MAKE LIGHT OF THE SITUATION.

There’s a scene in the opening minutes of Madeleine Sami’s new show Deadloch, a crime-comedy set in a coastal Tasmanian town, in which the police commissioner finds out about a nude body on the beach. “She been sexually assaulted?” he asks. “The victim is male,” the (female) senior sergeant in charge of the crime scene responds, much to the commissioner’s surprise. The gender assumptions here sting. We’ve been served up enough crime dramas over the decades to assume that, of course, the helpless target would be female. Despite the fact that homicide victims in the real world are much more likely to be male. On top of that, we’re used to seeing casts, particularly anything involving cops and baddies, dominated by men with a few women as supporting characters. Deadloch flips the script on this. It’s female-led and until you see it, you don’t realise how conditioned we are. Delivered as a rollicking comedy, it’s a full throttle riotous watch, with deep themes. The talented Madeleine Sami is front and centre in a role she says just wouldn’t have been available 20 years ago. And she’s hilarious. Deputy editor Bridget Jones caught up with Sami to find out what brought her back to the screen after a period behind the lens.

Kia tau te rangimarie,

Frances Morton Editor