More Classic Aussie TV and Radio Drama coming your way

Cop Shop continues on DVD

Cop Shop fans will be pleased to know that Crawfords DVD have released the seventeenth box set of the series.

In these episodes Lorna O’Reilly (Moya O’Sullivan) decides that she’d rather go to jail than pay her parking fines, and there is heartache for everyone when Constable Sam Philips (Nicholas Eadie) is gunned down and killed by an elderly man who has been pushed over the edge by a gang on young punks. After 25 years of service Senior Sergeant Eric O’Reilly (Terry Norris) has had enough of living in the shadow of violence and retires from the police force, he’s replaced on the charge counter by Senior Sergeant Reg Wallis (Alwyn Kurts). Reg is a widower who soon finds himself drawn to the charms of Inspector Joyce Stratton (Billie Hammerberg) and a date at the races leads them to stumble upon a horse doping racket.

Constable Roy Baker (Gil Tucker) and his wife Melissa (Rosie Bailey) are being harassed in their own home by a mysterious nutcase, and Senior Constable Danni Francis (Paula Duncan) becomes too emotionally involved with a juvenile delinquent who has been molested by her beer swilling father.

Detective Julie Mitchell (Olga Tamara) takes in a homosexual flatmate, and Constable Frank Rossi (Alan Fletcher) has egg on his face when he fails to apprehend an elderly shoplifter who makes her escape on a pushbike.

Left: Homicide star Alwyn Kurts joins Cop Shop as Senior Sergeant Reg Wallis. Middle: Neighbours star Alan Fletcher plays singing policeman Constable Frank Rossi in Cop Shop. Right: Crossroads and Young Doctors star Vincent Ball makes a guest appearance in Cop Shop Volume 17.

The law enforcers of Riverside Police Station investigate piracy and industrial espionage in the video game industry, and Superintendent Gordon Buckley (Peter Whitford) has cause for concern when his daughter is abducted by a shady religious cult which brainwashes it’s members into committing criminal acts. A crooked real estate developer uses strong arm tactics to try and force two old aged pensioners out of their homes, and Detective Tony Benjamin (Gregory Ross) discovers that his new babysitter is the ex-girlfriend of a jailbird.

Trendy types are being harassed by a group of dole bludging hoons who are determined to hound the blow-ins out of their street. A heroin bust leads the detectives to a brothel which is involved in the importation of drugs and illegal immigrants who are then employed as prostitutes.  A womanising art teacher is stabbed to death with a letter opener, and the Riverside cops hunt a vicious rapist.

The owner of a video dating service is horrified to learn that his homosexual lover has been burgling the lonely hearts that have been coming to his agency for help, and a dole bludger holds up a public bus at gunpoint to relieve the driver and his passengers of their cash and groceries.  A judge starts receiving death threats following a dispute in the family court and a disgruntled husband loses the plot when he snatches his young daughter from school.

Familiar faces appearing in these episodes include Noel Trevarthen, Julie Nihill, Ross Thompson, Richard Meikle, Kit Taylor, Jacqueline Kott, Serge Lazareff and Stanley Walsh from The Young Doctors; Anne Phelan, Olivia Hamnett, Barry Quin, and Louise Siversen from Prisoner; Val Jellay and Terry Gill from The Flying Doctors; Gerry Duggan from The Sullivans; Darius Perkins, Dasha Blahova and Anne Charleston from Neighbours; Vincent Ball from Crossroads; Vic Gordon and Natalie Raine from Matlock Police; Maureen Edwards from A Country Practice; Debra Lawrance from Home & Away; and Bunney Brooke from Number 96. Others cropping up in the action include Myrtle Woods and Cul Cullen.

Fans that are based in Australasia can order Cop Shop Volume 17 from Crawfords DVD. Those of you that are located in the UK or anywhere else in the world can place your orders with Eaton Films.

Grace Gibson Productions have released another batch of vintage radio serials on CD, USB and as digital downloads. In volume 2 of Whispering Streets, Hope Winslow (Lyndall Barbour) presents us with another selection of self-contained human-interest stories which were adapted from American scripts for Australian audiences.

In volume 12 of Night Beat we are reintroduced to newspaper columnist Randy Stone (Alan White) as he continues to prowl the streets at night in his quest to find the next big scoop. Randy is part private detective and part good Samaritan as he uncovers grim, strange and even gentle stories. In this instalment we come across a teenage menace, a fire bug and learn that there is indeed dishonour among thieves.

The latest release of the political satire How Green Was My Cactus starring Keith Scott and Robyn Moore, features all 22 episodes which were broadcast on Australian radio during February. In this volume the team look at Tony’s hangover, the Winter Olympics, they go on a cabinet bus trip and even do a bit of train spotting.

Listeners worldwide can order all of these radio serials from the Grace Gibson website.

Left: More human-interest stories are told in Whispering Streets. Right: Randy Stone (Alan White) is back on the Night Beat. Bottom: The laughs keep coming with How Green Was My Cactus.

Photos Copyright: Crawford Productions/Eaton Films/WIN. IRS Grace Gibson Productions.