Murder Call

1997

Seasons & Episodes

  • 3
  • 2
  • 1

7.1| 0h30m| en| More Info
Released: 11 August 1997 Ended
Producted By: Southern Star
Country: Australia
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

Murder Call was an Australian television series, created by Hal McElroy for the Southern Star Entertainment and seen on the Nine Network between 1997 and 2000. The idea to the series was born by the books of Tessa Vance by Jennifer Rowe: Suspect/Deadline and Something Wicked. Both books were integrated as episodes in the TV series. The series dealt with the cases confronted by an unconventional team of homicide detectives, Tessa Vance and Steve Hayden.

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Reviews

geordiesdad The first few episodes promised a tightly written and plausible police drama but halfway through the first season the laughably 1 dimensional characters and way too predictable plots began to weigh on the viewer. The female lead detective becomes the ONLY member of the team that seems to have any Sherlockian flashes of brilliance and soon they become a standard feature of her scenes. Sadly this is just another in a series of could have been police shows that failed because of stereotypical characters played too often by characterless actors. Not much more than chum for better shows. The only stand-out in the cast is red-headed photographer Dee who occasionally gets a chance to show her talents.
jkuras2010 I was so disappointed to see that Season 3 was the last Season. The characters and actors were terrific. This really could have gone somewhere, but like the reviewer before me stated, there needed to be an even distribution of strengths and weaknesses in the solving of the murders. They gave a good deal of character development, without getting too involved with their personal lives, which I appreciated. They kept the language clean and maintained integrity in each episode.I loved the fact that in each episode, they began with a murder. The music for each beginning murder was really well scripted and the theme music of murder call was classy.I will follow up on the real life actors and actresses to see what they are doing now. I really enjoyed their roles and the particular murders presented in each episode. They were creative and not copied from other movies or series, and I have seen plenty!I will really miss this show.Joyce
feralladybug I liked 'Murder Call'.It was a well crafted,workaday police procedural,except it had one flaw that drove me MAD.Each week Detective Tessa Vance (Lucy Bell) & Detective Steve Hayden(Peter Mochrie) would join forces to solve a grisly murder. Trouble was,the writers seemed to forget that the mark of any good TV police duo is balance- that each should have strengths and weaknesses that contribute to solving the case.Poor old Det.Steve NEVER got to solve the case.Instead of the two of them compiling the clues into a solid block of evidence,each case seemed to be solved by the same maddening plot device: in the final 10 minutes of the show Tessa would stare out to middle distance,have a flash of inspiration and then run to tell Steve of her brainstorm.I watched 2 series of this infuriating show and waited in vain for a single episode in which Steve would be the one to crack the case:he never did.The device got so bad,that every week at 10.20 pm(the show began at 9.30) I would say,"Only 10 minutes to go.Time for Lucy's puzzled expression." I knew it wasn't just me seeing this when a local comedy show parodied it for the very same reason.Clearly 'Murder Call' was in dire need of a good script editor to pick up on these things. A shame,as Mochrie,Bell & cast all gave charming,confident performances.It's too bad it's format wasn't re-tooled to iron out this issue.A good show killed by a lazy plot device.
skottyrock It's a shame Murder Call lasted for only two series. The lead actors were great, the stories enthralling, the locales and production values fantastic. And the theme song was very catchy!!! It was, at the time, the Nine Network's most-expensive program (if my memory serves me correctly).Why it didn't last any longer than two years is beyond me. But then again, it was in a difficult time-slot on Tuesday nights. Ratings, schmatings!Australians have a knack for producing quality dramas. Think, Flying Doctors, Police Rescue, Water Rats, A Country Practice, All Saints.It's a pity our sitcoms aren't as well-made!