Cop Shop
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
- Andrew Clarke as Max Saunders / Mervyn Young
- 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
- 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
- Diane Craig as Alison Finlay / Eve Kadar
- Lisa Armytage as Jennifer Grant
- Anne Haddy as Louise Francis
- Scott McGregor as Constable Stephen Waters
- Peter Sumner as Detective Tom Foster
DVD releases
| Title | Format | Episodes | Original Melbourne airdates | Discs | Region 4 | Special Features | Distributors |
| Cop Shop | DVD | Episodes 1–26 | 1977-11-28 – 1978-03-30 | 7 | 28 April 2017 | - | Crawford Productions |
| Cop Shop | DVD | Episodes 27–52 | 1978-04-03 – 1978-07-03 | 7 | 1 August 2017 | - | Crawford Productions |
| Cop Shop | DVD | Episodes 53–78 | 1978-07-06 – 1978-10-02 | 7 | 27 November 2017 | - | Crawford Productions |
| Cop Shop | DVD | Episodes 79–104 | 1978-10-05 – 1979-01-22 | 7 | 29 January 2018 | - | Crawford Productions |
| Cop Shop | DVD | Episodes 105–130 | 1979-01-29 – 1979-05-07 | 7 | 13 April 2018 | - | Crawford Productions |
| Cop Shop | DVD | Episodes 131–156 | 1979-05-10 – 1979-08-06 | 7 | 16 July 2018 | - | Crawford Productions |
| Cop Shop | DVD | Episodes 157–182 | 1979-08-09 – 1979-11-12 | 7 | 28 September 2018 | - | Crawford Productions |
| Cop Shop | DVD | Episodes 183–208 | 1979-11-15 – 1980-03-24 | 7 | 14 December 2018 | - | Crawford Productions |
| Cop Shop | DVD | Episodes 209–234 | 1980-03-27 – 1980-06-23 | 7 | 15 February 2019 | - | Crawford Productions |
| Cop Shop | DVD | Episodes 235–260 | 1980-06-26 – 1980-09-25 | 7 | 15 April 2019 | - | Crawford Productions |
| Cop Shop | DVD | Episodes 261–286 | 1980-09-29 – 1981-02-05 | 7 | 28 June 2019 | - | Crawford Productions |
| Cop Shop | DVD | Episodes 287–312 | 1981-02-09 – 1981-05-07 | 7 | 4 October 2019 | - | Crawford Productions |
| Cop Shop | DVD | Episodes 313–338 | 7 | 25 February 2021 | - | Crawford Productions | |
| Cop Shop | DVD | Episodes 339–364 | 7 | 23 June 2021 | - | Crawford Productions | |
| Cop Shop | DVD | Episodes 365–390 | 7 | 2 November 2021 | - | Crawford Productions | |
| Cop Shop | DVD | Episodes 391–416 | 7 | 9 December 2021 | - | Crawford Productions | |
| Cop Shop | DVD | Episodes 417–442 | 7 | 3 February 2022 | - | Crawford Productions | |
| Cop Shop | DVD | Episodes 443–470 | 7 | 1 March 2022 | - | Crawford Productions | |
| Cop Shop | DVD | Episodes 471–498 | 7 | 6 April 2022 | - | Crawford Productions | |
| Cop Shop | DVD | Episodes 499–526 | 7 | 3 May 2022 | - | Crawford Productions | |
| Cop Shop | DVD | Episodes 527–529, 531–554 | 7 | 18 August 2022 | - | Crawford Productions | |
| Cop Shop | DVD | Episodes 555–582 | 7 | 25 October 2022 | - | Crawford Productions |
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 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.
| Season | Year | Episodes | Original Melbourne airdates | Original Sydney airdates |
| 1 | 1977 | Episodes 1–10 | 1977-11-28 – 1977-12-29 | 1977-11-28 – 1977-12-29 |
| 1 | 1978 | Episodes 11–100 | 1978-01-02 – 1978-12-18 | 1978-01-02 – 1978-12-28 / 1979-01-22 |
| 2 | 1979 | Episodes 101–189 | 1979-01-01 – 1979-12-10 | 1979-01-04 / 1979-01-25 – 1979-12-17 |
| 3 | 1980 | Episodes 190–279 | 1980-01-21 – 1980-12-08 | 1980-01-28 – 1980-12-11 |
| 4 | 1981 | Episodes 280–365 | 1981-01-05 – 1981-11-12 | 1981-01-08 – 1981-11-12 |
| 5 | 1982 | Episodes 366–451 | 1982-01-25 – 1982-11-18 | 1982-02-04 – 1982-11-11 / 1983-01-27 |
| 6 | 1983 | Episodes 452–532 | 1983-01-27 – 1983-11-14 | 1983-01-20 1983-01-27 – 1983-12-10 1983-12-31 |
| 7 | 1984 | Episodes 533–582 | 1984-01-16 – 1984-07-23 | 1983-12-17 1984-01-07 – 1984-12-28 |
| 7 | 1985 | Episodes 571–582 | Completed in July 1984 | 1985-01-01 – 1985-01-16 |
Producers and directors
- Hector Crawford – Executive Producer
- Ian Crawford – Executive Producer
- Ian Crawford – Producer
- Terry Stapleton – Producer
- Marie Trevor – Producer
- Philip East – Director
- Charles "Bud" Tingwell – Director
- Sean Nash – Director