Global InformationBlue Heelers season 13 information
| Blue Heelers | |
|---|---|
| Season 13 | |
 Blue Heelers final cast of 2006 | |
| Starring |
|
| No. of episodes | 11 |
| Release | |
| Original network | Seven Network |
| Original release | 1 April – 4 June 2006 |
| Season chronology | |
The thirteenth and final season of the Australian police drama Blue Heelers premiered on the Seven Network on 1 April 2006 and aired on Saturday nights at 8:30 pm. The 11-episode season concluded 4 June 2006, due to its cancellation by the Seven Network as a result of its sharp decline in ratings. When, in late 2005, the time came to renew Blue Heelers, Seven commissioned eleven further episodes to be produced, but its future after this was still undecided.[1]
In January 2006, Seven officially announced that they had cancelled Blue Heelers, but would air a final shortened season of only 11 episodes in mid-2006[2]—the 11 episodes which had been filmed in late 2005, before Blue Heelers had been cancelled.
This season focuses primarily on the show's main protagonist, Senior Sergeant Tom Croydon, his failing health and his personal troubles. John Wood, who portrays Croydon, is the only actor to appear in every episode of Blue Heelers and is, indisputably, the pillar of the show.[3] The final episode of the thirteenth season aired as a 2-hour, movie-length tribute starting with an introduction from John Wood, and concluding with a compilation of Blue Heelers moments from over its 13-season run.[4] For this thirteenth season, Blue Heelers was moved from its primetime Wednesday-night timeslot to the lower rating Saturday-night timeslot,[5] which saw it come up against The Bill, a British police drama which has become quite popular in Australia.[3] Ratings for this season, partially due to the series' move to its lower-rating timeslot, were relatively low; ratings were around the 1.2 million viewer mark, increasing to 1.5 million for the finale. Blue Heelers failed to even make it into the top 20 programmes at any time during its thirteenth season.[6]
This season was very successful in regards of awards, particularly for John Wood who won the Gold Logie for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television, as well as the Most Popular Actor Silver Logie Award. Wood had been nominated for the Gold Logie for ten straight years, and finally won it in 2006.[7] By the end of this season, Blue Heelers had also equalled the record for most episodes produced of a television drama in Australia, equalling Homicide's record, set in 1977.[8]
All 11 episodes of the season made their subscription television premiere on 26 January 2011 (Australia Day), where they aired back to back in an Australia Day marathon on the Universal Channel.
- ^ Miller, Kylie. Heelers stay, The Age, 29 September 2005. Retrieved 26 March 2008.
- ^ Le Marquand, Sarah. Boot for Heelers, The Daily Telegraph, 14 January 2006. Retrieved 26 March 2008.
- ^ a b Dennehy, Luke. Blue Heeler sees red, The Herald Sun, 29 April 2006. Retrieved 26 March 2008.
- ^ Blundell, Graeme. Cop Out, The Australian, 3 June 2006. Retrieved 26 March 2008.
- ^ Blue Heelers Returns For Final Season, Seven Network, 13 March 2006. Retrieved 26 March 2008.
- ^ OzTAM. OzTAM 2006 ratings data, Retrieved 2 April 2008.
- ^ Devlyn, Darren, Fidgeon, Robert. Gold at last for John Wood, Herald Sun, 8 May 2006. Retrieved 26 March 2008.
- ^ Idato, Michael. Heelers goes off duty, The Age, 1 June 2006. Retrieved 26 March 2008.