Cop Shop Volume 4 out now
Cop Shop fans will be thrilled to learn that the fourth DVD volume of the long running Australian police drama has just been released in the UK.
In this action packed box set the law enforcers from Riverside Police Station find themselves trying to close down a pipeline which is helping escaped convicts disappear without trace, and an escapee from a prison farm is dealt some blind justice courtesy of a reversing truck. Elsewhere a pair of broken down country and western singers find their plans unravelling with tragic consequences when they attempt to steal some high end electrical equipment to get their act to Tamworth.
The detectives suspect that a network of dole bludgers and invalid pensioners are being used to circulate counterfeit banknotes, and a gang of Vietnam veterans posing as uniformed policemen will put thousands of lives at risk when they plant a bomb in a crowded football stadium. Two thugs in balaclavas target a knitting mill in a major payroll heist and as the investigation progresses a quagmire opens up for the widowed paymaster who appears to be having an incestuous relationship with his teenage daughter.
The recently widowed Eric O’Reilly (Terry Norris) is finding it hard to cope without the support of his wife; he is becoming too dependent on his wheelchair bound daughter Claire (Louise Phillip) and is shocked to his very core when she announces that she wants to attend a lecture about sex for the handicapped. Fortunately there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for Claire when Constable Tony Benjamin (Gregory Ross) asks for her hand in marriage.
Left: Tony Benjamin (Gregory Ross) plucks up the courage to pop the question to Claire O’Reilly (Louise Phillip). Right: Senior Sergeant Eric O’Reilly (Terry Norris) is told that his daughter wants to learn about sex for the handicapped.
The romantically inexperienced Constable Roy Baker (Gil Tucker) will learn the hard way that there is nothing worse than a woman scorned when he dumps his light-fingered fiancée Jenny (Anne Lambert) who is a possessive and spiteful girl. She instantly makes a play for Detective Mike Georgiou (John Orcsik) and he’ll soon rue the day that he ever met the bunny boiler when she goes to the press claiming that he’s a bash artist.
Valerie Johnson (Joanna Lockwood) is determined to have a baby but will find her marriage under severe strain when jolly joker Jeff (Peter Adams) begins to fear that he is sterile. Jeff’s worsening gambling problem only adds fuel to the fire as the couple find themselves spiralling into debt.
There is more drama for Pamela Taylor (Rowena Wallace) when she’s accused of doing the dirty on her employers by selling some of her fashion designs to a rival company, and she’s becoming increasingly concerned that her daughter Gayle (Jo-Anne Moore) is taking drugs. When one of Gayle’s friends dies from a heroin overdose in a public lavatory, Pamela is forced to reassess her life and volunteers to help at the East Riverside Mission. The Mission is a drop-in centre frequented by junkies, delinquent kids, drunken derelicts and people in need of serious help. Glenn Taylor (George Mallaby) is also in strife and begins receiving death threats from a person or persons unknown, he is slashed by a knife wielding maniac and a deadly siege situation develops.
Left: Bunny boiler Jenny McGregor (Anne Lambert) gets her claws into an unsuspecting Mike Georgiou (John Orcsik). Middle: Pamela Taylor (Rowena Wallace) is accused of doing the dirty. Right: Jeff Johnson (Peter Adams) fears that he’s firing blanks when Valerie (Joanna Lockwood) pushes for a baby.
Back at the cop shop a dope smoking vagabond with nowhere to go thinks that he can use the place as a doss house, a prize racehorse is nobbled, and Riverside is awash with bashings and killings after a big time crim is relieved of a considerable sum of money. A bandit in a gorilla mask holds up multiple supermarkets across the district, and an interstate criminal blows into town to carry out an audacious travellers cheque robbery. When he’s caught and incarcerated his accomplices foolishly kidnap a magistrate and demand his release.
A snowdropper with weird kinks has been on the prowl stealing women’s panties and bras from washing lines, when he’s caught in the act he goes berserk with a garden rake. A drunken derelict commits petty larceny when he robs the police charge counter of anything that he can get his hands on, and a young hitchhiker accuses an election candidate of attempted rape. The intriguing cases continue when a penniless young couple find their home trashed, these battlers will end up being tempted into a life of crime and will find themselves at the mercy of a bent ex-copper.
Left: Glen Taylor (George Mallaby) is being hounded by a maniac. Right: Vincent Ball guest stars as big time crook James Benedict.
A wealth of well-known faces make guest appearances in this DVD box set including Vincent Ball from Crossroads; Charles Tingwell from Homicide; Vic Gordon from Matlock Police; Terry Gill, Maurie Fields and Val Jellay from The Flying Doctors; Ian Smith, Tom Oliver, Ernie Bourne and Moya O’Sullivan from Neighbours; and Brian Wenzel from A Country Practice.
Also appearing are Rebecca Gilling, Peta Toppana, and Serge Lazareff from The Young Doctors; John Wood and Simon Chilvers from Rafferty’s Rules; Ken James and Helen Hemingway from The Box; Lynn Rainbow and Vivienne Garrett from Number 96; Patsy King, Betty Bobbitt, Lesley Baker, Julia Blake, and Kirsty Child from Prisoner: Cell Block H; and other familiar faces include Liddy Clark, Andrew McKaige, Sigrid Thornton, Sean Scully, and Penne Hackforth-Jones.
Cop Shop Volume 4 and a wealth of other Australian television classics can be ordered exclusively from Eaton Films here in the UK. Also newly available from Eaton Films is Alive and Cooking – James Reeson’s Food for all Seasons. This DVD box set of the popular Australian cookery show features recipes to suit any day of the year. Viewers who are based in Australasia can place their orders with Crawford DVD. Fans located anywhere else in the world should email Eaton Films for shipping details eaton.films@talk21.com
