One of Australia’s favourite actors, Gold Logie award-winning Craig McLachlan (Heroes’ Mountain, NCIS LA, Hating Alison Ashley) will star alongside Nadine Garner (City Homicide, Metal Skin, Mull) in a new 10-part ABC TV crime drama series The Dr Blake Mysteries, which starts shooting in Melbourne on April 16.
The series is set in the Victorian country town of Ballarat in 1959. Craig McLachlan plays Dr Lucien Blake, who is not only the local GP, but is also the town’s police surgeon, which means he often finds himself investigating deaths – both natural and unnatural. Keeping him in check is hishousekeeper / receptionist Jean, played by Nadine Garner.
Also starring Joel Tobeck (Sons of Anarchy, Tangle), Cate Wolfe (Australia on Trial) and Rick Donald (Blood Brothers, Underbelly), the series will be produced by Tony Wright and George Adams of December Media, for ABC TV.
“George Adams and I are both lifelong aficionados of themurder mystery genre in all its forms. It’s beyond exciting to be producing our own for the ABC!”, says Tony Wright.
Carole Sklan, ABC TV Head of Fiction, says, “December Media have created the brilliant, irreverent Dr Blake, and assembled an outstanding cast and creative team. Through the eyes of the maverick doctor, the series captures 1959 Australia on the cusp of change.”
Dr Blake is a former army medical officer and POW, who returns home after decades away to take over his recently deceased father’s medical practice. Outwardly, Dr Blake is the community’s moral compass in an age of change. Privately, he is a man cursed with firsthand knowledge of man’s inhumanity to man. Only a few understand his sly humour and see through his ever-present psychological suit of armour.
Everyone trusts the doctor. They tell him everything. And he has a damned good nose for things left unsaid. Dr Lucien Blake is sharp as a tack and sly as a fox.
The City of Ballarat, 115km north-west of Melbourne, will be the backdrop for the period drama and shooting will run from April until August. The Dr Blake Mysteries will screen on ABC1 in 2013.