Deadloch
Amazon Prime | ★★★★★

I like a pun as much as anyone, but with Deadloch on Amazon Prime they’ve gone above and beyond with a double. Deadloch, the name of the sleepy remote town in Tasmania where this is set, has some DEAD bodies washing up on the LOCH.

And the principal characters, two lesbian detectives, are like all buddy-cop tropes, in deadlock.

Now why mention their sexuality, is it really important? Well, yes actually, it really is. It’s integral to the characterisations, interrelationships, situation, even plotting.

This is how you do diversity, not just chucking in people from previously under-represented groups at random as a chum to appease the culture police.

2022 02 10 Deadloch Ep1 0634. Bradley Patrick Susie Youssef as Aleyna Rahme

Susie Youssef as Aleyna Rahme (Photo: Amazon Prime)

Instead, there’s a freshness here, nothing feels forced, which allows for insight to blossom.

The setting is a previously somewhat backward ’burb, of the type where “girls would see through their pregnancies”, which has become a mecca for rich mainlanders. Particularly, it seems, from the lesbian community.

As such there’s some tension with the more stereotypical Ozzie small-town types, some embracing by them, and lots of gentle ribbing about what it’d be like if the pivotal roles of vet, police chief, mayor and others were gay women.

An abundance of recycling, overtly sexual all-female choirs, continual hand-delivered meals from spouses, compost heaps, and overindulged pets fill the background, while the foreground is taken up with a serial-killer murder mystery a la Broadchurch.

It’s not surprising to learn that the show creators, Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan, actually took that as inspiration, but with their background in the Australian comedy scene, they’ve also bought along the funny, ensuring it truly becomes its own thing.

With surrealist touches, subtle sight gags, cutting lines, even gross-out humour, there are constant guffaws. In fact, so dense is the script and comedic detail, I laughed even more when rewatching the first episode with my wife to bring her on board.

2022 02 16 Deadloch Ep1 1437. Bradley Patrick Kate Box as Dulcie Collins

Kate Box in Deadloch (Photo: Amazon Prime)

The shifting of tone might be difficult for some, I was shocked reading negative online reviews from those who seemed to want something else and couldn’t roll with it, but the first few available episodes filled me with utter delight from the get-go.

Perhaps I’m reminded of my old favourite, Northern Exposure? The weariness of Joel Fleishman is mirrored in the Kate Box’s portrayal of the local police chief Dulcie, out of place but trying their best despite the world working against them.

When one of the local wrong-uns turns up dead and naked on the beach, tensions mount when a detective from Darwin arrives to take over the investigation.

I’d never heard of Madeleine Sami before, but she’s John Belushi reincarnated, tearing up the screen, pure id, eyebrows conveying a thousand thoughts.

Her character Eddie is the classic cut-corners, seen-it-all detective, but does that make her wrong?

Throw in a man-eating seal and you’ve got one of the most original, funny, off-beat series of the year. Perfectly of its time, this is the moment to jump in.