City Homicide

Production

The series' co-writers are John Hugginson who has previously worked on Water Rats, Murder Call and Blue Heelers, and John Banas who has written for All Saints and Stingers in addition to Water Rats and Blue Heelers. In an interview with the Herald Sun, Banas said the show had been in planning since "late last millennium".

The bulk of City Homicide was filmed at Seven's South Melbourne studios and the show features Melbourne landmarks, such as Flinders Street station and the city's trams. The first season began production on 16 April 2007.

The series is distributed overseas by Southern Star Group.

The show originally starred Shane Bourne, Nadine Garner, Daniel MacPherson, Aaron Pedersen, Damien Richardson and Noni Hazlehurst. After the second season, the show's executive producers decided to vary the Homicide squad substantially—Nadia Townsend and John Adam were both added to the cast early in the third season, Bourne took a temporary hiatus that lasted most of the third season, guest star David Field made more frequent and substantive appearances, and main characters were written out of many episodes. This custom continued throughout the remainder of the show, with Field (still credited as a guest star) notably appearing more frequently than any other main cast member. Ryan O'Kane entered for seasons 4 and 5 (miniseries) as new member of the team Detective Rhys Levitt.

Cast

Main cast

None of the main characters appear in all episodes, as periods of leave and rostered days off are incorporated into each character's appearances.

Detective Senior Sergeant Stanley Wolfe (Shane Bourne, 70 episodes, seasons 1–5) is the investigative leader of the Homicide squad. Wolfe is an authoritative yet compassionate boss with years of Homicide experience. He is highly religious, a recovering alcoholic and, as of the second season, going through a relatively civil divorce with his wife Linda. Stanley's reputation is threatened in season three by the resurfacing of an old case, resulting in his alcoholism coming to light and, as a result, he takes extended leave from Homicide. He is seen to have a very proper nature and a generally by-the-book approach, but can be extremely emotional and more unpredictable in certain cases, usually ones involving serial offenders.

Detective Sergeant Matt Ryan (Damien Richardson, 82 episodes, seasons 1–5) is the sergeant of the team. His police career is implied to be a reaction to the disappearance of his mother 16 years before the series begins; in the season one finale, her body is finally recovered and her murder solved. In the first three seasons, Matt is a senior constable working with the others, but early in season four he sits the sergeant exam and passes with flying colours, and is permitted to return to Homicide and take up a sergeant position under Stanley. Although he is a competent detective, Matt struggles greatly with authority, and is often inadvertently undermined by the team. In early episodes, he is implied to have a crush on Jennifer, but this soon abates and he begins a long-term relationship with artist Emma between seasons two and four.

Detective Senior Constable Jennifer Mapplethorpe (Nadine Garner, 79 episodes, seasons 1–5) is one of the Homicide squad of detectives. In the pilot episode, she is introduced as a temporary replacement for a suspended Duncan, but later earns a permanent place on the team. She is a former member of the Fraud squad, and was also an undercover operative of the Secret Service with Nick. Jennifer considers herself married to the job, with Nick being her only genuine love interest over the course of the show. She is often the most compassionate detective on the squad, and on more than one occasion finds herself targeted by perpetrators of crimes against children.

Detective Senior Constable Duncan Freeman (Aaron Pedersen, 78 episodes, seasons 1–5) is a member of the squad. Duncan's tenure in Homicide is second in length only to Matt's, but his hotheaded behaviour and rejection of authority frequently gets him into trouble. Duncan was engaged to a recovering drug addict named Claire in the first season, but an alleged affair and her drug relapse ended the engagement. Claire is later arrested for drug possession and is placed in one of Terry Jarvis' sting operations in exchange for the charges being dropped, but is killed in an ensuing shootout, which deeply saddens Duncan. In later seasons, Duncan seems to get his temper under control, though his relationship with Jarvis remains fraught with tension.

