Homicide hots up on DVD

Fans of the long running Australian police drama Homicide will be pleased to know that the nineteenth DVD volume of the series has just been made available in the UK.

The cast of Homicide, from left are Dennis Grosvenor, Gary Day, Don Barker and Charles Tingwell.

In this box set we find that its action all the way as Inspector Reg Lawson (Charles Tingwell), Detective Sergeant Harry White (Don Barker), Senior Detective Michael Deegan (Dennis Grosvenor), and Senior Detective Phil Redford (Gary Day) bring the criminally insane to justice.

The team of dedicated law enforcers have a lot to ponder. Is a killing on an isolated country road connected to devil worshippers? Are a group of neo-Nazis behind a spate of suspicious murders? Who strangled a beautiful figure skating champion who was despised by her countless disgruntled former lovers?  And how is a one-sided infatuation linked to three frenzied murders?

Inspector Reg Lawson (Charles Tingwell) does his best to keep law abiding citizens safe from harm.

The horrors continue to mount up when a butcher’s wife is stabbed to death, a policeman is slaughtered during a factory robbery, and a farmer is slain by a hitchhiker with the finger of blame pointing in the direction of an itinerant surfie type. Elsewhere two young men are filled with hatred for homosexuals and go on the rampage with the intention of bashing as many of them as they can. A group of local residents get more than they bargained for when they stand up against a fat cat property developer, violent heavies are sent in to shut the residents up for good, but things get out of hand when a pregnant woman is bashed. The victim’s irate husband feels compelled to take up arms in order to exact his revenge.

The Homicide Squad have to investigate a local council official who is suspected of ordering a vicious murder, they are then confronted with a baffling case in which an apparently happily married woman is gunned down whilst doing her etchings in a cemetery, and when a used car salesman is almost skittled in an attempted hit and run we wonder if one of the customers he has ripped off was behind the wheel.

Detective Sergeant Harry White (Don Barker) is confronted with yet another corpse in Homicide.

In another part of town three geriatrics are left stunned when their maid is killed with strychnine, it transpires that the promiscuous girl was known as the town bike, and was sleeping with most of the local menfolk. Did a religious fanatic decide to put a stop to her free loving ways?

The baffling cases keep flooding in. Did a socially disgraced elderly woman commit suicide over her middle aged child molesting son? Can the detectives stop two migrant hating thugs who are terrorising New Australian’s? After murdering his sister-in-law did a man voluntarily top himself with New Guinean poison, and will the owners of a struggling theatre restaurant be apprehended for murder after holding up a bank.

Senior Detective Michael Deegan (Dennis Grosvenor) is given some disturbing news.

Meanwhile a renowned dancer is gunned down after a party, it transpires that he is despised by all who know him, and he decides to capitalise on his miraculous escape by putting the wrecking ball to the careers of his rivals. Elsewhere a psychotic man gets more than he bargained for when he kills his young lover and proceeds to do for her parents as well, he finds that the girl has come back to haunt him and he begins to have terrifying hallucinations.

The action continues to hot up when the team find themselves trying to track down a gang who are still on the run after bombing an army base some years previously. One of the mob, a drug addled drop out student, is found dead, and another is involved in a copper smuggling racket. The investigation will take Harry White and Phil Redford overseas in a joint operation with the Fijian authorities in the hope of finally apprehending the terrorists.

Senior Detective Phil Redford (Gary Day) is sickened by the latest crime he finds himself investigating.

A host of well-known actors appear in these episodes including Susan Hannaford from The Sullivans; Syd Heylen from A Country Practice; Judy McBurney and Greg Apps from The Young Doctors; Tony Bonner from Skyways; Briony Behets from The Box; David Phillips from Bellbird; Mark Hollis from Class of ’74; Cornelia Frances from Home & Away; and Leila Hayes from Sons & Daughters. Also appearing are Val Jellay and Terry Gill from The Flying Doctors; Sheila Florance, Gerda Nicholson, and Gerard Maguire from Prisoner Cell Block H; and Natalie Raine from Matlock Police.  You might also like to keep your eyes peeled for Harold Hopkins, Bill Hunter, Georgie Sterling, Mary Ward, Max Cullen, and John Waters.

Homicide Volume 19 and plenty of other Australian television classics can be ordered in the UK exclusively from Eaton Films. Those of you who are based in Australasia can obtain your copy from Crawford DVD. If you are located anywhere else in the world you can place your order by emailing Eaton Films for shipping details.

Inspector Lawson (Charles Tingwell), Harry White (Don Barker) and Phil Redford (Gary Day) have some vicious criminals cornered.

All photographs copyright Crawford Productions/Eaton Films/WIN Corporation.