More embarrassing memories, more public humiliations. Anyone would think I was masochistic. (Hush, you.)
I had gotten into real live humans at this point ( I am so proud) and was prey to 1970s Australian television. 1970s Australian Television was a plethora of cop shows basically and you could take your pic of the combination of policeman gracing your screens. Thin cops, fat cops, corrupt cops, insecure cops, male, female, detective, uniform. It was the exact same story each week, only the trappings were changed. At the time, even I was bored and was waiting for the next best thing. Had I known that the next best thing was going to be reality television Id have kept my mouth shut.
Three shows grabbed my attention; the first is a legend among Australian Television. Homicide. Went for umpteen years with a rapidly changing cast. It was, it was considered, Australian Drama at it’s best. Truly it was awful but there was one thing that kept me glued to the screen each week. This man:
sigh… Gary Day. Played Senior Detective Phil Redford on Homicide for five years. He was in the first episode of Homicide shown in colour which also may have helped. He was magnificent. I was completely in love. I mean, look at that fringe. Is that just not superb. I would spend all the hour of the show hoping for a glimpse of his fringe. His partner would always be taking his kit off to do some type of excercise on the show ( he was a karate expert or some such) and this was completely wasted on me. Anything that took away screen time from Senior Detective Phil Redford would annoy me intensely. As such I have no idea of the plot of any episode of Homicide (they solved murders I am guessing from the title). I was too busy watching Senior detective Phil Redford. I suspect I would have married Senior detective Phil Redford except for fact that the show was cancelled. Senior Detective Phil Redford and his magnificent fringe were consigned to television history. Sadly for Gary, his magnificent fringe deserted him as the years progressed much as did mine (who am I kidding, my hair has always been complete crap and my fringe was never magnificent) He is balder than I am now, God love him, and I am plenty bald.
The second love was American and, sadly for Senior Detective Phil Redford, I was two timing him for this man:
This man needs no explanation. I mean, look at him. Kent McCord. Adam 12. He is superb. Also with magnificent hair (which he has managed to keep unless he has a realllllllllly impressive toupee) and looked even more outstanding in the earlier shows when his hair was shorter. He is also, I suspect, responsible for my love of people with sticky out ears. Again I have no idea what he did in the show other than look awesome but presumably they solved crimes. I remember one episode set in a comic shop where a comic got stolen which I thought was the worst crime ever. (Oh yes, my geekdom goes way back.) Again the show got cancelled which saved me from the heartbreaking task of having to choose between him and Senior Detective Phil Redford.
Then my taste got really weird.
I had a serious two-year love for this man:
I have no idea why.
Peter Adams. Detective JJ Johnson in Cop Shop. Cop Shop was the thematic successor to Homicide and it was even more appalling. A soap, it was considered more ‘sexy’ and had storylines about the sordid affairs between the police as much as it did about crime fighting. Now this man, God rest his soul for he has since passed, was my major lust object for a good two years. Looking back I have no idea why. The only thing I remember is he came back with a really short haircut one week (unheard of in the 70s) and he looked amazing, I thought. (I couldn’t find a picture of that particular look. I doubt I could have convinced you anyway. Clearly my hormones were not well.) His role continued however I soon lost interest. He did a shirtless scene once and, God bless him, I have never seen a more pasty, hairless chest in my life. It was like having cold water thrown over me. I moved on to television new.
Alrighty, your turn. TV Police crushes. Go.
Away For A Bit 