more ryan - episode 21, first aired 13 october 1973

 

No huge anything to say here just wanted to celebrate once again the great supporting cast that the Crawfords shows drew together in the 60s and 70s such as the redoubtable Syd Conabere who shows up repeatedly in different shows and is here playing... god, I am not even sure, some man called Jacob Jones who faked his own death to protect his daughter from the 'syndicate' - ? I wasn't paying enough attention but I was pleased to see him. The daughter in question ('Anastasia') was played by Sally Conabere. Some relation? Well, I don't know for certain.* 

SC was born in 1918 so was 55 here. He died in 2008. His wife Betty was in eight Crawfords episodes in the early 70s. 

* Don't write in and complain, of course I do. 

homicide 'from the top' / 'trial'

Pamela Stephenson stars in this special double-length episode of Homicide first shown Monday 20 March 1972 between 7:30-9:30 pm under the general name Homicide Trial. It also stars Anne Haddy and the early 70s Crawfords standby of Syd Conabeare. 

Here is PS with I think Norman Kaye. 

A 

Surely a Leonard French stained glass window in the foyer of the building PS' character (Georgina Pearce) has an apartment in, in which she is a fancy prostitute with a junkie boyfriend. 

Presumably the outside of the same building as above, the owners of which had no problem with it being represented as not having many tenants but one of them is a prostitute whose junkie boyfriend is thrown off the roof. 

Anne Haddy is the junkie boyfriend's mother. She only has a few scenes but she's excellent of course. 

Got to love a bit of Syd Conabeare. 

The episode has a lot more room to breathe than your normal Homicide. Quite a few deviations. 

homicide season 7 episode 35: bars

This Homicide episode, first screened 22 September 1970, isn't that exciting, it's kind of grim and weird. Starts off with a mother and son being shot in the Botanical Gardens (btw if my knowledge of Melbourne was all derived from Homicide there's no way I'd ever go to the gardens - it's a mess of people in the bushes killing others by shooting, drowning etc). The story is just of tracking down a couple of men, one of whom might be responsible. The main suspect seems to be this guy called Martin Cooke (John Norman) who is just like, an accidental sighting on the road in the middle of nowhere and chased by a random policeman who he then bashes with a log. I possibly wasn't paying enough attention because I couldn't really figure out who Cooke was or where he came into the picture. 

The most interesting bits were my workplace fifty years ago - not substantially changed. Oh, and I always like it when they show art and, I guess, bohemian outsiders. Like this guy who I gather is an architect: 

This is him and his flatmate, who's getting out of town not because he murdered people, it transpires, but because he's an ex-criminal who wasn't supposed to drive but did. 

This is the scene at the University of Melbourne, with the girlfriend of the guy above - her name's Karen, played by Rona McLeod. 

That's the Raymond Priestley building in the background here. Nice to see how people were able to park wherever they wanted in those days. 

This is Wilson Avenue, that little prefab (I assume) on the left is news to me. For what it's worth. I wonder what it was. 

The cops running to their cars in, I guess, Wilson Ave. Wilson Hall was built by this time but it's not apparent in this image. Bit confusing actually. 

This is Peter checking up on a lead - the killer left a bunch of sketches with prison fences, etc in it. 

The last fifteen minutes of the program were mainly with Martin Cooke staying with these two, Mr Thompson (Syd Conabere) and his daughter Elsie (Mary Ann Severne, whose name I remember presumably from previous Homicides but that's all I recall). 

Elsie is a naive farmer's daughter who wants to see the world and has a big picture of the Eiffel Tower on the kitchen wall. I really thought she was being set up to be killed but actually she was kind of the hero. 

By the way I'll call it laziness - there are two minor characters in this show both called John. John Wilson, John Lawson. 

Melbourne Age TV Radio Guide 17 September 1970 p. 10 obvs