Cop this

by MATT QUARTERMAINE

CITY HOMICIDE, Channel Seven 8.30pm on Mondays, is the latest in a long history of Australian cop shows. What began with Homicide and Division 4 in the seventies, led to Matlock Police, Solo One and the blue uniform soapies of Cop Shop and Blue Heelers. Like the old Holden versus Falcon argument , families were divided into who watched Homicide or Division 4; our family was a Homicide family. The old Homicide was populated by gruff old Aussies in pork pie hats who slammed car doors and solved crimes with a chase and a shootout. The Aussie police drama achieved world class drama with Phoenix, Janus and the magnificent mini series Blue Murder.

City Homicide is an attempt to update the Aussie cop show into the 21st century with washed out colours, gruesome inner city murders and pop songs. City Homicide's detectives are divided into the young and good looking, Daniel McPherson, Nadine Garner, Aaron Pederson and Damien Richardson, with Shane Bourne and Noni Hazlehurst filling out the requirements for the crusty , world weary, older cops. Gil Tucker, a Cop Shop veteran, even pops up as a forensic expert.

Some of the finest Australian actors are left stranded with clunky exchanges that clumsily advance the plot. The cops utter phrases like "Do you think he's absconded?" or "you advocate the use of violence"; attempting to give the police authority, but grate on the ears. Ancillary characters are obviously named, like Jumbo for a large cop or English Rose for a English woman's internet pseudonym; a little irony or wit wouldn't go astray. The guilty spit out confessions and motives without any pressure; a killer is foiled in his attempt at murder and declares "two more minutes...".

It's show and tell television for the plot impaired. "The doors locked" cried a cop in one episode as he tries a door handle to no avail. Television is a visual medium, someone needs to put the red pen through half of the dialogue and let the pictures tell the story. I found myself sitting in front of the TV saying, "I know", but the characters utter the obvious anyway, just in case we missed the obvious.

Bizarrely, a catchy pop song was used as a killer wheeled his victim to his fiery death in a crematorium, making me uncomfortable for all the wrong reasons. Rose Tattoo's Bad Boy For Love blared from a criminal's car and Tim Finn's Dead Flowers played while Aaron Pederson's character grieved for his dead girlfriend. The soundtrack holds the viewers hand to signify each scene's sentiment, like emotional karaoke.

City Homicide tries to strike a balance between the slickness of the CSI franchise and the traditional Aussie cop show; but only half succeeds. Maybe the show needs to embrace its Australian origins and start wearing its pork pie hat proudly. Without any other Aussie cop shows to challenge it, I guess we all just have to like the Holden.

This story first appeared in Big Issue.

10 November 2007

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