Waterloo Station (TV series)

Synopsis

Waterloo Station focused on two sisters, both married to policemen, and their adult children starting careers in the police force. The main locations were a police station, a police training academy in Sydney, and a large boarding house that provided accommodation for several characters.

Waterloo Station was an attempt by Grundy's to reproduce for Channel Nine the success of their earlier shows The Restless Years and The Young Doctors which focused on youth situations. Like Crawford Productions' successful police series Cop Shop, Waterloo Station combined police procedural elements with domestic situations involving the police personnel and their families.

The series was recorded at the Eric Porter studios in North Sydney.

Cast

• Ron Graham – Jack Edwards
• Sally Tayler – Sally Edwards
• Pam Western – Liz Edwards
• John Bonney – George Logan
• Jenny Ludlam – Ann Logan
• Jennifer West – Rosie Wallace
• Malcolm Cork – David Keller
• Gerry Sont – Rick Thompson
• Danny Roberts – Trevor Brown
• Tex Morton – Harry McDowell
• Julianne White – Stacey Daniels
• Steven Grives – Steve Colby
• Bartholomew John - Tony Harris

Reception

Peter Wilmoth of The Age said of the first episode: "Waterloo Station will need time to develop. The first impression of Nine’s new drama series is that it has enough excitement and reasonable acting to succeed. The second impression nags: it is lacking in subtlty (sic)." He later wrote: "Waterloo Station buried its initial promise in the cause of froth. Apart from the occasional moving scene, the show is frustratingly unsubtle and zealously protective of its clichés. The Sydney Morning Herald’s Harry Robinson stated: "By literary standards, Waterloo Station is crude in its appeal to young people of scant education. It plays on youth's yen for feeling hard-done-bv and alienated from oldies." Mike Carlton wrote in The Sydney Morning Herald: "a better title might be Cop Shop meets the Sons and Daughters off Certain Women for, as with the marching East Germans, there was more than a smidgeon of déjà vu about things." Also in The Sydney Morning Herald, Rosalind Reines called it "hammy but enthralling". Anthony Clarke in The Age commented: "We shouldn't expect too much from our soapies. But surely a prime-time evening show should be more than just a non-stop talk marathon devoid of drama, of action or romance".

Episodes

Season 1 (1983–1984)

Home media

There is yet to be a DVD Release of Waterloo Station.

Screening

The series was programmed against the popular new series Carson's Law in key markets including Melbourne, and achieved only mediocre ratings. It was cancelled after 40 episodes. Andrew Clarke, Danny Roberts and Sally Tayler all subsequently found greater success as regular cast members of another Grundy-produced soap opera, Sons and Daughters.

After Waterloo Station, on 18 April 1983, Grundy launched Starting Out, which featured youthful characters attempting to enter the medical profession. This series was similarly short-lived.

During late 1987, while “The Midday Show” was taking a summer Christmas holiday break, Nine network Sydney replayed Waterloo Station on weekdays at 12pm followed at 1.00pm by “Private Benjamin” (a US comedy TV series). Waterloo Station has never been replayed since on commercial or pay TV in Australia.

References

References

1. Albert Moran and Chris Keating {{google books. OYRPAH2FrfcC. The A to Z of Australian Radio and Television
2. Lee Lewes, Jacqueline. (30 January 1983). "Nine goes coppers with Waterloo, yet another soap".
3. Peter Robson and Jennifer L Schulz (editors) {{google books. 02iVDQAAQBAJ. A Transnational Study of Law and Justice on TV
4. Wilmoth, Peter. (27 January 1983). "Research pays off".
5. Wilmoth, Peter. (1 February 1983). "Crime against humanity".
6. Robinson, Harry. (5 February 1983). "At least we don't have soup for breakfast".
7. Carlton, Mike. (2 February 1983). "Cop Shop meets Sons and Daughters of Certain Women at Waterloo Station".
8. Reines, Rosalind. (31 January 1983). "After Liz is mowed down...".
9. Clarke, Anthony. (1 March 1983). "Soapie with no bubble".