Water Rats (TV series)


Water Rats is an Australian police procedural crime drama television series created by John Hugginson and Tony Morphett for the Nine Network. The series was based on the work of Sydney Water Police who fight crime around Sydney Harbour and surrounding locales. The show was set on and around Goat Island in Sydney Harbour.
Water Rats premiered on 12 February 1996, and ran for six seasons and 177 episodes. Colin Friels and Catherine McClements were the original stars of the series and were instrumental in the show's early success. They both departed the show in 1999. In later seasons, Steve Bisley, Aaron Pedersen and Dee Smart became the show's main stars.
For the sixth and final season in 2001, the show concentrated more on the cops' personal lives rather than just focusing on the crimes committed. The Nine Network cancelled the show after six seasons. Executive Producer Kris Noble blamed escalating costs for the cancellation. However, the series had been suffering a ratings decline following the departure of Friels and McClements in 1999.
The final episode was broadcast in Australia on 7 August 2001.

Production

The first season of the series cost $16 million.

Cast

Main

Supporting

Recurring

Season summaries

Pilot

The pilot of Water Rats screened in Australia at 8.30 pm on Monday, 12 February 1996. It was entitled "Dead in the Water" and was a two-part episode, concerning a divorced man, deranged over the death of his daughter, who captures a Sydney Harbour ferry and holds the city to ransom.
"Dead in the Water" introduced viewers to Detective Senior Constables Frank Holloway and Rachel Goldstein.

Other characters

  • Chief Inspector Clarke Webb
  • Senior Sergeant Jeff Hawker
  • Sergeant Helen Blakemore
  • Senior Sergeant Dave McCall
  • Senior Constable Gavin Sykes
  • Senior Constable Tommy Tavita
  • Senior Constable Fiona Cassidy
  • Senior Constable Terry Watson
  • Detective Senior Sergeant John "Knocker" Harrison
  • Detective Senior Constable Kevin Holloway
  • David Goldstein
  • Jonathon Goldstein
  • Inspector Tony Brady
  • Prison Warden

Season one

Season one ran for 26 episodes.

Major storylines included

  • Jonathon Goldstein trying to deny Rachel access to their young son, David.
  • Frank's ' relationship with crime scene officer, Caroline Cox.
  • Helen's 's sexuality comes out in the open, particularly to Rachel, who seemed to be the only character who did not know Helen was gay.
  • The death and subsequent investigation of Frank's brother, Kevin.
  • Rachel's ' relationship with Knocker, which turned out to be a deadly one.
  • Clarke's affair and his subsequent resignation.
  • Frank being investigated by Internal Affairs on two occasions.

Season two

The second season of Water Rats ran, again, for 26 episodes and began airing on Monday, 10 February 1997. Season two also took the detectives to Melbourne, a change from Sydney Harbour. It also introduced a new character, Constable Tayler Johnson, as well as a few minor ones.

New characters

  • Colin "Chopper" Lewis
  • Senior Constable Sam Bailey
  • Michael Jefferies
  • Gail Hawker

Major storylines included

  • Rachel's relationship with the well-off Michael Jefferies.
  • Jeff becomes Chief Inspector.
  • Frank once again, is investigated by I.A, but this time for a much more serious offence, murder.
  • Tayler, is Helen's niece.
  • Terry is stabbed and decides to leave the Water Police.
  • Dave is speared by spear gun and cannot continue diving.
  • Jeff and his wife separate.

Season three

Season three ran for 31 episodes and premiered on Monday, 9 February 1998. A couple of episodes into the season, it was moved to Tuesday nights. Steve Bisley is also added to the opening credits for a number of episodes near the end of the season.

New characters included

  • Constable Emma Woods
  • Liz Robinson
  • Detective Senior Constable Jack Christey
  • Detective Sergeant Louise Bradshaw
  • Terry Madigan

Major storylines included

  • Frank getting back together with his ex-wife Liz.
  • Rachel and tough-talking detective Jack Christey have a one-night stand.
  • Tayler is shot.
  • Rachel works with Tommy on a number of occasions, while Frank is away.
  • Frank's relationship with undercover cop Louise ends when she is shot dead.
  • Helen is promoted to Senior Sergeant.

Season four

The fourth series began on Tuesday, 16 February 1999 and ran for 32 episodes. It was a series of change for Water Rats, which included both Colin Friels' and Catherine McClements' departures within 18 episodes of each other.

