Cop Shop
| Company type | Television series |
|---|---|
| Industry | Television production |
| Founded | 28 November 1977 |
| Defunct | 23 July 1984 |
| Fate | Ended |
| Products | Police drama television series |
| Parent | Crawford Productions |
Cop Shop represents a notable Australian police drama television series produced by Crawford Productions, which was broadcast over seven seasons from 28 November 1977 until 23 July 1984, delivering a total of 582 episodes, each one hour in length.
Synopsis
The narrative centers on the everyday duties of both uniformed police officers and undercover detectives operating within the fictional Riverside Police Station, while simultaneously delving into the personal lives of the main characters.
Distinct from many other Crawford Productions dramas that merged videotaped indoor scenes with 16mm film for outdoor locations, Cop Shop was uniquely recorded entirely on video, including all exterior shots.
Each week featured two separate one-hour episodes, each presenting an independent police case with guest actors contributing to self-contained story arcs. Alongside these, longer-running soap opera-style plots involving the regular cast unfolded across multiple episodes. This mixed storytelling approach was also utilized in other Crawford series such as Skyways, A Country Practice, and Carson's Law.
The production of the final episode concluded on 22 December 1983, with the series continuing to air until mid-1984.
Awards
Cop Shop garnered several Logie Awards recognizing its popularity as a series and for outstanding performances by actors including Peter Adams and Paula Duncan. It also received a variety of honors from industry bodies.
Cast
Throughout its duration, the program showcased numerous well-known Australian performers:
- Peter Adams portraying Det Jeffrey 'JJ' Johnson
- Tony Bonner as Det Snr Const Don McKenna
- Liz Burch in the role of Liz Cameron
- Andrew Clarke as Max Saunders / Mervyn Young
- Terence Donovan taking on Det Sgt Vic Cameron
- Paula Duncan playing Det Const Danni Francis
- Nicholas Eadie as Const Sam Phillips
- Alan Fletcher portraying Const Frank Rossi
- Billie Hammerberg as Insp Joyce Stratton
- Alwyn Kurts in the role of Sgt Reg Wallis
- John Lee as Insp Ian Timms
- Joanna Lockwood playing Valerie Johnson
- John McTernan as Sgt Tom Shannon
- George Mallaby portraying Det Snr Sgt Glen Taylor
- Terry Norris as Sgt Eric O'Reilly
- John Orcsik in the role of Det Mike Georgiou
- Louise Philip portraying Claire O'Reilly
- Gregory Ross as Const Tony Benjamin
- Bill Stalker playing Det Sgt Peter Fanelli (also appeared in Skyways)
- Lynda Stoner as Const Amanda King
- Olga Tamara in the role of Det Const Julie Mitchell
- Gil Tucker portraying Const Roy Baker
- Rowena Wallace as Pamela Taylor
- John Walton playing Terry Linford Jones / Tom McNamara
- Patrick Ward as Const Peter Fleming
- Diane Craig appearing as Alison Finlay / Eve Kadar (29 episodes)
- Lisa Armytage in the role of Jennifer Grant (12 episodes)
- Scott McGregor as Constable Stephen Waters (7 episodes)
- Peter Sumner portraying Detective Tom Foster (7 episodes)
DVD releases
The complete series has been made available solely on DVD, spread across 22 sets, each comprising roughly 26 episodes distributed over 7 discs. These collections were released by Crawford Productions for Region 4 (Australia) from April 2017 through October 2022. None of the DVD editions feature any bonus content.
| Title | Format | Episodes | Original Melbourne airdates | Discs | Region 4 (Australia) release date | Special Features | Distributor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cop Shop (Volume 1) | DVD | Episodes 1–26 | 28 November 1977 – 30 March 1978 | 7 | 28 April 2017 | None | Crawford Productions |
| Cop Shop (Volume 2) | DVD | Episodes 27–52 | 3 April 1978 – 3 July 1978 | 7 | 1 August 2017 | None | Crawford Productions |
| Cop Shop (Volume 3) | DVD | Episodes 53–78 | 6 July 1978 – 2 October 1978 | 7 | 27 November 2017 | None | Crawford Productions |
| Cop Shop (Volume 4) | DVD | Episodes 79–104 | 5 October 1978 – 22 January 1979 | 7 | 29 January 2018 | None | Crawford Productions |
| Cop Shop (Volume 5) | DVD | Episodes 105–130 | 29 January 1979 – 7 May 1979 | 7 | 13 April 2018 | None | Crawford Productions |
| Cop Shop (Volume 6) | DVD | Episodes131–156 | 10 May1979 –6 August1979 | 7 | 16 July2018 | None | Crawford Productions |
| Cop Shop (Volume7) | DVD | Episodes157–182 | 9 August1979 –12 November1979 | 7 | 28 September2018 | None | Crawford Productions |
| Cop Shop (Volume8) | DVD | Episodes183–208 | 15 November1979 –24 March1980 | 7 | 14 December2018 | None | Crawford Productions |
| Cop Shop (Volume9) | DVD | (Episodes209–234) | (27 March1980 –23 June1980) | (7 discs) | (15 February2019) | (None) | (Crawford Productions) |
| (Cop Shop Volume10) | (DVD) | (Episodes235–260) | (26 June1980 –25 September1980) | (7 discs) | (15 April2019) | (None) | (Crawford Productions) |
Broadcast
Cop Shop originally aired twice weekly, on Monday and Thursday evenings at 8:30 pm in both Sydney and Melbourne; however, scheduling differences sometimes resulted in some cities being one week ahead or behind. Subsequently, Sydney’s broadcast days changed to Wednesday and Thursday, then later to Thursday and Friday. Eventually, the show was presented as a single two-hour weekly segment—airing on Mondays in Melbourne and Thursdays (later Saturdays) in Sydney. The last batch of thirty-six episodes was shown late at night at 11:30 pm on weeknights in Sydney starting from November 26, 1984.
In the year 1989, Cop Shop had a short run on Lifestyle, a UK-based pan-European satellite channel, where it was shown alongside another production by Crawfords titled Skyways.
| Season | Year | Episodes | Original Melbourne airdates | Original Sydney airdates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1977 | (Episodes1–10) | (28 November1977 –29 December1977) | (28 November1977 –29 December1977) |
| (1978) | (Episodes11–100; Sydney episodes11–95) | (2 January1978 –18 December1978) | (2 January1978 –28 December1978 for ep.95 /22 January1979 for ep.100) | |
| "2" | "1979" | "Episodes101–189 (Sydney96–189)" | "1 January1979 –10 December1979" | "4 January1979(ep.96),25 January1979(ep.101) –17 December1979" |
| "3" | "1980" | "Episodes190–279" | "21 January1980 –8 December1980" | "28 January1980 –11 December1980" |
| "4" | "1981" | "Episodes280–365" | "5 January1981 –12 November1981" | "8 January1981 –12 November1981" |
| "5" | "1982" | "Episodes366–451(Sydney366–448)" | "25 January1982 –18 November1982" | "4 February1982 –11 November1982(ep.448),27 January1983(ep.451)" |
| "6" | "1983" | "Episodes452–532(Sydney449–538)" | "27 January1983 –14 November1983" | "20 January1983(ep.449),27 January1983(ep.452) –10 December1983(ep.532),31 December1983(ep.538)" |
| 7" | "1984" | "Episodes533–582(Sydney539–570)" | "16 January1984 –23 July1984" | "17 December1983(ep.533),7 January1984(ep.539) –28 December1984(ep.570)" |
| "1985" | "Episodes571–582(Sydney only)" | "Completed July1984" | "1 January1985 –16 January1985" |
Producers and directors
- Hector Crawford – Executive Producer
- Ian Crawford – Executive Producer and Producer
- Terry Stapleton – Producer
- Marie Trevor – Producer
- Philip East – Director
- Bud Tingwell – Director
- Sean Nash – Director