Australian
Screen

Clip description

Pamela Taylor (Rowena Wallace) tells daughter Gayle (Jo-Anne Moore) that her shoplifting charges have been dropped. She has had the family lawyer intervene, using her wealthy father’s influence, despite her husband Glenn’s wishes that they follow the usual legal process. Meanwhile, at the police station, Detective Sergeant Glenn Taylor (George Mallaby) finds out what Pamela has done. When he calls Detective ‘JJ’ Jeffrey Johnson (Peter Adams) in to his office to reprimand him for looking for a second job, JJ can’t resist a crack about his rich wife. It’s the final straw.

Curator’s notes

Tensions between Glenn and Pamela Taylor form a long-running serial thread in the early seasons of Cop Shop. Taylor’s love of his work is frequently pitted against his wife’s desire that he take a high status position in the corporate world; his respect for fairness and the law is contrasted with her belief in using privilege and ‘pulling strings’. These storylines also tap into a core Cop Shop theme of women’s status in relationships by raising questions about who should call the shots and have authority in a family.

The same theme is explored in the serial storyline involving JJ and his wife Valerie (Joanna Lockwood). While they need money, he won’t let her go back to work, instead pursuing a second job. In this sequence, the two storylines intersect just as they reach boiling point. The confrontation between Taylor and JJ is carried off with soap opera flourishes – long stares heightened by dramatic musical stings.

Mallaby already had a considerable history with Crawford Productions, working as a performer and writer for shows including Homicide (1964–75), The Box (1974–77), Division 4 (1969–75) and Matlock Police (1971–75). Rowena Wallace also appeared in Division 4.