| Bg Colour: |
|
| Num Episodes: | 39 |
| Network: | Seven Network |
| Episode List: | List of Blue Heelers episodes |
The eleventh season of the Australian police-drama Blue Heelers premiered on the Seven Network on 4 February 2004 and aired on Wednesday nights at 8:30 PM. The 39-episode season concluded 5 November 2004.
The programme suffered along with the Seven Networks as a whole; its ratings in a dire state. 2004 became the year in which the producers took a radical approach to shake-up their show. The 39-episode 11th season saw the programme start the year closer to the wrong end of the weekly top 50 - and sometimes out of it altogether. However, when storylines heated up towards June/July - the numbers did too - and the programme enjoyed an amicable ratings performance thereon in 2005.On 21 April 2004 Blue Heelers aired a special event: a live episode. While Paul Bishop did not appear due to film commitments,[1] this theatre-esque event drew large ratings and was the first step made in attempting to draw viewers back to the show. The broadcast hit nearly 1.6 million viewers in April, helping Seven to narrowly win the No. 1 spot for the night;[2] but it failed to resurrect the numbers for the show as Seven had hoped.
This was followed by the overhaul of the show. Its 440th episode, "End of Innocence", aired on 6 July 2004 and saw a new family in town being suspected of ghastly crimes. The Baxter family terrorised Clancy, Jo, Tom and Grace, and shortly thereafter the terror became reality when the station was blown up and Clancy and Jo were killed. Soon after, Grace was found raped and murdered.
Nick Schultz, now in Homicide, returned to investigate, and soon learned that Tom had changed as a result of these events, and was now much harsher and determined to gain vengeance on the Baxters. Four new cops arrived on the scene - the smart Detective Senior Constable Amy Fox, family man Sergeant Mark Jacobs, and ambitious rival trainees, Probationary Constables Kelly O'Rourke and Joss Peroni (whose birthdays just happen to be on the same day).[3] [4] In episode 445, "Checkmate", Barry Baxter was sent to jail for the terror attacks, and Nick departed Mount Thomas leaving his colleagues to face their new situation. The ratings picked up significantly during this time.
In the final episodes of the season, a series of attempts on Tom's life saw him suspect Tarni Baxter (Melissa Andersen), the jailed Baxter's daughter. Although there was no proof against her, the closing moments of the season finale saw a crazy-with-rage Tom attempting to drown Tarni in a river.
While some critics and fans were concerned at the new soap opera style that Blue Heelers had embraced, ratings remained high for the rest of the season.this season saw the old opening credits be taken out in order to put the new version with a whole new modern tone for the start of season 11 and 12,13
See also: List of recurring Blue Heelers characters.
The seasin had an average of 1.4 million viewers until the halfway through, where it spiked up to a weekly 1.6 million viewers.
See main article: List of awards and nominations for Blue Heelers.
See also: List of Blue Heelers episodes.
Season 11 Parts 1 and 2 was released on 5 August 2010.[5]
| The Complete 11th Season (Parts 1+2) | ||||
| Set Details | Special Features | |||
|
| |||
| Release Dates | ||||
| 5 August 2010 | ||||