Semi-regular cast

Detective Superintendent Terry Jarvis (David Field, seasons 1–5) begins as the no-nonsense superintendent of the Drug Squad that botches the sting operation that killed Duncan's fiancée Claire, which creates a huge amount of tension and anger between the two. In the second season, Jarvis fills in for Waverley as Homicide Superintendent - a position which he excels in, and enjoys. He remains as Homicide Superintendent for the remainder of the series, after Waverley is promoted above him. Unlike Waverley, Jarvis remains highly involved in most Homicide investigations, often undermining Stanley and running the investigation himself. As a boss, Jarvis maintains frosty relationships with most of his team, particularly Duncan and Allie.

Detective Senior Sergeant Claudia Leigh (Tasma Walton, seasons 2–4) is a psychological profiler brought in to some Homicide investigations to analyse the mentality of offenders. She often provides scintillating insights that assist greatly in investigations concerning particularly heinous crimes. In season three, Claudia also becomes a psychological sponsor for Simon through his downward spiral, trying to help him wherever she can. In season four, her psychological manipulation of offenders backfires when she is attacked by a serial killer who tries to rape and kill her; attempts thwarted by the quick-thinking actions of Jennifer and Claudia. She exhibits a very friendly demeanour, and maintains positive working relationships with everyone on the squad, even Jarvis, who refers to her as "Mrs. Freud".

Dr. Rhonda "Ronnie" Lafferty (Genevieve Morris, seasons 2–5) is a head pathologist with the city morgue whose specialisation is autopsies relating to suspicious deaths, therefore integrating her with the Homicide squad. Ronnie is a highly competent and upstanding medical examiner, and believes that all murder victims deserve a chance at being investigated. Ronnie has two teenage children that she cares deeply for, although she occasionally avoids them during particularly gruesome cases involving children to prevent frightening them. Ronnie is regarded by the entire team as an indispensable asset to their investigations, and develops friendships with everyone, especially Jennifer and Nick.

Josh Waverley (William Jarratt, seasons 1–2) is the teenage son of Bernice. He is first introduced in season one as being very polite and well mannered, although in later appearances he is seen to have substantial issues with bullying and violence. The Shannon Pierce case tests Josh's relationship with his mother, as he himself is demonised by his peers after she is accused of corruption. Josh's final appearance is in the season two finale, where his wrists are slashed by Pierce's brother to punish Bernice. His death has a debilitating effect on his mother, who struggles to cope, even after years.

Recurring cast

Senior Constable Phillippa Stern (Miles Paras, seasons 2–4), a "uniform" assigned to Homicide operations working under Karen Hatzic.

Linda Wolfe (Carolyn Bock, seasons 1–3), Stanley's wife and mother of their children.

Emma Treadgold (Meredith Penman, seasons 2–4), Matt's girlfriend, an artist.

Dr. Sam "Mack the Knife" McIntyre (Gil Tucker, seasons 1–3), one of the pathologists assigned to Homicide cases.

Judith Welling (Fiona Corke, seasons 1–2), a passionate attorney and friend of Stanley's.

Paul Winston (Cameron Nugent, seasons 1–4), a computer and technical specialist.

Senior Constable Todd Croft (Nick Jamieson, seasons 3–5), a "uniform" assigned to Homicide operations working under Karen Hatzic.

Assistant Commissioner Bill Mulholland (John McTernan, seasons 1–2), Waverley's direct superior.

Ratings

Weekly ratings

The following table shows the weekly ratings for the series. Season two has been split into two parts as season two aired in two television seasons.

The data is based on the five Metropolitan markets only.

Home media

All series were made available on DVD. The season 3 DVD included the first eight episodes of Season 4, while the season 4 DVD included the remainder of season 4 episodes plus the six-part miniseries No Greater Honour.

These DVD releases are now out of print. It was announced in June 2022 that Via Vision Entertainment would be re-releasing the complete series of City Homicide on 7 September 2022.