November 1998 Volume 79 Number 11 "serving the protectors"
Playing the Part, Understanding the Realities
By Brett Williams

John Wood: “...I’ve actually come to a better understanding of police.” Inset: As Sergeant Tom Croydon in Blue Heelers.

John Wood may only be a television cop, but he speaks of policing with the same insight as those who pound real-life beats.

“I wouldn’t like to be a real policeman,” he says. “They’re asked to do an immensely difficult job with sometimes fairly limited resources - and on appalling pay. It’s a bloody hard job.”

And had his daughters ever become police officers, he would have “worried for their wellbeing”.

Wood’s interest in police issues has grown since he became Sergeant Tom Croydon five years ago in Channel Seven’s top-rating police drama, Blue Heelers.

He’d only played cops before in guest roles on Cop Shop, Homicide and other police shows. But he felt the Croydon character had “been written for me” when he read the script for Blue Heelers.

“I really wanted to do it, so I auditioned,” he says. “The only concern I had was that people might identify me too much with the show I’d done previously, Rafferty’s Rules. But that turned out not to be the case.

“The big difference for me (with Blue Heelers) is that I’ve actually come to a better understanding of police.”

And with that understanding, Wood remains conscious of the police image which he and his fellow actors portray to the Australian viewing public every week.

“I believe that Blue Heelers has improved the image of the Victoria Police,” he says, “especially in the last few years when there have been so many shootings.

On the set of Blue Heelers: John Wood, Martin Sacks and Catherine Wilkin.

“I think police forces all around the country actually think that Blue Heelers is quite realistic. That’s bloody high praise given the constraints of having to tell a story in 45 minutes.”

The show benefits greatly from the assistance of full-time Victorian police adviser, Sergeant Kerry Holgate. She reads all the show’s scripts and attends shoots to ensure that police practice is portrayed as accurately as possible.

“(She’s) invaluable in terms of keeping the script department honest,” Wood says. “But because we’ve got to tell a story in 45 minutes, we do have to take short cuts, and we do solve the crimes every week. They’re the things that, of course, are problematical for police.

“We don’t deviate (from advice) to any great degree. We try to do it as close to the way it would really happen as we can.”

And the show’s attention to detail was also evident recently. Cast members were screened wearing Police Remembrance Day ribbons during the same week in which fallen police were honoured.

“I’m sort of disappointed if I run into a copper who doesn’t like the show, or doesn’t think we reflect issues well for them,” Wood says.

While television programming may seem inundated with police shows, Blue Heelers enjoys a national audience of about 3 million per week. But why does Wood believe that policing is the subject of so many television dramas worldwide?

“The simple answer,” he says, “is that that’s where the stories are. The stories that threaten our wellbeing all happen in police stations or hospitals.

“Most ordinary people only come into contact with any real drama when they have a car accident or they are burgled or robbed, and the police are there helping them.”

Surprisingly, Wood himself watches very little television drama. His viewing habits are pretty much confined to current affairs. “My wife’s in politics and I take a fairly keen interest in that,” he says.

But should he one day have grandchildren who seek his advice about joining the police force, what would he tell them?

“Who knows,” he says. “By the time my daughters have children, I think the nature of policing would have changed fairly substantially.”

• Blue Heelers screens on Channel Seven at 8.30pm on Wednesdays.