John Wood spills ‘Blue Heelers’ secrets in memoir ‘How I Clawed My Way To The Middle’

John Wood has opened up about why Blue Heelers was really axed and revealed why Lisa McCune was upset her character was killed off.

John Wood has opened up about the real reason Channel 7 chose to axe Blue Heelers.

The Gold Logie winner’s memoir How I Clawed My Way To The Middle was released today, and in it he reflects on why the police drama was dropped in 2006 even though it was outrating another Channel 7 show, All Saints.

In an interview with news.com.au to promote the book, Wood also revealed how Lisa McCune was “very disappointed” that her character Maggie Doyle was killed off, and shared shocking details from a dinner with a “rude” and “unpleasant” Channel 7 executive who referred to one of the Blue Heelers stars as a “b**ch”.

John Wood with William McInnes and Lisa McCune in Blue Heelers.

MAGGIE DOYLE’S DEATH

The death of Lisa McCune’s character Maggie Doyle was one of the most watched moments in Australian television history.

But according to Wood, the 2001 storyline “upset” McCune and she did her best to convince producers to let her character live.

“Lisa wanted to go on and pursue other things,” Wood told news.com.au. “She was a very young woman and she had a big future and she wanted to stretch her wings. I think she absolutely made the right decision.

“But I think she was very disappointed that they killed her off instead of allowing her the opportunity to come back at some point,” Wood continued. “I thought it was horrible the way they killed her, but that’s all blood under the bridge.”

McCune previously told news.com.au that she “felt really strongly that I wanted her to stay alive”, but then admitted that “looking back now they were probably right”.

John Wood and Lisa McCune in 1997.

DAVID LECKIE DINNER

In How I Clawed My Way To The Middle, Wood reveals shocking details from a dinner he and the cast of Blue Heelers had with then CEO of Seven Media, David Leckie.

“It was pretty horrible,” Wood told news.com.au about the encounter. “I had no opinion of him at all prior to meeting him at a dinner we had. I just found him rude and abrupt and unpleasant.”

Wood claims in the book that Caroline Craig, who played Tess Gallagher on the show, was late to the dinner and Leckie was outraged when he was told they were waiting on her.

The TV executive allegedly said to the entire cast: “Why the f**k are we waiting for her? We’ve sacked the b**ch, haven’t we?”

Speaking to news.com.au about the incident, Wood said: “It upset us all.

“We had no idea that she’d been sacked; we hadn’t a clue.

“It was said in such an unpleasant way. It just showed how little he cared about any of us.”

Wood told news.com.au that he carries no hatred for Leckie and added: “I only met him that once, and as I said, I found him unpleasant.”

Caroline Craig in Blue Heelers.

David Leckie. Picture: Flavio Brancaleone/AAP

BLUE HEELERS AXED

After 12 years, Channel 7 announced in early 2006 that Blue Heelers had been axed. And Wood told news.com.au it had a lot to do with the fact the network had just paid $780 million to broadcast the AFL for five years.

“The money they paid for the footy was enough to do Blue Heelers for another 75 years!” Wood said. “When footy became that expensive, it became the death knell (for Australian drama shows) in a way.”

Wood said he was “very disappointed” that Blue Heelers was axed, particularly given it was outrating another Channel 7 drama at the time which wasn’t axed.

“They had the choice of dropping Blue Heelers or All Saints and they chose to let Blue Heelers go because it was a Southern Star production and All Saints was a Channel 7 production,” Wood said. “So they kept their own production and let Blue Heelers go, even though Blue Heelers was rating better than All Saints.”

Wood claimed Blue Heelers producers asked to be given 12 episodes “to tie up a lot of loose ends” on the show, but Channel 7 only agreed to give them six episodes.

“It was disappointing they wouldn’t allow the show to finish in the way the producers would have liked,” Wood told news.com.au.

Cast of Blue Heelers.

GOLD LOGIE WIN

After nine consecutive Gold Logie nominations without a win, John Wood finally won the award in 2006.

By that stage it had already been announced that Blue Heelers had been axed, and he used his acceptance speech to have a dig at Channel 7 for its decision to abandon the show.

“I think I said that I was really disappointed that the network had withdrawn its support,” Wood said to news.com.au about his speech. “I was disappointed after 12 years of being one of the highest rating shows in history and one of their biggest money earners.”

As he criticised Channel 7 on stage at Aussie TV’s night of nights, Wood said he locked eyes with David Leckie who was sitting in the crowd.

“He looked absolutely furious,” Wood recalled. “It looked like he could have killed me if he’d been able to get off his table.”

Wood told news.com.au that Channel 7 made it clear they were less than impressed with his acceptance speech.

“Usually there’s cards and champagne and god knows what (when you win a Logie),” Wood said. “But no, nothing (from Channel 7), not a thing.

“I think I was persona non grata with the network already by then.”

John Wood holding his Gold Logie award statue in 2006.

How I Clawed My Way To The Middle, published by Penguin Random House, is in bookstores now RRP $34.99. It is also available as an audiobook via Audible

Originally published as John Wood spills ‘Blue Heelers’ secrets in memoir ‘How I Clawed My Way To The Middle’