The Doctor Blake Mysteries

A body found in the lake turns out to be a girl from the local reform school. Lawson immediately suspects a gang of local hoodlums who have connections to the girl and gets Constable Parks to make an arrest. Lawson's ready to charge him, but Blake isn't convinced and together he and district nurse Mattie O'Brien find out more about the reform school and the girl.

When a member of staff is found dead at the hospital, Lawson immediately suspects former morgue attendant Ron Jackson, who has vanished without trace. While the manhunt for Jackson begins, preparations for Anzac Day celebrations are underway in Ballarat. Lucien Blake encounters an old friend from the army at the colonial club. Major Derek Alderton is in town looking for two deserters, but that's all Blake's allowed to know.

Danny is directing traffic on the road out of town when a driver, seemingly drunk, narrowly avoids him and crashes. The driver, a travelling salesman staying at a Ballarat hotel, is pronounced dead at the scene. But it turns out it wasn't the crash that killed him - someone had hidden a snake in his car. When Danny is bitten by the snake too, Blake faces a rush to both find the murderer and save Danny by identifying the snake and the antidote.

Blake is called to a prisoner on death row who is delirious. The prisoner, Sean McBride, confessed to a murder long ago and pleaded guilty. But in McBride's delirium, Blake hears him say he didn't do it. With a signed confession, and with McBride maintaining his guilt when he recovers, Blake faces a struggle to find proof and convince Lawson that McBride should not hang. Meanwhile, outside the prison in Ballarat, tensions run high about the rights and wrongs of capital punishment and Blake finds himself out of his depth.

Doctor Lucien Blake, still a fish out of water in Ballarat, finds himself on the judging panel for the Begonia Festival. When one of his fellow judges is found dead in his burned-out greenhouse, the prime suspects are the head of the judging panel, Charles Griffith, and his rough-hewn local rival Nick Manos. Both seemingly have a motive, and Danny is only too keen to keep interviewing Nick Manos's beautiful daughter Maria about her father's whereabouts. But Blake feels there's more to this than a rivalry about begonias. Meanwhile, a letter arrives for Blake from Singapore, finally giving him some hope that his missing wife and daughter may still be alive.

Doctor Blake is called to Patrick Tyneman's shoe factory where a migrant worker has died using one of the machines. Initially it looks like an industrial accident, and Blake's enmity towards Tyneman leads to a showdown about safety practices and worker exploitation. But when the dust settles, Blake looks more closely into the politics and relationships of the workforce and begins to suspect foul play.

A psychiatric nurse is found murdered in a bathroom at the asylum, with a patient standing over her holding the murder weapon. When the inmate even confesses to the murder that's enough for Superintendent Lawson, but Blake isn't satisfied. It all looks too neat to him and he digs deep, causing trouble at the asylum in the process. Meanwhile at home, Blake continues to hide from Jean his grief about the search for his wife and child in Singapore.

When a contestant in a popular TV game show is electrocuted in his dressing room, Blake, in one of his more unusual cases, suspects foul play. Superintendent Lawson and the show's sponsor Patrick Tyneman - Blake's habitual adversary - both suspect the victim's opponent on the show, Simon Lo. Simon is certainly a difficult character, but Blake is convinced that part of the suspicion may be caused by prejudice, and sets out to make more detailed enquiries.

A prospector walks into the pub while Blake and Danny are playing darts and declares he's struck gold. Shortly afterwards he's found dead down his mineshaft and Blake - suffering from claustrophobia since the war - is obliged to go down there. Mattie is preparing to be bridesmaid at a wedding and is stunned when her friend's fiancé Russ is arrested for the murder. After a misdemeanour of his own, Blake finds himself locked up in the cells with Russ for the night.

Ballarat Hospital's only female doctor is found hanged at the hospital in an apparent suicide. If Blake can prove it isn't suicide there are several potential suspects, not least the hospital's untrustworthy chief surgeon Geoffrey Nicholson, a close friend of town bigwig Patrick Tyneman. Blake's antipathy towards both leads him to some seemingly obvious conclusions - but has he gone too far this time? Meanwhile, a telegram arrives for Blake with some news about his family.

Dr Lucien Blake has returned from Singapore without his daughter to find that Ballarat has changed in his absence. Danny has been moved on, replaced by a new constable who isn't yet trusted by the others at the station. Police are called to the town hall to find a councillor dead at the foot of the stairs. Blake suspects foul play, but he must be careful how closely he interferes as police top brass have noted Blake's unorthodox methods and are carefully monitoring procedure at the station.

A famous rock 'n' roll singer comes to Ballarat to perform, and the town goes wild for him. But when the star dies in an alleyway outside the venue, it falls to Dr Blake to investigate the mystifying circumstances, see past the murky intrigue of the singer's life and find the truth.

When the body of a man is found in a park, it falls to Dr Lucien Blake to use his unorthodox methods and find out not just how he died but also the man's true identity.

Cec Drury, the butler at the Colonists' Club, has just closed up for the night when a body appears out of nowhere from above, crashing onto the roof of the car in front of him. So begins one of Dr Blake's most unlikely and remarkable cases.

Jean is at the cinema when, to everyone's horror, there is a fire in the projection room and the projectionist, who couldn't get out, is burned to death. Dr Blake investigates and follows the trail to something murkier than even he had imagined. Meanwhile there is romance in the air for Jean with the brave fireman who tried to rescue the projectionist.

Jean attends a local funeral where the coffin is dropped, revealing not one but two bodies. Blake's investigations lead him to a previously unsuspected criminal underworld in Ballarat.

