8:30pm Sunday, October 24 on TV One
Robbie Coltrane (Harry Potter) and Sharon Small (Mistresses) star in tonight’s Sunday Theatre: Murderland at 8.30pm on TV ONE, a knife-edge thriller about revenge, redemption and rough justice, which looks at one murder told from three different perspectives.
Coltrane, best known for his roles as the children’s literature icon Hagrid in the Harry Potter films, and as the star of gritty detective series, Cracker is clear that there’s no comparison between his roles in Cracker and Murderland. Talking to Telegraph.co.uk he says, “you can’t compare Hain with Fitz. Firstly, Murderland isn’t about police procedure, and secondly, Hain isn’t a psychologist. What you’re talking about is a man who just happens to be a policeman.”
Coltrane continues, “the interesting thing about Hain is that he’s not a very interesting character. He’s not fabulously clever. He’s not a great policeman. He’s not hugely charismatic. I’d describe him as a kind-of Chekhovian character. He’s an ordinary bloke, to whom extraordinary things have happened. Which is quite hard to play, I have to say.”
Coltrane believes the audience will engage with Carrie’s powerful and harrowing quest for the truth, but will also find focus in the character of Hain himself.
The OBE awarded actor expands on his role, “he’s a man who feels things very deeply. He’s surrounded by a culture, the police culture of the Nineties, that doesn’t feel things deeply. He’s surrounded by guys who are only interested in getting the facts and the figures.”
Not that he’s criticising the emotional distance that many in the police service can put between themselves and terrible cases they investigate: “You can’t be a cop and not develop that distance. My dad was a police surgeon, and he used to regularly pull dead people out of the Clyde and then come home for his tea.”
Murderland tells a traumatic murder story through the eyes of three central characters: Carrie, the daughter of the murdered woman (Bel Powley/Amanda Hale), the detective Hain (Robbie Coltrane) and Sally, the murder victim (Lucy Cohu).
As the investigation unfolds, Carrie’s yearning to discover who murdered her mother becomes obsessive, bringing her closer to Hain. In the end, Carrie holds the key to the killer, but is the past sometimes better laid to rest when those you trust have the most to hide?
Missed Sunday Theatre: Murderland? Full episodes are available online. Go to tvnz.co.nz and click the ‘Ondemand’ button.
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