Deadloch: The second coming

We’ve just finished watching the second season of Deadloch and it is an absolute hoot.

Dulcie, Cath and Eddie arrive in Darwin to investigate the death of Eddie’s ex-partner Bushy, but are quickly assigned to a new case in the tiny backwater of Barra Creek.

It’s a whodunnit on a grand, chaotic scale, with a cast of whacky characters that only the Top End could produce and constant barrage of bad language, with more F-bombs and even the C-word in a single sentence than we’ve heard since the Seventies.

There’s no shortage of suspects as Senior Sergeant Dulcie Collins and her foul-mouthed partner detective Eddie Redcliffe take charge of the investigation.

You might remember the pair from the first season set in Tasmania, where the two were thrust together as they worked to uncover the identity of a serial killer in the fictional town of Deadloch.

Collins is quiet and fastidious in contrast to the loud, larger than life Redcliffe resplendent in her uniform of shorts and thongs.

Two backpackers are missing and a croc is blamed when body parts are recovered from a local river.

But Dulcie begins to think there is more to the story than meets the eye.

Created by Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan, the series premiered on Amazon Prime in June, 2023.

The series stars Kate Box as Dulcie Collins, Madeleine Sami as Eddie Redcliffe, with Alicia Gardiner as Dulcie’s wife Cath York and Nina Oyama as crime scene investigator Abby Matsuda.

Filming began on location in September, 2024 mostly around Batchelor (population 371), afterwards moving production to a studio in Brisbane.

The producers chose locations that the audience would recognise as being part of Darwin, including the wave pool and sunset from the beach, with frequent references to the stifling humidity.

The story includes several Aboriginal characters, including Miki played by Shari Sebbens, and makes reference to issues encountered by Aboriginal people in the Territory.

There’s also plenty of gays and lesbians, and an assortment of colourful fringe dwellers, including the evergreen Steve Bisley as Frank McCallister, later revealed to be Eddie’s father.

Look out for Luke Hemsworth (older bother of Chris and Liam) who plays Jason Wade, the muscle-bound proprietor of the Big Barra Bashnanza — a parody of the Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin.

As the investigation gains momentum, the laughs come thick and fast, but tempers fray as the body count begins to rise.