Dominic Purcell gets shipwrecked in NZ

Domnic Purcell stars in the telefeature Abandoned.

He's the odd man out in the crew of the Rose Noelle. Telefeature Abandoned dramatises the much-recounted story of how, in 1989, the trimaran bound for Tonga from Picton was overturned by a freak wave and the four men aboard spent a tense 119 days adrift before coming ashore on Great Barrier Island.

Australian star Dominic Purcell plays Jim Nalepka, the American who skipper John Glennie took on as cook.

Nalepka was the least experienced sailor but is played by the highest-profile actor among the quartet which includes familiar local faces Peter Feeney (Glennie), Greg Johnson (Phil Hofman, a role he also took in a stage play about the saga) and Owen Black (Rick Hellriegel).

It's Purcell's name that is being used to sell the New Zealand On Air-backed film overseas.

The Sydneysider is best known for his role as Lincoln Burrows in American series Prison Break — a role he's returning to in a 10-episode revival of the show, announced after TimeOut talked to Purcell on the last day of the Abandoned shoot. Some of that involved the main cast being perched on the production's own yacht off the Tutukaka Coast.

Purcell and Prison Break co-star Wentworth Miller have also been appearing as villains in the first season of hit superhero TV series The Flash - his baddie Heat Wave will also appear in the Flash/Arrow spin-off series Legends of Tomorrow.

"The powers that be decided 'we're on to a good thing here. Let's develop a TV show for them and for other characters'."

Purcell had been confined to a cell for the first season of

Prison Break

, but that was spacious compared to the trimaran interiors — shot with its upside down cabin in a water tank.

The trimaran Rose Noelle leaving Picton on June 1 on a voyage which ended on the rocks of Great Barrier Island four months later.

"I knew it was going to be a brutal shoot and it certainly was that. I wouldn't call it fun. It's been taxing, gruelling, intense work"

Life on the ocean wave wasn't always pleasant either.

"I have surfed my whole life, but the first day I put a [anti sea-sick] patch on, thankfully. All the crew were chucking and it was a funny, surreal kind of day. "One of the actors was throwing up constantly during the day — he managed to get it together for a take and once cut was called he would go back over the side and puke and get ready for the next scene. It was actually very, very amusing."

The telefeature also gave Purcell a break from his usual action bloke roles.

"Jim as a character wasn't as verbose as the other guys. He had a much more gentle kind of quality to him, a calming influence over the guys — which was a good opportunity for me because I am always playing very physically intimidating roles and it was just nice to drop down a few gears and kind of play it real." Russell Baillie

• Abandoned screens on TV One, Sunday, 8.30pm