Deirdre Elaine "Dash" McKinley is a fictional character from the Australian drama series ''

Blue Heelers ''Blue Heelers'' is an Australian police drama series that was produced by Southern Star Group and ran for 12 years on the Seven Network, from 1994 to 2006. Although based around the policing of the town, the series generally depicted the ever ...

'', played by

Tasma Walton Tasma Walton (born 19 August 1973) is an Australian television and film actress. Acting career Walton joined local radio station 6GE and trained as a production assistant and copy writer in her home town. She was accepted into the National Ins ...

. She made her first appearance in "The Kremin Factor", which was broadcast on 18 June 1996. One of her major storylines occurred during the 1998 season, when she was diagnosed with cancer. Dash was the youngest of nine children. She had a kind personality but a big mouth. She and her family always seemed to be the first to know the town's gossip and everyone's business. The character departed on 28 July 1999. She is the eleventh longest serving character after

Tom Croydon Thomas Arthur "Tom" Croydon is a fictional character in the long-running Australian police drama ''Blue Heelers'', portrayed by John Wood. A long-serving member of the police force, Tom has decades of experience of being a police officer in a sma ...

, Chris Riley, P.J. Hasham,

Maggie Doyle Maggie Doyle is a fictional character in the long-running Australian police drama ''Blue Heelers'', portrayed by Lisa McCune. A feisty young constable from a policing family, Maggie arrived in Mount Thomas during the first episode, which follow ...

Ben Stewart Benjamin Richard Stewart is a Canadian politician, who has represented the riding of Kelowna West in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia since 2018 as a member of the British Columbia Liberal Party. He previously represented the ridin ...

, Nick Schultz,

Jo Parrish Jo Parrish is a fictional character from the Australian television police drama ''Blue Heelers'', played by Jane Allsop. She made her first appearance during the sixth season episode "Hello Goodbye", broadcast on 18 August 1999. The character lef ...

, Evan Jones, Adam Cooper and

Tess Gallagher (Blue Heelers) Tess Gallagher is a fictional character in the Australian television series ''Blue Heelers'', portrayed by Caroline Craig from 2000 to 2003. She arrived after Maggie Doyle's death. She arrives as the new Sergeant at Mount Thomas, taking Ben Stewa ...

Casting

On 27 April 1996, Rachel Browne from ''

The Sun-Herald ''The Sun-Herald'' is an Australian newspaper published in tabloid or compact format on Sundays in Sydney by Nine Publishing. It is the Sunday counterpart of ''The Sydney Morning Herald''. In the 6 months to September 2005, ''The Sun-Herald' ...

'' reported Walton had joined the cast of ''Blue Heelers'' as Constable Deirdre McKinley. She added that Walton's first scenes would air in June of that year. In December 1998, Walton announced her departure from the series. Browne stated the actress would leave in the middle of 1999.

Storylines

Season 4

Dash first appeared in the season three episode "The Kremin Factor". She refused to call

'boss', instead calling her superior by his first name. She and Tom got off to a dreadful start; while talking to the others about Tom, Dash stated that he was fat and old, not knowing he was behind her. Dash also couldn't drive, losing her police licence back at Fitzroy.

Season 5

The beginning of Season 5 the episodes "Secrets, part 1 and 2" marked Dash's 21st birthday. At the same time her Constable accreditation had come through (ending her probation) and the Heelers decided to use the two occasions to have a surprise celebration to mark the events. Unfortunately before the upcoming celebration, Dash is taken hostage, along with a school class in an awkward custody case. Later on in the season, in the episode "Deed not the Breed" she discovers she has cancer; she then undergoes heavy chemotherapy, and eventually recovers. She also has a brief relationship with Adam Cooper.

Season 6

In the official sixth season of ''Blue Heelers'', Dash quickly found herself pursuing relationships with the new members, eventually falling to her knees over the idea of fulfilling the future needs as a hopeful co-detective alongside the upper-ranked PJ. This idea was first prompted upon the orders of Inspector Monica Draper, who at the time appeared to have a serious personality clash with rising rank ' Taylor '. This would soon give McKinley her very first chance, submitting herself towards the idolised career choice. Unfortunately in doing this, McKinley's hopeful career would somewhat fall short and ironically come to a sudden end following the shocking death of her very close Mother.

Reception

For her portrayal of Dash, Walton won Most Popular New Talent at the 1997

Logie Awards The Logie Awards (officially the TV Week Logie Awards; colloquially known as The Logies) is an annual gathering to celebrate Australian television, sponsored and organised by the magazine ''TV Week''. The first ceremony was held in 1959 as the ...

. Following Dash's introduction, Robin Oliver of ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' said "The Heelers adroitly acquired a bit of popular silliness with the arrival of the good-looking, good-hearted young Dash (Tasma Walton), a walking disaster area who this week is sent on a burglary inquiry and is overcome with desire to own the victim's car."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKinley, Deirdre 'Dash' Blue Heelers characters Fictional Australian police officers Television characters introduced in 1996