Scales of Justice - Australian Miniseries
May 7, 2020 9:49:06 GMT
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Post by Dirty Epic on May 7, 2020 9:49:06 GMT
Not to be confused with the UK ‘The Scales of Justice’ which was made in the 1960’s, I recently discovered this 3-part Australian miniseries which was made by ABC in 1983.
Made by the same writing and production team as 1995’s Blue Murder, Scales of Justice was at the time and still is one of the most controversial Australian mini-series ever produced similar (but certainly not a rip off) to the BBC’s Law and Order with a ‘fly on the wall’ insight into aspects of possible police and political corruption in a ‘ambiguous’ Australian city. Unlike Blue Murder which I’m hoping to do a review of soon, Scales of Justice features fictitious characters which may/may not be based on real people.
Please be aware this section contains spoilers.
Divided into three ‘acts’ Scales of Justice looks at the police, policing and it’s politics through the eyes of three main characters:
Act One – The Job
Probationary Constable Leonard ‘Spider’ Webb (Simon Burke) is fresh out of the academy and sent to a station with a bit of reputation. He’s taken under the wing of Senior Constable Borland (the late John Hargraves) who has been in the job over a decade, a little world weary and has a at best lackadaisical attitude at best to the job. Borland and Spider get on fairly well and seemingly Spider fits in well in the station with other officers with similar attitudes to Borland in the station like Sergeant O'Rourke (Bill Hunter) and Detective Sergeant Draffin (Dennis Miller). Some of the capers Borland and Spider get up to on the job like drinking whilst in uniform/on duty, putting vulnerable people in more dangerous situations, letting drunk drivers disappear and fitting up other drunk drivers for bribing officers are certainly break the rules. Borland is also moonlighting against the rules as a security guard when off duty and it seems this rule breaking is tolerated, sometimes encouraged in the station they work in. Things come crashing down for Spider when while on patrol with O’Rourke a fur store is broken into. Whilst Spider is investigating the back of the store O’Rourke loads an expensive fur coat into the boot of the patrol car. Later on the fur coat turns up in Spider’s locker. Conflicted Spider asks colleague Constable Callahan (Isabelle Anderson) what he should do… she says ‘do nothing’, ‘dump the fur coat’ or ‘leave the job’ and the mantra at this station is not to ‘drop your mates in the shit’ no matter what! Spider’s conscience gets the better of him and he brings the coat to one of his senior officers claiming to have found the coat at the rear of the shop a few days later. There had been rain since the break in but the coat is fresh and this triggers off an investigation where Spider truthfully alleges O’Rourke stole the fur and planted it in his locker. An enraged O’Rourke has to be held back from Spider and the investigation takes it’s course. O’Rourke’s a whirly experienced hand at these things and his lies are believed albeit with a reprimand for lack of duty and supervision. Spider is summarily dismissed from the force and the closing scenes show a shell-shocked tearful spider broken by this news, ostracised and considered ‘scum’ by the senior officer delivering it to him.
Act Two – The Game
This focuses mainly on Detective Sergeant Mick Miles (Tim Robertson) who is a senior detective in the drugs squad. He’s very well respected within the force, gets results and has contacts within the underworld including Garth ‘Nipper’ Jackson (Tony Barry), who’s ‘relationship’ with Miles we’ll look at later. A fly in the ointment has arrived in the form of Detective Sergeant Draffin (Dennis Miller) freshly transferred to the drugs squad. Draffin is on the wrong side of a failed marriage and has a different – perhaps not necessarily correct, way of doing things compared to Miles. When the squad raid a seedy hotel to bust a heroin dealer Draffin contacts his journalist contact straightaway in order to gain some personal kudos perhaps getting one over on Miles. Little does Draffin know Miles is fully involved with ‘Nipper’ Jackson on a deal to ship a multi-million dollar consignment of marijuana which would settle him for life and enable him to retire from the job with his wife and life outside the police which is atypical Australian middle/upper-class suburbia. However the Federal Police are aware of Miles relationship with ‘Nipper’ Jackson. They sound out Draffin showing him surveillance photos of Miles and ‘Nipper’ Jackson and the forthcoming import plot. Draffin agrees to help but is not in the best shape due to his failing marriage and on/off bouts of drinking binges. Miles quickly becomes aware the Federal Police are on his trail and using contacts at a station near to where the shipment is being offloaded uses the local police in that area to decoy the Federal Police with an incident and the shipment leaves the docks unchecked. Unknown to Miles Draffin and a few detectives from his old station decide to fit up ‘Nipper’ Jackson and plant a considerable quantity of drugs (believed to be heroin) in his Rolls Royce when he’s apprehended by Draffin’s operation. Miles is sort-of aware of this and realises ‘Nipper’s’ arrest is coming too close to comfort for him. After a violent altercation with Draffin at a retirement party for another officer, Miles realises the solution to his problem is to kill ‘Nipper’ who is lured from his luxury yacht by Miles and a unknown – thought to be a colleague detective, to a deserted woodland location. Miles threatens to not only kill ‘Nipper’ but mutilate him before killing him unless he shoots himself, to make it look like suicide after threatening ‘Nipper’ with pliers and bolt cutters a reluctant ‘Nipper’ shoots himself in his Rolls Royce with a sawn off shotgun and Miles ‘problems’ seem to be solved by the ‘suicide’ of ‘Nipper’ Jackson.