The school headmaster is found dead in his office and Blake's investigations stir up intrigue and demons from the past, particularly for chief of police Matthew Lawson, who was once a pupil at the school.

When a life model is found murdered at the start of a painting class, Dr Blake is drawn into a difficult and troubling investigation. He is consequently forced to confront his own family's past and his mother's history as an artist.

A priest is found in his confession booth, dead from suspected bee stings. The church's other priest has his own hives at the site. Is it possible he'd stoop so low to get promoted? Blake investigates in his characteristic style.

When a family are found slain at their breakfast table, Dr Lucien Blake knows something about the scene doesn't fit, but can't put his finger on it. Jean's wayward son returns unexpectedly and causes quite a stir in Blake's household.

A champion rower is thrown into the lake in celebration and never comes up again. Called in to investigate the cause of drowning, Dr Lucien Blake soon suspects foul play.

The death of a local farmer leads Blake to Ballarat's murky world of late-night backstreet gambling and two feuding brothers with contrasting fortunes.

A young woman is shot dead at a bonfire night celebration, and the police immediately arrest an Aboriginal boy she knew for her murder. He was standing near her with a gun in his hand - it looks cut and dried. But Blake realises there's more to the murder than meets the eye and challenges the racist bias of not only the police but the whole town.

When tensions flare up between local workers and some communist students, the students' leader is found dead the next morning on the Eureka stockade memorial. It falls to Blake to sift through the politics and intrigue and find the killer, while Mattie's relationship with her father becomes strained when he discovers she was friends with the communists.

A famous actress comes to the Colonists Club to perform in a fundraiser and stuns everyone by dropping dead onstage. Convinced the killer is still in the room, Chief Superintendent Munro locks all the doors and gives Blake just one night to prove himself by solving the murder.

One of Ballarat Hospital's most prominent surgeons is found dead on his own operating table. Investigating, Blake is drawn into a web of jealousy and sexual intrigue. Meanwhile, as Chief Superintendent Munro's enmity towards Blake continues, an old ally of Blake's returns from Melbourne.

Blake is called to a hotel where the owner has found a body in one of the rooms. His investigation takes in a shady business deal and a young woman in Mattie's care who has lost her memory after a car crash.

Patrick Tyneman's son Edward, freshly out of jail, is arrested again for the murder of a freemason. Everyone suspects Edward, but Blake puts aside his former rivalry with the Tynemans and, with help from his former police colleague Doug Lawson, tries to get inside the masonic lodge to investigate more closely.

Ballarat is hosting a stage of a prestigious cross-country motor race. When a mechanic is found dead underneath one of the cars, it's clear foul play is involved. Under pressure for the race to go ahead in a couple of days, Blake and Lawson must investigate quickly, but unfortunately they run into some trouble down at the motor yard.

A local businessman is found drowned in the swimming baths right after the grand unveiling of his plans for a local theme park about the Ballarat gold rush. Realising the death is suspicious, Blake begins untangling the victim's complicated personal life. And after Matthew's sudden departure, there's another chief superintendent to get to know.

When a lottery winner is kidnapped and held to ransom, Blake uses his keen instincts and personal touch to sift through the suspects. But there's something else on his mind as well.

An experienced jockey dies on the track when his horse throws him during practice. It doesn't take long to discover evidence of foul play, so Blake and Frank begin asking around Ballarat's shady bookmakers. Meanwhile Blake has problems of his own at home dealing with the repercussions of Mei Lin's unexpected arrival.

At Ballarat military base a soldier is killed on a routine training exercise. Investigating the tragedy, Blake comes face to face with the new base commander, his old nemesis Major Derek Alderton.

Frank is playing 18 holes on Ballarat golf course when another club member, a local newspaper reporter, turns up dead in one of the bunkers. Frank and Blake soon discover there is a lot more to local politics than meets the eye.

A firefighter falls from the bell tower of the Ballarat fire station. While it initially looks like a suicide, Blake suspects foul play, but he can't find the evidence to prove it. At home, even now Mei Lin has moved out, things remain complicated.

Everyone gathers at Ballarat Observatory to view the eclipse. In the darkness there is a commotion, and standing over a body as the lights are turned on is none other than Dr Lucien Blake. The finger of suspicion falls on him - even Chief Supt Frank Carlyle has no option but to put him in the cells, and Blake has his toughest case yet to find another suspect and prove his innocence.

An exhibition boxing match turns sour when one of the boxers is seemingly beaten to death in front of hundreds of witnesses. Blake must determine the cause of death.

The murder of a beautiful gypsy woman takes Blake inside the intriguing and exotic world of Romani travellers passing through Ballarat.

When a French Chef is found murdered in the freezer of a restaurant, suspicion soon turns to Bill Hobart. Can Blake clear Hobart's name, or is the Senior Sergeant guilty of brutally murdering a man?

When a controversial writer is found dead & her sister is found unconscious from a suspected suicide, Blake has to search out some truths about Ballarat in order to understand how & why the woman died.

When Blake is called to investigate the murder of a retired carpenter, his only real suspect is discovered praying over the body and covered in blood.

When the daughter of the school principal dies at her Debutante Ball, Blake does his best to investigate - despite being housebound.

As Blake investigates the murder of a farmer and a mysterious case of arson, an unlikely party suddenly throws his future with Jean into chaos.

The death of a policeman coincides with the reappearance of an old enemy, as the past and the present begin to finally catch up with Blake.