The stadium is packed. The atmosphere is electric.

A silver microphone is lowered into the middle of a boxing ring, into the centre of a spot-lit glow.

The crowd falls silent, sudden anticipation abruptly halting their hand-claps and choking their chants, as if a silent spell has been cast.

A tuxedoed, Brylcreamed man takes the mike in his hand, sweeps it to his lips and, boom like thunder, his voice pierces every eardrum in the room.

Welcome to fight night – where the greatest battles on earth sort the men from the boys! What a contest we have for you tonight ...

I hope you’re not scared of blood, because this is going to get messy.

In the red corner, we have The Strip – lean, mean and mighty unclean, direct from the gutters of glitzy Surfers Paradise.

And in the blue corner, we have that cocky little city kid, who thinks he’s so good he only needs a one-word name: Rush!

Ready now, here they are facing off and ... FIGHT!

Yes, it’s been Aussie police dramas at 20 paces for the latter half of 2008’s ratings season and these two have been pitted head-to-head – or so the marketers would have you believe.

Truthfully, comparing The Strip (Nine, Thursdays, 8.30pm) and Rush (Ten, Tuesdays, 9.30pm) is like weighing up whether or not you’d like milk or battery acid in your tea.

Let’s break it down.

PREMISE

“The Strip is the hub of the Gold Coast, inhabited by the bold and the beautiful, the rich and the desperate and all those simple battlers who have followed their own dreams of paradise.

“The lure of a wonderful wealthy lifestyle has brought those who have it, those that want it, and the criminals who will take it if they can.

“Rush is an action drama series set in a new critical-incident response police unit. They're trained to be smarter, tactically superior and technologically advantaged – Melbourne's take on a cutting-edge trend in policing worldwide.

“Rush is an insider's view of police under pressure – defusing crises, saving lives, preventing crime rather than catching the bad guys after the deed is done.”

Ho-hum. At this point, The Strip clearly wins on the cliche scale. Extra points for use of the words “dreams of paradise” and “the bold and the beautiful”.

LOCATION

The Strip: Gold Coast.

Rush: Melbourne.

Sure, the Goldy has its share of spoilt little rich kids going all gangsta while crying over their spilt milk or toolies wreaking havoc with poor, impressionable kiddies come November, but, sorry, you ain’t gonna compete with Melbourne on the crime scale.

Um, hello, that’s where Underbelly happened, that’s where there are usually more shootings than pasta dinners on Lygon Street and that’s where Eddie McGuire AND Sam Newman live. That’s right, scary!

CAST

The Strip: Aaron Jeffery, Frankie J Holden, a whole heap of unknowns and Home & Away cast-offs.

Rush: Rodger Corser, Callan Mulvey, Catherine McClements, Samuel Johnson.

Rush’s trainers, Network Ten, lose major points – and maybe even a disqualification probe via the Court of Arbitration for Sport – not only for recycling their Underbelly stars in Corser and Mulvey, but for confusing viewers by putting them on the same side in Rush, when they were enemies in Underbelly.

Despite this, strong, believable performances prove hard work pays off. Great tension, great control and a captivating performance.

The Strip, however, just didn’t show up on this count – a sheet of wet cardboard would have been more animated.

LOOK

The Strip: glitzy and glossy, just like its location. But plastic melts in that harsh Gold Coast sun and just ends up looking ugly.

Rush: raw but crisp, with lots of shaky, hand-held, doco-style filming. Do they seriously think viewers actually get confused about whether or not they are watching Cops or a highly stylised TV production?

Rush is VERY unsteady on its feet, and while footwork and movement are excellent traits in the boxing ring, which is where we are, after all, they do not work so well for queasy viewers!

A dead heat, with melted plastic and vomit crossing the line simultaneously here. I told you it would be messy.

SCRIPT

The Strip: (example) Aaron Jeffery is going through a nasty marriage break-up. He pops around to his ex’s and is confronted by her.

“I’m tryin’ to save my marriage and I thought you would feel the same ... I never took you for a quitter.”

Bo-ring. These writers should give The Bold and the Beautiful a ring if they’re going to churn out rot like that.

Rush: (example) Catherine McClements is going through a nasty marriage break-up. She nicks her ex’s golf clubs.

They are seen in the back of her car during a scene with Rodger Corser. They are given a cursory glance and talked about briefly, then the scene moves on.

It’s handled skilfully and left as a tasty undercurrent that has the viewer wanting more.

PEDIGREE

The Strip: Knapman Wyld, producer of Wildside and East West 101.

Rush: created by John Edwards – he of Secret Life of Us, Love My Way, Police Rescue, The Surgeon, Fireflies, Big Sky and Stringer.

Rush wins. Hands down. ’Nuff said.

VERDICT

Rush by a total knockout. Ding ding ding!

— REBECCA MARSHALL