 2008.
  40. ^ Editors. Blue Heelers: Season 6, Part 1 DVD. EzyDVD.com. Retrieved 26 April 2008.
  41. ^ Editors. Blue Heelers: Season 7, Part 1 DVD. EzyDVD.com. Retrieved 9 July 2008.
  42. ^ "Blue Heelers" (1994) - Awards
  43. ^ Australian Television: Blue Heelers: awards & nominations
  44. ^ AAP. Blue Heelers coming back, The Age, 30 September 2005. Retrieved 7 May 2008.
  45. ^ The Blue Heelers phenomenon. Lisa McCune.net. Retrieved 7 May 2008.
  46. ^ a b Zuk, Tim. Blue Heelers Awards, Australian Television Information Archive. Retrieved 8 June 2008.
  47. ^ TV Week editors. History of the Gold Logie, TV Week. Retrieved 8 June 2008
  48. ^ Zuk, Tim. List of Logie Award winners and nominees, Australian Television Information Archive. Retrieved 8 June 2008.
  49. ^ Television Awards 1986 - 2007. Australian Film Institute. Retrieved 26 April 2008.
  50. ^ Australian Writers' Guild Awards. Australian Writers' Guild Awards of 1997. @ Australian Television Information Archive. Retrieved 26 April 2008.
  51. ^ Australian Writers' Guild Awards. Australian Writers' Guild Awards of 2002. @ Australian Television Information Archive. Retrieved 26 April 2008.
  52. ^ People's Choice Awards. People's Choice Awards of 1998. @ Australian Television Information Archive. Retrieved 26 April 2008.
  53. ^ People's Choice Awards. People's Choice Awards of 1999. @ Australian Television Information Archive. Retrieved 26 April 2008.

[

External links

v • d • e
Blue Heelers
Main Characters · Recurring Characters · Episodes · Awards and Nominations · Mt. Thomas
Characters
Civilian
Constable
Senior Constable
Sergeant
Senior Sergeant
Detective
Seasons: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13



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