NEILL REA: Brokenwood is a town.
FERN SUTHERLAND: Yeah.
REA: It is a fictional New Zealand town.
So, it's "Era One" or "Utopia" or "Arcadia" or any of those.
Everyone has a slightly different idea
about how big a town it is.
Ws incredibw bewtituL.
Ws a town mat you wnuk! kwe to “ve 'm
but you'd be scared to die in.
We're both from kind of
-provincial New Zealand. - Mm.
So I think, to us, it's probably quite familiar.
The palette of the townsfolk -- both colorful and varied.
And I imagine, to New Zealand audiences,
they will be very recognizable.
I imagine to non-New Zealand audiences,
they would be quirky or kind of colorful.
I was lucky enough to meet a police officer, John Sutton.
He offered up his services.
And, um... [ Chuckles ]
Within five minutes of meeting this dude, he was great.
He wore a pink shirt and a mismatching tie,
and, um...he...if I could have distilled him and bottled him,
that would've been the character.
[Car doors close]
Ow!
Oh!
When everyone's ready.
SUTHERLAND: I was lucky enough to have a friend
who is a constable.
I spent a weekend with her and her section.
And they were really great.
They had me along.
L...did some ride-alongs with them,
walked the beat with them.
It was really interesting to see
their attitudes towards each other
and the way that their jobs --
job descriptions kind of varied, and how you graduate
from that uniform level up to being a detective
and working in the C.I.B.
[Tractor engine running]
MIKE: Dominic Nicol!
SUTHERLAND: One thing I asked all the detectives and cops
that I was talking to, that were mainly all females,
was, "How do you find being female
in the force," sort of thing.
They hate when you use that term, by the way.
They never say "in the force."
[ Rea laughs]
SUTHERLAND: Anyway, um... [ Laughs ]
And they all said, "Oh, ifs fine.
We're never -- we're never aware of the fact that we're women.
We're not treated as such.
There's no need to have a discussion about it."
Primarily ifs a murder-mystery story.
But, um...
But the more interesting thing
is the thing that Fern's talking about,
and that they both have to learn from one another.
And that is the -- it -- yeah, that's the differences.
Like, so, Mike Shepherd is kind of --
doesn't trust people and is a lone wolf at the start.
And ifs...
He slowly begins to trust and give power over to Kristin.
When I started, I thought he was a wry observer of life.
And he does have that.
But he's also far more proactive than I imagined him to be
when I started on the role.
The thing that I kind of related to most about the character
was that there's this kind of underlying
sense of humanity to him.
So, in each of the episodes, when he works out
the motivation for the murder
and why they did that, there is a level of him going,
'Wow. I can't...
That's amazing that people do that."
Yeah, to start with, Kristin and Mike
are both extremely guarded towards each other,
or in the environment they're sort of faced with.
She's on the defense. And she's protective.
Because this guy Mike's come into Brokenwood,
and he's ostensibly from the big smoke.
And she's worked really hard for three years in Brokenwood
to establish herself, to establish relationships.
And those relationships you establish with people
are hugely important as a detective.
Particularly in small towns, yeah.
And I think she's suspicious for good reason,
because I think Mike comes to Brokenwood
with two secrets which...
Yeah, {herds kind of -- it's a little bit unclear
to both Kristin and the audience why he's come.
Can I see your license, please?
[Country music plays on radio] Why?
'Cause I'm asking.
And so am I.
It's a routine check.
You'll have to do better than that.
SUTHERLAND: You can't say that he's a city-slicker
kind of a dude when he drives a beat-up Kingswood
and he listens to country music.
So, I think that Kristin,
as much as she wants to hate him,
is also a little bit like, "Well, hang on.
He's really good at what he does."
Detective Inspector Mike Shepherd.
Hi.
Mike is the hunch guy,
and Kristin is the precede-- procedure gal.
Mm.
Um...and kind...
And I think they -- they can actually
both teach one another stuff.
Totally be mates with her.
I think she'd be mates with me.
I may be a little bit girlier than she is.
You know, I like a manicure.
[Laughs]
I reckon Kristin would say to Fern, “Oh, harden up."
"Harden up, eh?“ Yeah, she would.
I felt like -- almost, Mike was, like, your older brother who...
[ Laughs ] Yeah.
...you kind of hate a little bit, but love.
Yeah. Yeah, there's a few similarities here.
- Hm. - I hate Dolly Parton, though.
-[ Gasps ] - I True love ♪
I can't believe you just said that.