Minor Spoiler:
If you’ve seen Colin from Accounts or Austin recently, you’ve no doubt seen actor Tai Hara wander onto screen as the alluring, hunky object of desire.
In ABC drama Return to Paradise he emerges shirtless from the surf who will be unavoidable to series lead Det. Mackenzie Clarke (Anna Samson).
“Yeah, I definitely have fallen into into a few of those lately… maybe the guy next door. I don’t know how you describe it, but it’s been such a treat to have been in such a diverse range of roles,” Hara tells TV Tonight.
“There’s another film coming out called Birthright, a feature film that I shot over in Perth just before Return to Paradise. I am playing a bit of a jerk in that one. I did have to say to the guys, ‘Am I being typecast?’ Thankfully, I can play a joke pretty well, but I’d like to think that definitely all these characters are pretty far from me.”
For ABC’s own spin-off from Death in Paradise, his character of Glenn Strong serves two key functions. He is Dolphin Cove’s resident forensic pathologist and the former fiancé of Mackenzie. But the two did not part on the best of terms.
“He’s solid, reliable, methodical, he’s an outdoors man, good with his hands. He’s a bit of a jack of all trades, but he’s also wildly passionate about that his job. He’s also, along with being the pathologist of the team, Mackenzie’s ex-fiance who she left at the altar six years ago. So there’s a deep history and relationship with those two, which bubbles throughout the entire series. Obviously when she returns home, there’s aa lot for them to work through,” he explains.
“That’s one of the big reasons why she up and left. Without saying too much, she’s she’s been over in the UK for six years working for the Metropolitan Police. But when she left, it wasn’t a secret. Everyone in that community was pretty heartbroken with the fact that she left Glenn at the altar. It’s a tight knit community. He’s very much a community man.”
Indeed, Glenn’s mother just happens to be Philomena Strong, Dolphin Cove’s very own Senior Sergeant, played by Catherine McClements.
“That was just such a treat to have her as my on-screen mother. She’s such a wealth of knowledge and experience and she’s just so incredibly professional on set. I just had to pinch myself quite a few times, because I grew up watching so much Australian television, Water Rats and all the amazing shows that she’s been a part of over the years.”
Filming of 6 ‘whodunnit’ episodes took place in the Illawarra coastal district with cast including Lloyd Griffith, Celia Ireland, Aaron McGrath and Andrea Demetriades. While the series brings its own quirky humours, fans of Death in Paradise should also look out for some nods to the flagship series.
“Anna Samson, being the first ever female detective, Mackenzie, has been working for the Metropolitan Police, and that is our link to the UK series. There’s some Easter eggs in there as well.
“Ardal O’Hanlon is one of the detectives from the Death in Paradise franchise who pops up in this and I think for fans from the original series, there’s enough in there to link the two together in the same universe.
“It’s nice because we’re still very much part of the family, but not beholden to the exact way that the English series played out.”
But this is mystery crime series we are here for and writer Peter Matessi has devoted plenty of time to the rules of the genre, with a dead body, clues and red herrings and the final denouement in which Mackenzie reveals the killer to the characters and, naturally, the audience.
“That word gets dropped about 500 times a day on set!” Hara laughs.
“We stick so much the format in terms of the genre and the style, the look, but one of the big differences with our series is the romantic element, and that’s very much Glenn and Mackenzie. So that’s a through line throughout the entire series, and their complicated history, working through that relationship and Glenn’s moved on with his life as well,” he continues.
“There’s some really beautiful and heartfelt moments that Peter Matessi and the team managed to script, and Anna and I were lucky enough to delve into. It was our first time working together, and I can’t speak highly enough of Anna. She’s such an incredible talent. I think she’s going to blow people away in this role.”
Return to Paradise screens 7:30pm Sunday on ABC.
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