The Brokenwood Mysteries has reached a milestone 10th season, so the Listener brought in some of those involved for questioning. Stars Fern Sutherland (Detective Kristin Sims) and Jarod Rawiri (DC Daniel Chalmers), and writer-producer Tim Balme look back at what has made the friendly detective drama that’s been exported around the world tick.
Be honest, did you expect this gig to be trucking on a decade later when you signed up?
TB: Certainly not. Back in 2013, there was a spate of series that only ran for a single season and procedural drama was supposedly not “cool” in the New Zealand television landscape. But turns out we had a zeitgeist moment and local audiences took a shine to it – followed by the French and beyond.
FS: Absolutely not. You learn not to expect anything when you work in film and telly, especially in New Zealand. It has been the most delightful and humbling surprise.
What are your memories of the first day at work?
TB: Being under the pump. I was writing as we went on that first season, writing three of the four scripts, so it was all a blur making sure we had something to shoot!
Mike [Shepherd, detective inspector] and Kristin were clear-cut characters from day one – we know who they are. But how do you think they’ve evolved over the years?
TB: Like all great characters, they evolve with casting. Mike is only the Mike we have because Neill Rea plays him, and the same for Kristin with Fern. As a writer, when you see what an actor brings to a role you can start writing to their strengths. Mike has become more open and generous and a better leader, whereas initially he was more of an “I alone can fix it” guy.
FS: I think Kristin’s evolution has been pretty pronounced. She’s gone from being completely by the book and conventional to more accepting of unorthodox techniques. She’s loosened up quite a bit, while doubling down on being fiercely protective of her colleagues. I think she’s definitely learnt to work smarter not harder from Mike, but she still gets a kick out of being nosey and she has never been able to let sleeping dogs lie.
What would have become of Mike if he hadn’t been assigned to that first Brokenwood mystery and then decided to hang around?
TB: He’d be lost in an office tower somewhere in Police HQ in middle management and hating it.
Who would Kristin be if she’d never met Mike?
FS: I think Mike trusts her implicitly and Kristin feels this. I also think she would be dead bored if Mike wasn’t around to constantly observe, to dissect his dating life and history of ex-wives.
TB: I don’t think she could imagine being a detective anywhere else. Which is good for us! Although there is always that fear she might meet someone who will whisk her back to the big smoke. We will have to keep an eye on that.
What’s the strangest place you’ve been recognised from the telly?
FS: I think while getting laser hair removal. Not strange, but kind of funny to be answering questions about the show while wearing safety goggles and my bikini line is smouldering.
What are your favourite murders?
TB: I love all my children equally.
Who actually comes up with the weird murders? Is it like a whiteboard list in the writers’ room?
TB: We don’t have a writer’s room. When I engage a writer(s) to work on a script, I ask them to come up with a scenario and I look at it in the context of the other five episodes in a season to make sure nothing is too similar. We then jam out a few what-ifs and I leave them to it. I’ve always felt trying to storyline these tele-features around a table would be too hard. Better for one writer or two to slog it out themselves. And it can be a slog, being so plot-heavy.
What’s been the most difficult day shooting?
FS: I think the day we were filming in some bush near a quarry and I was so cold my lips went blue, which was really hard for the makeup people to do anything about, and I couldn’t actually get my lines out because my brain stopped working.
Have there been weather disasters? Prop malfunctions?
TB: Brokenwood doesn’t mind the rain. We always shoot in winter anyway, and the town looks good with some climate. The only prop malfunctions are Jarod Rawiri’s suit pants. They’re always splitting. I need to revoke his gym membership.
FS: Almost the entire filming of season 10 was a weather disaster. The power going out on location because the generators aren’t working, getting rained into oblivion, animals misbehaving, getting vehicles stuck in the mud, Jarod splitting his pants trying to push a cop car out of a rut …
JR: I’ve had a wardrobe malfunction, which everyone loves to remind me of. It involves me splitting more than one pair of pants.
The show has famously been dubbed into French – are there particular New Zealand things that haven’t translated or have required some explanation?
TB: I made the decision not to subtitle the use of te reo, which we use a lot – like society does and is a more interesting place for it. I believe context is the best translator and the fanbase is so large now that they share what they’ve learned or divined on fan pages around the world. People are open to new things and te reo and Kiwi-isms are offered without the need to explain.
Making a show like this over time involves the work of a lot of people. Do you feel like a big family? Is Tim Balme everyone’s dad?
FS: Yes, yes and YES.
JR: Tim is like the dad who talks about his favourite band and musician every chance he gets.
TB: Man, that means I have a lot of children! But in some ways, I guess so. I’m certainly the captain of the waka.
What is it that keeps you on track and reminds you what the show is?
FS: The fans. They send through the most amazing messages of what the show means to them, and how it helps them connect with loved ones. It’s amazing the amount of people who love a telly show they can watch with their grandparents or people they care about without fear of something a bit racy coming on screen and ruining the vibe.
Is it about a balance of elements? Like, it’s a show about violent death, but the comedy is key to it …
TB: I think Brokenwood’s strength is the ability to pivot from pathos to comedy. But the comedy in Brokenwood only lands if it’s played straight. We are in essence a drama, but one that is allowed a smile now and then.
What can we expect from season 10?
TB: Dinosaurs, a Mexican Day of the Dead festival, a writers’ retreat, Jools Fahey on nitrous oxide, a teen horror film and an attempted resurrection. Oh, and a donkey.
The Brokenwood Mysteries’ 10th season begins on TVNZ 1, Sunday, June 16, 8.30pm and will stream on TVNZ+.
