Blue Heelers S04E11

There Last Night

Episode 4.11 (139)
April 22, 1997
Written by David Boutland
Directed by Raymond Quint

Dash and Adam respond to a report of vandalism at the train yards, and discover a couple of young offenders — one so fleet of foot that he's even faster than Dash. She thinks she knows the boy, Jed Russell, and discovers from his mother that Jed's been living with his father, Jim. Jim is at the pub when Adam and Dash find him, and seems unconcerned about his son's actions. When a more serious incident happens at the trainyard, PJ becomes involved, and Jed Russell is the prime suspect in the case. Jim is brought in because Jed is underage, and during the questioning takes loud umbrage at PJ's tactics. His shouting alerts Tom, who recognises a fellow Vietnam veteran in trouble, and decides to help in any way he can.

Jim has a lot of trouble caring for his son because of his own problems coming to terms with the war. He's been writing everything down, hoping it would help, but it doesn't seem to make any difference. Jed sees his father as a loser, someone who didn't even fight in the war — he was just a mechanic, and this makes things between them difficult. Tom tries valiantly to make Jim see that he has to try and help his son — not just think of himself.

PJ discovers that the trouble at the railyard is due to a territory war between two gangs — Jed Russell being the leader of one, and a Vietnamese boy, Vinnie Nguyen, the leader of their rivals. Tom sees this as a perpetuation of old hatreds, and decides to stop their war.

The boys had organised to race the train — a dangerous stunt to see who gets the railway as their territory. Tom takes Jim with him, but things go horribly wrong when Jed falls on the railway tracks. Jim rescues his son — sacrificing himself in the process. Jed, with Tom's help, begins to see his father as the hero he was, a man who fought in a war he didn't ask to be a part of, in a place he never should have been.

Guest Starring: Ian Scott as Jim Russell, Ben Doville as Jed Russell, Jenny Lovell as Gail Russell, Thanh-Vu Nguyen as Vinnie Nguyen, Katie Ditchburn as Eva Mendels, Wayne Comley as Stationmaster, Margaret Sztajer as Mrs Mendels, Matt Tingate as Todd, Jason Buckley as Walter, James Hawkins as Gangmember, Ashley Spiteri as Gangmember, Theodore Papazoglou as Gangmember, Martin Foster as Gangmember

(encoded with Handbrake - Blue Heelers - from Complete Fourth Season DVD - the early years)

Duration: approximately 45 minutes
Aspect ratio: 4:3 standard
Audio: linear hi-fi/stereo
Size: 459MB
Video format: MPEG-4 (MP4)

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