Having conquered the cut-throat world of cooking shows and breakfast television with their signature brand of social awkwardness, the two Kates have been busy with a new TV series.
This time, Australian comedians Kate McLennan and Kate McCartney (The Katering Show, Get Krack!n) have turned up the dial with a murder mystery set in a sleepy Tasmanian town for their ‘triumphant’ return to the world of entertainment.
McLennan, who last appeared in Hughesy, We Have a Problem in 2019, wrote on Twitter: “I’m making my triumphant return to this great platform to let you all know that @katemccccartney and I have a new show called Deadloch.”
McCartney, who has a daughter, Millie, aged seven, with partner Robert Coleman and the Twitter handle Snakes Macrame, was hot on her heels: “…[we] are delighted to announce that our precious tv baby has a due date”.
As co-creators, writers and executive producers, the Kates have slashed and burned the traditional mystery thriller as we know it with a “feminist noir crime comedy” set to premiere exclusively next month on Prime.
Filmed in southern Tasmania around Cygnet and Kingston in February last year, the Kates set a story around a “dark, strange little town” and called it Deadloch.
“We are so incredibly thrilled to be bringing our story to life in lutruwita (Tasmania) with this extraordinary team of creatives,” McCartney and McLennan told The Mercury newspaper in Hobart at the time.
“The fact that our Australian feminist noir crime comedy will launch globally on Prime Video for 200 million Prime members to see is mind-blowing.”
Who were the Kates?
In 2015, comedians McLennan and McCartney made a hugely successful parody cooking show on YouTube, The Katering Show, where it drew upwards of 800,000 views in the first season.
Their motto was “the journey of a food intolerant (McCartney) and an intolerable foodie (McLennan)”.
The famous parody of the Thermomix, which was very much the kitchen appliance du jour, in episode four, received more than two million views.
Funding a second season was tricky as their schtick is making fun of food shows, celebrity chefs and hosts, and after speaking to the free-to-air networks, decided on the ABC for a 2016 run.
Staying with the ABC, they created and co-wrote Get Krack!n which ran for two seasons from 2017.
The series was all about taking a swipe at the “bright chirpy world of morning TV, with their signature brand of social awkwardness”, wrote an ABC promo at the time.
The final episode went off with a big bang, with author Benjamin Law writing it was “the most soaring 30 minutes of Australian TV ever produced”.
Guest-hosted by Indigenous stars Nakkiah Lui and Miranda Tapsell and co-written by Lui, episode 16 “temporarily paused its usual humour to deliver a stunning polemic denouncing morning TV’s headline-grabbing attacks on marginalised groups, as seen in recent on-air diatribes from the likes of Sonia Kruger and Kerri-Anne Kennerley,” wrote the Sydney Morning Herald.
‘Hooked’ from the get-go
Fast forward four years, and the Kates are back.
Senior development executive at Prime Video Australia, Sarah Christie, says “the Kates have created a gripping mystery, with their signature hilarious – and often biting – comedic tone masterfully weaved throughout”.
“Deadloch flips the crime genre on its head in such a fresh and engaging way, and we know customers globally are going to be hooked from the first episode,” she said.
The official synopsis reads that Deadloch “is left reeling when a local man turns up dead on the beach”.
Two female detectives, played by local senior sergeant Dulcie Collins (Kate Box, Fires, Wentworth) and a blow-in from Darwin, senior investigator Eddie Redcliffe (Madeleine Sami, The Breaker Upperers) are thrown together to solve the crime and find the killer.
Set against the backdrop of a local arts and food event, the Winter Feastival, we’re promised “a cinematic, thrilling, mysterious, and moody series”.
“Deadloch puts a high-comedy spin on the crime genre and questions Australia’s relationship with truth, gender and race, while keeping you guessing (and laughing) at every turn,” Prime said.
Jobs, money, action!
The series provided employment for cast and crew and gave a much-needed boost to the local economy, while Prime says Deadloch is the second of three Australian Amazon Original scripted series Prime Video will release this year.
There’s a host of local actors to fill out the storyline, including Nina Oyama (Utopia), Tom Ballard (Tonightly with Tom Ballard), Susie Youssef (Rosehaven), Pamela Rabe (Wentworth) and Kris McQuade (Rosehaven).
The Kates say they were “particularly excited” for everyone to meet Dulcie and Eddie, “performed by the powerhouses” Box and Sami.
“[They] are far better actors than we’ll ever be,” they said.
“The supporting cast is sublime, the crew are a delight, and the experience of making this story with Prime Video globally on the incredible land of lutruwita (Tasmania) is one we’ll never forget.”
The first three episodes of Deadloch will premiere exclusively on Prime Video globally on June 2, with new episodes every Friday
