Deadloch stars Kate Box and Madeleine Sami in a wildly ridiculous comedy about a couple of cops in Tasmania with a serial killer on their hands. The two stars are absolute comedy genius together, but manage to have a few serious moments in which to solve the crimes.
Deadloch is a town full of lesbians and feminists, warring colonizers and natives, and a quickly diminishing population of toxic masculinity.
Dulcie (Kate Box) is the local police, with help from Abby (Nina Oyamaa) and Sven (Tom Ballard). They run a small police station where nothing much happens.
Dulcie is married to Cath (Alicia Gardiner), a pushy and needy woman who works with animals. Abby is engaged to the coroner (Nick Simpson-Deeks), a man who treats her like she’s an idiot. Sven is as flaming gay as it gets.
The tranquility in this small town is destroyed when the first body turns up. A man with his tongue cut out who has been strangled appears out of the water and floats onto the beach.
Dulcie (who was a detective in Darwin) isn’t trusted by the higher ups to solve the murder. They send a detective named Eddie to handle the case. Eddie is a woman (Madeleine Sami). She’s foul-mouthed, overbearing, completely incompetent, and in no way cop-like. A total buffoon.
A buffoon Dulcie is stuck with.
As more and more men surface from the ocean with tongues cut out and strangulation marks around their necks, Dulcie and Eddie run through about 20 different suspects, arrest a lot of innocent people, cause a lot of mayhem, and finally get to the answers.
Somehow Dulcie transforms Eddie into a semblance of a police officer. She doesn’t get her all the way there, but by the end of the 8th episode, Eddie isn’t as overblown as a character. And they find the killer.
Pamela Rabe is the rich white lady who likes to give scholarships to native girls and support feminists in the town. Kris McQuade plays the wife of the first murder victim they find. There’s a woman mayor, a woman chef, a native woman activist, and a teen girl who is better at football than any of the boys in town. The series features lots of women characters surrounded by men who are mostly misogynistic clowns.
With so many women’s roles in this one, it’s a bit of a Wentworth reunion for the cast. I support any series with a largely female cast!
Deadloch was created by comedy team Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan. May they create many more towns teeming with lesbians! It’s broad, raunchy, fast, and punchy. There’s a serious message amid all the comedy, which is what saves the series and makes it worthwhile.
Plus, Kate Box is simply phenomenal in this.
The women directors working on the series were Beck Cole and Gracie Otto.
The series is on Prime Video. All of season 1 is available to watch now. The red band trailer is on YouTube. I really enjoyed this one and sincerely hope there’s a new season in the works with Madeleine Sami and Kate Box doing their shtick in pursuit of a new criminal.
Wow. Just finished the whole season and cannot wait for season 2. I had so many laugh out loud moments. That a cappella choir was hysterical. We need to see more from them. I found most of the actors and characters very likable. I love stories where you are literally rooting for multiple characters at the same time. I agree that Kate Box is phenomenal. I loved Abby and Sven so much too. Brilliant.
It will be a favorite of mine forever. Happy to hear you liked it, too.
I tried to watch it tonight and quit after about 20 minutes, during the scene in the police station the next day. But even before that moment I was thinking “Doc Martin with cops but without the dog”. Maybe the dog will arrive later.
That’s all anyone needs to know, Doc Martin with cops and you’re either in or you’re out. I’m out.
That extra broad comedy at the beginning is not for everyone. I’m all for not watching something when it isn’t your thing.
I almost quit as well but was glad I pushed through the first couple of episodes, awesome show. It was only the one character that drove me mad.
this was a fun series from start to finish. LOVED these characters especially Ms. Box. a second series cant get here fast enough.
Right this minute would work for me.