Season 2 • Episode 20
LatestA leading heart surgeon with links to a pharmaceutical company has been executed in his car. Bill McCoy and Charlie Coustos investigate the murder. Maxine and Louise try and save a house full of poor residents who are turfed out of their rented home to make room for property developer Brian Cleary's grand vision of a clean new city. War breaks out between the residents and the police, which culminates in a shoot-up of Central Police Station, which is blamed on the residents.
Wildside is an Australian police procedural television series broadcast on the ABC from 1997 to 1999. The show consisted of a one hour format that followed police interactions in inner Sydney. It starred Rachael Blake, Tony Martin, Richard Carter and Alex Dimitriades. Mary Coustas joined the series in a regular role late in its run, appearing in the last ten episodes. The series was filmed in Sydney. It was characterised by its use of ad lib dialogue and hand held camera work. It won several Logie Awards, including Silver Logies for outstanding work by Rachael Blake and Tony Martin for acting, as well as the Most Outstanding Miniseries Logie in 1998. It was also nominated for several Australian Film Institute Awards. A rerun of the series began in Australia on ABC1 in the early hours of Friday mornings, starting in September 2008.
Acting
Blake and Martin's raw, unpolished chemistry carries every scene.
Direction
Handheld camera work that actually feels intentional, not trendy.
Writing
Ad-lib dialogue gives conversations dangerous, unpredictable energy.
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Wildside emerged during a golden age of Australian drama when networks still gambled on unpolished, adult storytelling before reality TV devoured everything.
The handheld camera technique wasn't budget convenience—it was a deliberate choice to mirror documentary-style crime coverage and unsettle viewers expecting polished procedurals.
AU
