1997-2000 Australian television series
Murder Call
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Main cast
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Created by
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Starring
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Country of origin
| Australia
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No.
of seasons
| 3
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No.
of episodes
| 56
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Executive producer
| Kris Noble
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Producer
| Peter Askew
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Production location
| Sydney
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Running time
| approx. 45 minutes
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Production company
| Southern Star Entertainment
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Network
| Nine Network
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Release
| 11 August 1997
(
1997-08-11
)
?
9 October 2000
(
2000-10-09
)
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Murder Call
is an
Australian
television
series, created by
Hal McElroy
for the
Southern Star Entertainment
and broadcast on the
Nine Network
between 1997 and 2000.
[1]
The series was inspired by the
Tessa Vance
novels by
Jennifer Rowe
, both of which were adapted as episodes, while Rowe also developed story treatments for 38 episodes throughout the series.
Synopsis
[
edit
]
Murder Call
focuses on cases confronted by an unconventional team of homicide detectives, Tessa Vance and Steve Hayden. Steve is an often light-hearted "man's man" who is moving up the career hierarchy. Tessa is more introspective and no-nonsense, and often solves the murder with her intuition and insight. Their team includes boss Inspector Malcolm Thorne, police Constable Dee Suzeraine, forensic services expert Lance Fisk, and unorthodox doctor Imogen "Tootsie" Soames.
Production
[
edit
]
Murder Call
was initially conceived as an adaptation of the
Verity Birdwood
murder mystery
novels by
Jennifer Rowe
. Birdwood is an amateur private investigator, who spends her time as a freelance
journalist
for the
ABC
.
Sigrid Thornton
was attached to play the role, with the program given a 26-episode order by the
Seven Network
under the title
Murder Calling
.
[2]
Ultimately, creative differences - reportedly over whether or not the series should adopt a cosy
Murder, She Wrote
-style approach - saw the Seven Network let go of the property. Production moved to the
Nine Network
, with a relocation from
Melbourne
to
Sydney
during which time Thornton dropped out.
[3]
The series was retitled
Murder Calls
before settling on its final name. Ultimately, desiring to create a series with a darker vein than the Verity Birdwood novels, McElroy switched to Rowe's
Tessa Vance
series, comprising the novels
Suspect/Deadline
and
Something Wicked
. Rowe provided story treatments for 38 of the series' 56 episodes, which were then expanded upon by the screenwriters.
Murder Call
was filmed in
Sydney
and often shot the less spectacular side of the city. The exterior of the Homicide station was filmed at Ashington House (formerly AFT House/Delfin House), on O'Connell Street in Sydney.
The first production season consisted of 22 episodes
[4]
as well as a TV movie,
Deadline
, based on the novel of the same name by Rowe (which would ultimately air in two parts).
[5]
The second production season consisted of 32 episodes, which were designed to be aired over two years.
[6]
Ultimately, Nine aired the episodes over three televised seasons, dramatically out of production order. The third season commenced airing in 1999 but was cancelled in August of that year to budget concerns. The series was taken off air, with the final 9 episodes airing in late 2000. When the episodes were added to the
7plus
streaming service in 2021, they were available in the original two production seasons, in order of production.
[7]
Cast
[
edit
]
Main
[
edit
]
Season 1 guests (1997)
[
edit
]
Season 2 guests (1998)
[
edit
]
Season 3 guests (1999-2000)
[
edit
]
Episodes
[
edit
]
Murder Call
ran for three seasons and produced 56 episodes. See
List of
Murder Call
episodes
.
Home media
[
edit
]
It was announced by Via Vision Entertainment in March 2019 that they would be releasing the complete collection of Murder Call on DVD.
As of 2022, the series is available for streaming on
Amazon Prime
and
7plus
. The episodes are rearranged into production, rather than broadcast, order.
[8]
Title
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Format
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Episodes
|
Discs
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Region 4 (Australia)
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Special Features
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Distributors
|
Murder Call Season 01
|
DVD
|
16
|
3
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3 April 2019
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None
|
Via Vision Entertainment
|
Murder Call Season 02
|
DVD
|
20
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5
|
5 June 2019
|
The TV movie
Deadline
is included as a special feature, as it aired alongside this television season.
|
Via Vision Entertainment
|
Murder Call Season 03
|
DVD
|
21
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5
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4 September 2019
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None
|
Via Vision Entertainment
|
Murder Call Complete Collection
|
DVD
|
57
|
13
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7 October 2020
|
None
|
Via Vision Entertainment
|
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
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]
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Children's and family
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Prime-time drama
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Factual
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Game show and reality
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