By Glen Williams
Pictures: David Hahn.
She may have joked about squeezing into her old
Cop Shop uniform in a recent Jenny Craig ad, but there was no tight fit for Paula Duncan when she actually did it for
Woman's Day's 60th anniversary — and she even fooled some real police!
"I walked into the Gordon Police station in Sydney dressed like this and they thought I was the new constable, although they said I was wearing the wrong uniform," laughs Paula, who played sexy undercover cop Danni Francis in the widely successful TV series that dominated our screens from 1977-1984.
Paula Duncan was a popular
Woman's Day cover girl in the 1970s and has won a staggering seven Logie Awards. Sadly three of them were stolen. These days she's devoted to working for several charities and is looking to return to series TV. Oh, and yes, she's that kooky lady in Spray 'n' Wipe commercials.
Did you enjoy doing publicity for Cop Shop?
Back then we had relationships with our journalists. The deal was, if you turned up on time and you co-operated and you didn't lie then they would love that. There was a great deal of perspective. We had these rules and the journos would pick up on that and do the right thing by us. We were also taught to have respect for journalism. We were also taught it's all well and good to be fabulous and an actor in
Cop Shop, but if the series didn't rate it wouldn't last.
Do you think you're best remembered for Danni?
A lot of people would say that, but I get a lot of people coming up to me and wanting to talk to me about Lorelei Wilkinson in
Prisoner and a lot of people call me Carol from bloody
Richmond Hill. But others remember me for being Dannii Minogue's mother in
Home And Away. I was a horrible character in that. Then I played Alan Dale's lover in
Neighbours. Then I went up to
Paradise Beach with Michael Caton, then
Breakers. But in between I did theatre. And the young people remember me as the mad lady in the Spray 'n' Wipe ad. Spray 'n' Wipe never leaves me. The public love it because it's funny.
And romance blossomed between you and Cop Shop co-star John Orcsik?
We're still best friends. We're as close as you can get. I will love him until the day I die. He comes up and stays here and I stay with him in Melbourne. Whenever I have a personal drama, he's the first one to come in.
Would you get involved in another TV series?
I would now. I shied away from it for quite a long time because I wanted to get into the film industry. And it's hard when I've done so many soaps and you're known as a soapy star. I've been someone's lover, wife, mother and when you start to be someone's grandmother it gets a bit off.
Is it true you've had three Logies stolen?
Yes, I won seven. I loaned three to the police for an exhibition called Cops Off The Block exhibition it was on in Melbourne at the old Russell Street headquarters. My daughter said don't loan them all, so I just put three in. Then when the exhibition moved from Melbourne to Sydney they were stolen. The police were mortified. They did all they could to find out what happened to them. So if anyone knows where my Logies are, please let me know.
Return to the Woman's Day 1970s page 