Act Three – The Numbers
This part of Scales of Justice looks at the political aspects of things. State Attorney General Glenn Ferris (Nick Tate) is a up and coming, aspiring politician who is perhaps out of step with the old guard like the State Premier Russell Cooper (Richard Meikle) and Deputy Barry Barnes (Jon Meillon). The state is proposing legal casino’s as part of an attempt to regenerate a depressed former industrial area and bring jobs to it. This proposal is being spearheaded by businessman Sir John Ritchie (Frank Wilson) who is not only has a close relationship with the Premier Cooper but a criminal identity Arthur Roach (Max Cullen) who is believed to be heavily involved in the vice trade and quite likely involved in spin off activities like drugs and extortion. Ferris despite some considerable opposition has a plan to legalise prostitution in the state in order to take away the organised crime, drugs and exploitation elements of that ‘trade’. He has a contact with journalist Kate Hardman (Kris McQuade) whom he works with closely to get this message across much to the annoyance of Cooper and Barnes who distrust Hardman’s journalism and political stance and feel Ferris’s meddling will jeopardise the investment in the casino project. When Hardman writes a piece on the vice trade in the city and the death of a prostitute they’ve interviewed a few days earlier certain parties believe Ferris needs to be reigned in. Ferris therefore becomes a target. He’s set up with the adultery of a secretary who has recently joined his team – unknown to Ferris she is a part of this conspiracy, his family are under threat and have to leave when the pet dog is shot dead by a sniper in a public park and a ‘offer’ for a plum political job both in the state and in his party is offered to Ferris if he back’s off his legal prostitution crusade and doesn’t rock the boat with the forthcoming casino project and associated investment. Whether reluctantly, by being practical or simply through greed and seeing how coming over to this point of view will boost his political carer and personal profile generally Ferris agrees. He cuts all ties with Hardman and is now on board with what and how these certain parties want him to do and act as Attorney General. A telling end scene is while attending a funeral with his wife Ferris has a moment with the secretary who set him up. Nothing is exchanged between the two and his wife is unaware of who she is and what has gone on between her and her husband.
Scales of Justice has been released on DVD in Australia (Region 4) in the 2000’s and if I’d know about it when I was over there I’d have got myself a copy as I feel it’s a very good piece of television. I’m trying to get hold of a new copy if I can but they’re rare but fortunately all three Acts are on YouTube so if you fancy it I fully recommend it. I think only Act One seems to have been uploaded a bit weird the others are decent quality but don’t let it put you off it’s an enjoyable look at perhaps not so untrue aspects of police, policing, corruption and political intrigue some of which have since it was made in 1983 have come true in Aus and elsewhere.
As I said earlier it was made both by ABC and the same writer/production team who went on to do the two-parter Blue Murder which is a lot, lot better in my opinion and much more controversial as it involved real-life police corruption and real people with the likes of Roger Rogerson, Arthur ‘Neddy’ Smith, Michael Drury and Chris ‘Rentakill’ Flannery and that is something I hope to review at some point soon too. The fact that was effectively banned due to legal issues in NSW for 6 years shows how spot on this team got with that and Scales of Justice is a good introduction to that and as I said before is a good example of intelligent, thought provoking drama from Australia I think some of you will enjoy.
Hope you enjoyed the review and if you do watch it let me know what you think.
Made by the same writing and production team as 1995’s Blue Murder, Scales of Justice was at the time and still is one of the most controversial Australian mini-series ever produced similar (but certainly not a rip off) to the BBC’s Law and Order with a ‘fly on the wall’ insight into aspects of possible police and political corruption in a ‘ambiguous’ Australian city. Unlike Blue Murder which I’m hoping to do a review of soon, Scales of Justice features fictitious characters which may/may not be based on real people.
Please be aware this section contains spoilers.
Divided into three ‘acts’ Scales of Justice looks at the police, policing and it’s politics through the eyes of three main characters:
Act One – The Job
Probationary Constable Leonard ‘Spider’ Webb (Simon Burke) is fresh out of the academy and sent to a station with a bit of reputation. He’s taken under the wing of Senior Constable Borland (the late John Hargraves) who has been in the job over a decade, a little world weary and has a at best lackadaisical attitude at best to the job. Borland and Spider get on fairly well and seemingly Spider fits in well in the station with other officers with similar attitudes to Borland in the station like Sergeant O'Rourke (Bill Hunter) and Detective Sergeant Draffin (Dennis Miller). Some of the capers Borland and Spider get up to on the job like drinking whilst in uniform/on duty, putting vulnerable people in more dangerous situations, letting drunk drivers disappear and fitting up other drunk drivers for bribing officers are certainly break the rules. Borland is also moonlighting against the rules as a security guard when off duty and it seems this rule breaking is tolerated, sometimes encouraged in the station they work in. Things come crashing down for Spider when while on patrol with O’Rourke a fur store is broken into. Whilst Spider is investigating the back of the store O’Rourke loads an expensive fur coat into the boot of the patrol car. Later on the fur coat turns up in Spider’s locker. Conflicted Spider asks colleague Constable Callahan (Isabelle Anderson) what he should do… she says ‘do nothing’, ‘dump the fur coat’ or ‘leave the job’ and the mantra at this station is not to ‘drop your mates in the shit’ no matter what! Spider’s conscience gets the better of him and he brings the coat to one of his senior officers claiming to have found the coat at the rear of the shop a few days later. There had been rain since the break in but the coat is fresh and this triggers off an investigation where Spider truthfully alleges O’Rourke stole the fur and planted it in his locker. An enraged O’Rourke has to be held back from Spider and the investigation takes it’s course. O’Rourke’s a whirly experienced hand at these things and his lies are believed albeit with a reprimand for lack of duty and supervision. Spider is summarily dismissed from the force and the closing scenes show a shell-shocked tearful spider broken by this news, ostracised and considered ‘scum’ by the senior officer delivering it to him.
Act Two – The Game
This focuses mainly on Detective Sergeant Mick Miles (Tim Robertson) who is a senior detective in the drugs squad. He’s very well respected within the force, gets results and has contacts within the underworld including Garth ‘Nipper’ Jackson (Tony Barry), who’s ‘relationship’ with Miles we’ll look at later. A fly in the ointment has arrived in the form of Detective Sergeant Draffin (Dennis Miller) freshly transferred to the drugs squad. Draffin is on the wrong side of a failed marriage and has a different – perhaps not necessarily correct, way of doing things compared to Miles. When the squad raid a seedy hotel to bust a heroin dealer Draffin contacts his journalist contact straightaway in order to gain some personal kudos perhaps getting one over on Miles. Little does Draffin know Miles is fully involved with ‘Nipper’ Jackson on a deal to ship a multi-million dollar consignment of marijuana which would settle him for life and enable him to retire from the job with his wife and life outside the police which is atypical Australian middle/upper-class suburbia. However the Federal Police are aware of Miles relationship with ‘Nipper’ Jackson. They sound out Draffin showing him surveillance photos of Miles and ‘Nipper’ Jackson and the forthcoming import plot. Draffin agrees to help but is not in the best shape due to his failing marriage and on/off bouts of drinking binges. Miles quickly becomes aware the Federal Police are on his trail and using contacts at a station near to where the shipment is being offloaded uses the local police in that area to decoy the Federal Police with an incident and the shipment leaves the docks unchecked. Unknown to Miles Draffin and a few detectives from his old station decide to fit up ‘Nipper’ Jackson and plant a considerable quantity of drugs (believed to be heroin) in his Rolls Royce when he’s apprehended by Draffin’s operation. Miles is sort-of aware of this and realises ‘Nipper’s’ arrest is coming too close to comfort for him. After a violent altercation with Draffin at a retirement party for another officer, Miles realises the solution to his problem is to kill ‘Nipper’ who is lured from his luxury yacht by Miles and a unknown – thought to be a colleague detective, to a deserted woodland location. Miles threatens to not only kill ‘Nipper’ but mutilate him before killing him unless he shoots himself, to make it look like suicide after threatening ‘Nipper’ with pliers and bolt cutters a reluctant ‘Nipper’ shoots himself in his Rolls Royce with a sawn off shotgun and Miles ‘problems’ seem to be solved by the ‘suicide’ of ‘Nipper’ Jackson.
