Murder Call

1997

Seasons & Episodes

  • 3
  • 2
  • 1
7.1| NA| en| More Info
Released: 11 August 1997 Ended
Producted By: Southern Star
Country: Australia
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

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.

Genre

Drama

Watch Online

Murder Call (1997) is now streaming with subscription on Prime Video

Director

Production Companies

Southern Star

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

All Prime Video Movies and TV Shows. Cancel anytime.
Watch Now
Murder Call Videos and Images

Murder Call Audience Reviews

Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.
CommentsXp Best movie ever!
Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.
Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.
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.
kidboots I just picked up "Deadline" by Jennifer Rowe at a garage sale and on the cover it proclaimed "Introducing "Murder Call"'s Senior Detective Tessa Vance. I was instantly transported back 10 years. Even when it was first on television the station mucked about with the times - often it was on at 9.30 or later. But I persevered. It was so unlike any police show before or since. It was very "noirish" - the sets were often suffused in amber, the venetiansmade the shadows slanted, the rooms were often dark - exactly like a 1940s detective movie. Lucy Bell's beauty was in keeping with the theme - dressed in Armani suits (or was it Gucci??) she had a blonde loveliness that set her apart. It was advertised "Detective Steve Hayden (Peter Mochrie) solves crime by the book but Detective Tessa Vance (Lucy Bell) uses intuition" and each episode usually ended in a voice over from Tessa putting all the clues together and then calling Steve (usually in the small hours of the morning) with her solutions - which were always right!! The gruff Det. Inspector Malcolm Thorne was played by Gary Day, who cut his teeth on "Homicide" one of Australia's first police drama series. There was also Geoff Morrell as Lance Fisk in forensics, Glenda Linscott as "Tootsie" Soames - she did the autopsies and Jennifer Kent as Dee Suzeraine, the police photographer. They were all great and perfect in their roles. In the tradition of "Midsomer Murders" there was never just one murder - the crazy killer always had several people to dispose of. I wish I had this series on DVD - I'd even settle for VHS!!!Highly Recommended.
Intriguer I found the Australian cop show Murder Call an intriguing one to watch. Although Murder Call had a small cast, it often had great scripts and captivating "who done its". The show, which stared Peter Mochrie as Detective Steve Hayden and Lucy Bell as Tessa Vance, ran for three seasons – from 1997 to 1999 (although some of its last episodes were shown in 2000).Homicide detectives, Steve and Tessa solved crimes which were all out of the ordinary. Their strategies in solving these crimes were on a contrary, as Steve was a by-the-book cop, whilst Tessa had an unusual method, using her intuition to solve the crimes (which got her results).Like many shows on TV, the chemistry between the two main characters in Steve and Tessa was great to watch. And also like many other TV shows, the pair never got together in a romantic sort of way. Although, in the very first episode, "Ashes to Ashes", it was made obvious that the pair cared about each other, when they were locked in a cool room together. Thinking that they were going to die, Steve and Tessa huddled together in an attempt to stay warm. Of course, in the end, they were fine. And their nosy colleague, Constable Dee Suzeraine (played by Jennifer Kent) wanted to know all about their 'experience'. "Come on, Steve. We're talking last moments on the planet here. How'd the two of you keep warm?" It was sad to see an interesting show get axed, and while it didn't have many fans, Murder Call continues to be a favourite of mine.