Australian
Screen

Clip description

While out on patrol, Constables Frank Rossi (Alan Fletcher) and Roy Baker (Gil Tucker) spot homeless woman Faith Bloomfield (Elaine Lee) decked out in an extravagant fur coat. By rights, they should take her in to the station but they hesitate.

Back at the station, young lawyer Neville Adam (Christopher Bailey) is still on Detective Tom Shannon’s (John McTernan) back. Neville wants Shannon to pursue Faith – and locate the money that he believes is rightfully his inheritance. Sergeant Reg Norris (Alwyn Kurts) and Danni Francis (Paula Duncan) inform Neville of the most recent sightings of Faith spending big about town.

Curator’s notes

A humorous, irreverent outlook in at least some storylines is part of Cop Shop’s signature approach to the police show format. This playful story strand provides an alternative to the ‘us’ and ‘them’ view of police and criminals: here, we see the police more sympathetic with the fugitive Faith than with her pursuer, who believes the law is on his side.

This scene is one of a number of sightings of Faith spending extravagantly reported at the police station throughout the episode. Describing key moments in Faith’s story second-hand is an interesting way of telling it – allowing the audience to fill in the gaps using their own imaginations and at the same time see both the police and Neville’s responses.

Alwyn Kurts replaced Terry Norris in the role of head of the uniformed police – continuing an archetype of a gruff older man in this role. Kurts had a history on Crawford’s police shows, playing Inspector Fox on Homicide (1964–75). Alan Fletcher is best known for his later long-running role as Dr Karl Kennedy on the soap Neighbours (1985–current).