New characters included

  • Detective Senior Constable Michael Reilly
  • Gillian Swain
  • Suzi Abromavich
  • Detective Senior Constable Alex St Clare

Major storylines included

  • Helen's relationship with lawyer Gillian Swain.
  • Michael Reilly, from VIP security, becomes the third detective.
  • Frank leaves the Water Police, sailing to Venezuela.
  • Jack replaces Frank and his relationship with Rachel gets off to a rocky start.
  • Jack is promoted to Detective Sergeant.
  • David is kidnapped.
  • Rachel and Jack start their relationship again.
  • Rachel is stabbed, and dies in Jack's arms.
  • Jeff and his wife get a divorce.
  • Tayler leaves the Water Police, joining Pol-Air.
  • Alex St Clare replaces Rachel.

Season five

The fifth season began airing on Tuesday, 22 February 2000, and ran for 36 episodes, the longest out of the six seasons of the show. Ratings began to fall slightly, as a result of McClements' departure the previous year. A number of regular characters also left, including Jay Laga'aia and Scott Burgess, whose character was not seen at all in series five, and his whereabouts was finally mentioned in series six.

New characters included

  • Senior Constable Matthew Quinn
  • Constable Donna Janevski
  • Sergeant Lance Rorke
  • Sophie Ferguson
  • Eva Minton

Major storylines included

  • Tommy leaves the Water Police and goes on long-service leave.
  • Jack finds out he has an 18-year-old daughter named Sophie.
  • Mick asks Alex out on a date.
  • Gavin meets Eva.
  • Jack remembers Rachel on the one-year anniversary of her death.

Season six

The sixth and final season of Water Rats began airing on Tuesday, 6 February 2001 and ran for 26 episodes. Sometime early in the season, the timeslot was changed from 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm. The Nine Network decided to cancel the show, due to escalating costs and declining ratings, and two main stars, Steve Bisley and Dee Smart had decided to leave the show.

Notable new characters included

  • Acting Inspector Julia Goodwin
  • Tom Christey
  • Sergeant Vanessa Simmons
  • Detective George Newhouse

Major storylines included

  • Jack has a short relationship with Julia Goodwin.
  • Lance dies in a freak accident.
  • Sophie begins her Police training.
  • The Water Police learn that Snr. Sgt. Dave McCall has died.
  • Gavin and Eva get married, and at the end of the series, have a baby.
  • Jack is shot in the very last episode, and though not known, probably dies, as Bisley was leaving the show if it did continue for another season.

Filming locations

Water Rats was filmed on and around Goat Island in Sydney Harbour. Other locations used throughout the series were:

Fictional locations

The real Sydney Water Police headquarters was located at Pyrmont. The TV version of the Sydney Water Police headquarters was located on Goat Island, though the fictional address was 48/50 Harbour Drive, Sydney 2000. Other fictional locations throughout the series included:Frank's House − The exterior was shot in The Rocks, but the interior was a set on Goat Island.The Cutter Bar − A fictional pub, where the members of the Water Police liked to relax after a hard day at work.The Sydney Police Centre − Unlike some other police stations, the Water Police did not have their own holding cells, so offenders were taken to the SPC to be charged.The HospitalThe Morgue − Early in the series, real morgues were used to film in. Eventually a set was built on Goat Island.Rachel's house − A number of different exterior locations were used for Rachel's house, including Balmain, Birchgrove and Glebe.

Home media

Water Rats was first released on DVD in 2004 through Shock Entertainment. It was released as two parts called Series 1 and Series 2, though it was actually only season 1 in two parts. Warner Vision Australia then released the rest of the show, where DVDs labelled series 3 were actually season 2 and so on. It was announced on 7 August 2017 that Via Vision Entertainment would re-release all six seasons on DVD on 22 November 2017. Several episodes are out of broadcast order in the Via Vision collection and on Amazon Prime.

Online streaming availability

All episodes are available on Amazon Prime in Australia.

Soundtrack

A Water Rats soundtrack was produced by Les Gock in 1999. It contained songs featured on the series, such as "Goldie's Theme" by Cathi Ogden and "I'll Dream of You" by Hugh Wilson. It also features a couple of songs sung by cast members: "Breathe" with Raelee Hill and "Let's Party" with Jay Laga'aia. The song "Breathe" was written by James Freud, who also sang in the chorus. The company Song Zu seems to want to have no affiliation with the soundtrack music and does not recognise nor acknowledge it on its current website. Secondhand copies of it can occasionally be found on auction sites and in secondhand music stores.

International broadcasting

The series is currently being re-run in: