Homicide (Australian series)

Homicide
Created by	Crawford Production
Starring	John Fegan Terry McDermott Lex Mitchell Leonard Teale Les Dayman George Mallaby Lionel Long Alwyn Kurts Norman Yemm Mike Preston Gary Day Charles "Bud" Tingwell John Stanton Don Barker Dennis Grosvenor
Country of origin	Australia
No. of episodes	510
Production
Running time	50 minutes
Release
Original network	Seven Network
Picture format	black-and-white (1964–1973) colour (1973–1977)
Original release	20 October 1964 – 18 January 1977

Homicide (1964-1977) was an Australian television police procedural drama series made by production firm Crawford Productions for the Seven Network. It was the television successor to Crawfords' radio series D24.

The series dealt with the homicide squad of the Victorian Police force and the various crimes and cases the detectives are called upon to investigate. Many episodes were based directly on real cases, although the characters (including the detectives) were fictional. 510 episodes were produced, and aired from October 1964 to January 1977. It remains as the longest-running Australian drama series.

Characters' ranks (except for Detective Inspector) changed in accordance with real-life changes in the Victoria Police Force. For example, Detective Sergeant Mackay becomes Detective Senior Sergeant to reflect his role as the squad's number-two when this rank was introduced. Barnes becomes a Senior Detective after the rank of Detective was abolished. The "Consummate Homicide cast" refers to the four characters that are the best known: Det. Snr. Sgt. David "Mac" MacKay (Leonard Teale), Det. Sgt. Peter Barnes (George Mallaby), Inspector Colin Fox (Alwyn Kurts) and Sen. Det. Jim Patterson (Norman Yemm).

The first episode aired at 7:30 p.m Tuesday 20 October 1964. The debut episode ("The Stunt") was not the first to be produced, with the pilot ("One Man Crime Wave") airing as episode 24A just prior to the departure of Lex Mitchell.

Regular daytime repeat screenings began in the early 1970s running until the early 1980s, as strip programming. Additionally, seven episodes were screened as specials, or part of specials:

In 2004 the episodes "Flashpoint" (ep. 56) and "Stopover" (ep. 504) were screened cinematically by Melbourne Cinematheque.

In August 2010 WIN Television, as part of their late night "Crawford's Classic Drama" series, began sequential repeats from episode 1, but ceased in March 2011 at episode 33 (the pilot "One Man Crime Wave" was not included).

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