Act Three – The Numbers
This part of Scales of Justice looks at the political aspects of things. State Attorney General Glenn Ferris (Nick Tate) is a up and coming, aspiring politician who is perhaps out of step with the old guard like the State Premier Russell Cooper (Richard Meikle) and Deputy Barry Barnes (Jon Meillon). The state is proposing legal casino’s as part of an attempt to regenerate a depressed former industrial area and bring jobs to it. This proposal is being spearheaded by businessman Sir John Ritchie (Frank Wilson) who is not only has a close relationship with the Premier Cooper but a criminal identity Arthur Roach (Max Cullen) who is believed to be heavily involved in the vice trade and quite likely involved in spin off activities like drugs and extortion. Ferris despite some considerable opposition has a plan to legalise prostitution in the state in order to take away the organised crime, drugs and exploitation elements of that ‘trade’. He has a contact with journalist Kate Hardman (Kris McQuade) whom he works with closely to get this message across much to the annoyance of Cooper and Barnes who distrust Hardman’s journalism and political stance and feel Ferris’s meddling will jeopardise the investment in the casino project. When Hardman writes a piece on the vice trade in the city and the death of a prostitute they’ve interviewed a few days earlier certain parties believe Ferris needs to be reigned in. Ferris therefore becomes a target. He’s set up with the adultery of a secretary who has recently joined his team – unknown to Ferris she is a part of this conspiracy, his family are under threat and have to leave when the pet dog is shot dead by a sniper in a public park and a ‘offer’ for a plum political job both in the state and in his party is offered to Ferris if he back’s off his legal prostitution crusade and doesn’t rock the boat with the forthcoming casino project and associated investment. Whether reluctantly, by being practical or simply through greed and seeing how coming over to this point of view will boost his political carer and personal profile generally Ferris agrees. He cuts all ties with Hardman and is now on board with what and how these certain parties want him to do and act as Attorney General. A telling end scene is while attending a funeral with his wife Ferris has a moment with the secretary who set him up. Nothing is exchanged between the two and his wife is unaware of who she is and what has gone on between her and her husband.
Scales of Justice has been released on DVD in Australia (Region 4) in the 2000’s and if I’d know about it when I was over there I’d have got myself a copy as I feel it’s a very good piece of television. I’m trying to get hold of a new copy if I can but they’re rare but fortunately all three Acts are on YouTube so if you fancy it I fully recommend it. I think only Act One seems to have been uploaded a bit weird the others are decent quality but don’t let it put you off it’s an enjoyable look at perhaps not so untrue aspects of police, policing, corruption and political intrigue some of which have since it was made in 1983 have come true in Aus and elsewhere.
As I said earlier it was made both by ABC and the same writer/production team who went on to do the two-parter Blue Murder which is a lot, lot better in my opinion and much more controversial as it involved real-life police corruption and real people with the likes of Roger Rogerson, Arthur ‘Neddy’ Smith, Michael Drury and Chris ‘Rentakill’ Flannery and that is something I hope to review at some point soon too. The fact that was effectively banned due to legal issues in NSW for 6 years shows how spot on this team got with that and Scales of Justice is a good introduction to that and as I said before is a good example of intelligent, thought provoking drama from Australia I think some of you will enjoy.
Hope you enjoyed the review and if you do watch it let me know what you think.
Sounds interesting. 