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"Water Rats" (1996) More at IMDb Pro »

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6 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Great show!, 19 February 2005
Author: agnelin

I know that "Water Rats" was over a while ago now in Australia, but it's playing here at the moment and I'm completely hooked to it. It's entertaining, the stories are usually well written and keep the interest until the final credits, and the characters seem and act like real people not just some stereotypes you throw in to make an action-police show. My favorite is Rachel Goldstein. I like the personal stories of all the characters too.

I have to admit that another reason why I love this show so much is the beautiful sceneries of Sydney. I've heard that one of the aims was to attract more tourists to Sydney, and I wasn't surprised to hear that it worked.

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
wonderful sea water police soap, 13 March 2003
Author: bengleson from British Columbia

"Water Rats" has been one of my small guilty viewing pleasures these past few years. It plays at 1500 hrs each weekday, a time I am rarely home. I don't tape it, prefering to accidently stumble across it on the few occasions I might be home in the afternoon. Aside from the great characters and the magnificent Sydney harbour, what I most enjoy is the view, hopefully reflective of the lives of Australians, of the city, the lives of the people, and the similarity to what I imagine many Canadian lives are like. Well, without the amazing amount of crime they seem to have. This has been a very satisfying show to occasionally glimpse. Like many, the sudden passing of the Rachel Goldstein character a couple of years ago was a challenge to this soap opera patron's emotional equilibrium. As a final note, I would like to suggest that this show would do well in Canuck prime time.

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Awesome, 18 February 2002
Author: Rain4230 from Malaysia

One word can describe this series... Awesome! I really like the show esp from Season 1-4 when Friels and McClements is still in... But even after that it's good too... Too bad it'd been axed...

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Finally A Cop Show That Is Down To Earth, 25 March 1999
Author: Christopher D. BORDEN (cpborden@uniserve.com) from Fort St. John BC Canada

Hooked since day one and hope that one of our national carriers completes the series. A great import that can hold its head high. This is a series that catches your attention and doesn't need a pile of special effects to keep your interests alive. The characters are believeable and admirable. Long live the "RATS".

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
GREAT, 24 September 1998
Author: anonymous from Oslo,Norway

Whenever I watch an "action-series", I always end up thinking;-Is this the way it really is? Is this how it happens? Well, probably not, but it`s entertaining, so I keep watching. "Water Rats", however is different. The events are "real", the characters are "real". I think it`s quite easy to identify yourself with the everyday problems the detectives have to deal with. I`d watch "Water Rats" rather than "NYPD Blue" anyday. I love it! It`s just GREAT!!

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Splendid, splendid, 21 September 2006
9/10
Author: sarastro7 from Denmark

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

What's so good about Water Rats? Well - the actors. The realism. The believable emotions involved. The fallible human face of the police. Years ago, when I watched a lot of television, I often noticed that most of the best TV series were Canadian or Australian. Better stories, better acting, everything just feels more real and more intelligent. Water Rats is a prime example of this. All the characters feel real. When the cops cut corners and reluctantly break the rules, you can understand it. You can sympathize. You can see it from their point of view. Once in a while the good guys have to play dirty, because all the bad guys do. And the performances of everybody involved in this show, from the actors to the directors to the production crew, are just superb.

As a dyed-in-the-wool sci-fi freak, I'm actually not a big fan of realism. And certainly not of cop shows. Except when it's done really well! And Water Rats scores on this account. When Goldie died, I totally did not see it coming. Sure, I could see something ominous was building up, but I was sure it was the guy she was with that would buy the farm. How could they kill HER?! I was so upset I had to call up a friend (whom I knew to be watching it at the same time) and talk about it, despite it being close to midnight.

I hear the show was produced as a kind of export product, to attract tourists to Australia. Well, lemme tell ya: It works! I haven't been there yet, but the show sure does give me the urge to go. I love the whole Aussie national atmosphere, not least of all the accent! I hope to be able to afford the complete DVD set of Water Rats someday. My life will be pretty much complete if I can slip an episode into the DVD player every night before I hit the sack. Oh yeah!

