Cop Shop is a long-running Australian police drama television series produced by Crawford Productions that ran for seven seasons between 28 November 1977 and 23 July 1984. It comprised 582 one-hour episodes.
Synopsis
The show revolved around the everyday operations of both the uniformed police officers and the plainclothes detectives of the fictional Riverside Police Station. It also took a significant interest in the private lives of the characters.
While many Crawford Productions police dramas combined videotaped interiors with location footage shot on 16mm film, Cop Shop was shot entirely on video, including external scenes.
Two one-hour episodes were broadcast each week and featured a specific police investigation and a guest cast whose stories formed a self-contained narrative block. Alongside this the ongoing narratives of the regular characters continued in longer, more open-ended soap opera-style story threads. This same soap opera-drama series hybrid format was also used in the series Skyways, A Country Practice and Carson's Law.
After a run of six years, the show completed taping its last episode on 22 December 1983 and the final episodes were screened in the first half of 1984.
Awards
Cop Shop won many awards including Logie Awards for most popular series and most popular actors, with Peter Adams and Paula Duncan winning multiple times. The show also won a number of other industry awards.
Cast
During its long run, many of Australia's new and established actors appeared in the show.
Peter Adams as Det Jeffrey "JJ" Johnson
Tony Bonner as Det Snr Const Don McKenna
Liz Burch as Liz Cameron
Terence Donovan as Det Sgt Vic Cameron
Paula Duncan as Det Const Danni Francis
Nicholas Eadie as Const Sam Phillips
Alan Fletcher as Const Frank Rossi
Billie Hammerberg as Insp Joyce Stratton
Alwyn Kurts as Sgt Reg Wallis
John Lee as Insp Ian Timms
Joanna Lockwood as Valerie Johnson
John McTernan as Sgt Tom Shannon
George Mallaby as Det Snr Sgt Glen Taylor
Terry Norris as Sgt Eric O'Reilly
John Orcsik as Det Mike Georgiou
Louise Philip as Claire O'Reilly
Gregory Ross as Const Tony Benjamin
Bill Stalker as Det Sgt Peter Fanelli. Stalker had previously appeared as Fanelli in the Crawford series Skyways. Lynda Stoner as Const Amanda King Olga Tamara as Det Const Julie Mitchell Gil Tucker as Const Roy Baker Rowena Wallace as Pamela Taylor John Walton as Terry Linford Jones / Tom McNamara Patrick Ward as Const Peter Fleming Andrew Clarke as Max Saunders / Mervyn Young Peter Kowitz as Stuart Mackenzie Miles Buchanan Fred Parslow George Spartels Sally McKenzie as Gail 2 hour special, 500th episode Diane Craig as Alison Finlay / Eve Kadar Michael Long Anthony Hawkins Vivienne Garrett as Ruth Forrest Colin McEwan as Dave Kelly / Lou Evans / Stan Dawson Tracy Mann as Lea Butler
DVD releases
The series has been released exclusive to DVD in 22 Volumes
Broadcast
Cop Shop was originally screened in a twice weekly format on Monday and Thursdays at 20.30 in Sydney and Melbourne. At various stages of the series each city was either a week ahead or behind the other or at the same stage. Later the series changed nights in Sydney to Wednesdays and Thursdays and then Thursdays and Fridays. It was eventually screened as a two hour weekly block in both cities on Mondays in Melbourne and Thursdays (later Saturdays) in Sydney. The final 36 episodes screened in a late night 23.30 slot in Sydney on weeknights from Monday 26 November 1984.
Cop Shop aired briefly during 1989 on the UK-based, pan-European satellite TV channel, Lifestyle. It aired during the afternoon along with another Crawfords Production, Skyways.