Wildside (TV series)

This article is about the 1990s Australian series. For the 1985 American series, see Wildside (U.S. TV series).
Wildside
Created by Michael Jenkins
Ben Gannon
Starring Tony Martin
Rachael Blake
Alex Dimitriades
Theme music composer Peter Best
Country of origin Australia
No. of episodes 60
Production
Executive producer(s) Ben Gannon
Michael Jenkins
Andy Lloyd James
Producer(s) Steve Knapman
Running time 50 minutes
Production company(s) Gannon Jenkins Television Pty Ltd
Release
Original network ABC TV
Picture format 4:3
Original release 1997–99

Wildside is an Australian police procedural television series broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from 1997 to 1999.

The show consisted of a one-hour format that followed police interactions in inner Sydney. It starred Rachael Blake, Tony Martin, Richard Carter and Alex Dimitriades.

The series was filmed in Sydney. It was characterised by its use of ad lib dialogue and hand held camera work. It won several Logie Awards, including Silver Logies for outstanding work by Rachael Blake and Tony Martin for acting, as well as the Most Outstanding Miniseries Logie in 1998. It was also nominated for several Australian Film Institute Awards.[1]

Cast and characters

Wildside featured several regular characters from the police force and an inner-city crisis centre.

The regular cast included Tony Martin, Rachael Blake, Aaron Pedersen, Jessica Napier and Alex Dimitriades. Martin starred as Detective Bill McCoy with Dimitriadis joining him a third of the way through the first series as his partner, Detective Charlie Coustos.[2] Pedersen, Napier and Blake portrayed the staff at the crisis centre. Detectives McCoy and Coustos were often called upon to investigate clients of the centre, creating tensions with its staff.[3] Richard Carter appeared in several episodes as a fellow officer Detective Brian Deakin critical of Coustos.[4] Abi Tucker joined the show at the beginning of the second season, playing Kate Holbeck, a colleague of Coustos (and his girlfriend) and McCoy. Mary Coustas joined the series in a regular role late in its run, appearing in the last ten episodes; her character replacing Aaron Pedersen's as the crisis centre's resident lawyer.[5]

The recurring cast includes:

Martin, Blake, Pedersen and Napier were the only actors to appear in every episode. Martin and Blake began an off screen relationship during show's run and married in 2003.

Production and broadcast

Wildside was originally produced a 2-part miniseries created by Michael Jenkins and Ben Gannon. It was broadcast on 23 and 24 November 1997.

A further 36 episodes were broadcast between February and September 1998. A second series of 20 episodes was broadcast between February and July 1999.

In repeats and syndication, the miniseries was edited into the first four episodes of the 40 episode first series.

The style of production was very similar to Jenkins' earlier series Scales of Justice and Blue Murder, particularly the "observational" use of multiple hand-held cameras and the density of semi-improvised dialogue.[6] Many of the cast had previously worked with Jenkins in Blue Murder.

DVD release

The series has been released by the ABC on DVD in three volumes, each containing 20 episodes across 5 discs.[7]

Awards and nominations

Year Awards Category Nominee Result
1998Logie Awards Most Outstanding Actor in a Series Tony Martin Won
Most Outstanding Mini-series or Movie Made for Television Wildside Won
Most Outstanding Actress in a Series Rachael Blake Nominated
AFI Awards Best Screenplay in a Television Drama Tim Pye (for episode 17) Won
Best Achievement in Direction in a Television Drama Peter Andrikidis (for episode 17) Won
Best Mini-Series or Telefeature Steve Knapman Won
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Television Drama Rachael Blake Won
Best Episode in a Television Drama Series Steve Knapman (for episode 17) Won
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Television Drama Tony Martin Nominated
APRA Awards Best TV Theme Peter Best Won
Australian Screen Sound Guild Best Sound in a Television Drama Series For episodes 35 and 36 Won
1999Logie Awards Most Outstanding Actor in a Series Tony Martin
Tied with David Wenham 		Won
Most Outstanding Actress in a Series Rachael Blake Nominated
Most Outstanding Drama Series Wildside Nominated
AFI Awards Best Episode in a Television Drama Series Steve Knapman (for episode 59) Won
Young Actor's Award Abbie Cornish (for episode 59) Won
Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Television Drama Samuel Johnson (for episode 59) Nominated
Best Screenplay in a Television Drama Kris Wyld (for episode 59) Nominated
Best Direction in a Television Drama Peter Andrikidis (for episode 59) Nominated
Australian Screen Sound Guild Best Achievement in Sound in a TV Drama Series For episode 59 Won

See also

References

  1. ↑ Awards for Wildside at the Internet Movie Database
  2. ↑ "Wildside series 1". Australian Television Information Archive. Retrieved 2014-03-20.
  3. ↑ "Wildside". Australian Television Information Archive. Retrieved 2013-03-17.
  4. ↑ Full cast and crew for Wildside at the Internet Movie Database
  5. ↑ "Wildside series 2". Australian Television Information Archive. Retrieved 2014-03-20.
  6. ↑ "Curator's notes for Wildside". Australian Screen - National Film and Sound Archive.
  7. ↑ "Wildside (1997) – Volume 1: Episodes 1–20 (5 Disc Set)". EzyDVD. Retrieved 2013-03-17.
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