9 out of 10. Only cop show I could ever even consider rating so highly.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Sadly missed TV series - SPOILERS, 5 October 2004
Author: catorose13 from Sonoma, California, USA

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

When I first moved to Australia, I had very limited choices of what to watch on TV back in 1998 -- as a deaf viewer, I required captionings to be able to follow shows through. "Water Rats" and a few others had captions, so I was immediately hooked to "Water Rats" from the first episode I ever saw. I only saw a couple eps with Colin Friels and it was different once Steve Bisley came into the picture as the replacement, as Jack Christey, still he did a fantastic job. He and Catherine McClements made a wonderful team, both professionally and personally. I stopped watching "Water Rats" after the episode, "A Day At the Office" where Catherine's character, Rachel "Goldie" Goldstein was stabbed to death. :( The story lines and the basis of the show simply fell apart when Goldie departed. I did watch here and there, but it just didn't hold the same intensity as it did before Goldie went. The last ep was a bit laughable when Bisley's 'Christey' died in the ocean after being shot. Still, I reckon the show would've done better if the writers hadn't killed Goldie off and change the layout and story lines.

RIP "Water Rats: - that show will always be a memorable part of my heart.

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Great show!, 30 October 2005
10/10
Author: Rach86 from Sydney

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Water Rats would have to be one of my all time favourite shows, not only because it's Australian, but because it had a wonderful cast/crew as well as the beautiful backdrop of Sydney Harbour. The Australian cop show began in 1996 and continued until 2001, when it was cancelled by Channel Nine.

The show's main stars, Colin Friels (Detective Senior Constable Frank Holloway) and Catherine McClements (Detective Senior Constable Rachel Goldstein) made the show a huge hit, not only in its home country but around the world as well. Their chemistry was electric and so believable, that some loyal viewers sat in their lounge rooms every Tuesday night and waited patiently for something to happen between Frank and Rachel. This however, like many other TV shows, did not happen (much to the dismay of viewers – including myself). Water Rats continued with the partnership of Friels and McClements, until season four, when Friels decided to leave because of his ongoing battle with cancer. The episode, Tomorrow Never Comes was an emotional one, when in the end, Frank decided to leave the Water Police and sail to Venezuela. Emotions were high as Rachel stood on the pier and watched him leave with tears streaming down her face. But, the show went on, and Steve Bisley came back into the scene as Detective Sergeant Jack Christey, and Aaron Pederson was the new cast member, with his role as Detective Senior Constable Michael Reilly.

Water Rats' ratings did not drop when Friels decided to call it a day, but when McClements did, it found itself struggling to pick up the once soaring ratings. McClements' last major episode A Day at the Office, was again, another emotional one. Rachel and Jack's hidden tryst was revealed when Rachel accidentally answers Jack's mobile phone one morning (while in bed with him), when she thought that it was hers. Now that the affair was out, just about everyone at the office was giving them a hard time (particularly Michael to Rachel). By the end of the episode, Rachel is stabbed and dies in the arms of Jack ... her lover. What was even sadder about the ending was Rachel's last words – "Is that Frank?" With that, came, what I think, the death of Water Rats. I watched as it struggled to capture its audience as it once did, and was quite disappointed with its final episode, Cats and Pigeons. Still, Water Rats will always have a place on my TV screen, even if it's only repeats of the first four seasons.

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Watch an episode or two and get hooked., 9 August 2005
Author: terry-327 from Canada

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I'm second time around on this series now and still loving it.

I do have a couple of questions and this is where the ***spoilers*** come in:

1. What happened to Sgt. Dave McCall? He was there one episode and not the next. No explanation as to his whereabouts ever after. The series was usually pretty good about explaining where people had gone; permanently or otherwise. Never a mention of the 'Diving Sgt.'

2. Also,what happened to Sr. Constable Tommy Tavita. Like McCall, he just disappeared.

As I mentioned I'm going around for the second time on this series and have not seen an explanation for either of these two regulars departing.

Has anyone?

***End of spoiler.***

Thanks,

Terry

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Of its time..., 17 June 2005
Author: lympog from Ireland

I must say, I loved this show - it was very much an Australian show of its time. Everything from its stories that would always build up to end-of-season climaxes to the dodgy eighties-alike guitar music, let's not forget any 'love' scenes with Colin Friels where the turned blue... But if you have to admire some great stories and some excellent performances from Colin Friels, Catherine McClements and later on Steve Bisley in the leads roles of Frank Holloway, Rachel Goldstein and Jack Christie respectively. In Ireland it is currently being repeated and is bringing back a lot of good memories and I just hope it gets released on DVD other here soon.

- Leigh O'Gorman

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