The Kettering Incident

From its striking opening shots of the Candlestick coastline in southern Tasmania to the moody, vulnerable performance of Elizabeth Debicki -there is much to admire about The Kettering Incident.

Rug up, you’ll need to bunker down for this windswept drama series coming to Foxtel.

The landscape is timeless, the pacing is lingering and the eerie clues that fade in and out like jigsaw pieces will ensure everything is just out of reach in the opening 2 hours of this saga. But Debicki, as the heart of it all, draws you in for a slow burn experience….. a slice of Scandi-noir in the forests of Tasmania.

Debicki plays Dr. Anna Macy who returns from the UK to her hometown where an experience 15 years earlier saw her friend Gillian disappear into the forest, as strange lights danced through the trees. Alien abduction? Something more earthly and sinister? Either way it has affected her in ways that manifest through blackouts, nosebleeds and harrowing flashbacks.

But Anna’s return to Kettering is hardly welcomed, including by her own father and retired cop, Roy (Anthony Phelan). The mill-town is under siege by environmentalists trying to protect the forest from logger Max Holloway (Damien Garvey) and the likes of the bullying Craig Grayson (Ben Oxenbould). In search of answers to her past, Anna befriends indie party girl Chloe Holloway (Sianoa Smit-McPhee) only to find she too goes missing, distressing mother Barb (Sacha Horler).

Anna will also meet Detective Brian Dutch (Matthew Le Nevez), who works with benevolent local copper Fergus McFadden (Henry Nixon) on cases from missing persons to greenie warfare.

The backdrop for the series isn’t just its rugged coastline and deep, damp forests, but the weary and tarnished buildings and props, beaten down by weather and age. Only Anna and Det. Dutch (in his crisp suits and sleek city car) contrast with this soggy corner of the world, wrapped in scarves and beanies and box TVs and used cars.

Writer Vicki Madden teases us with misfits of nature…. there are ice frozen birds, huge moths drawn to the light and the shimmering Southern Aurora skyshow hanging in sky.

Debicki is alluring as the dazed, brooding Anna, searching for meaning where she is treated like an outsider. She underplays throughout, often as observer rather than participant. Le Nevez shows the early makings of a flawed detective, presumably with much more to come after the opening instalment. Damien Garvey, as the local businessman throwing his weight around, and Sacha Horler are also stand-outs. Supporting cast including Henry Nixon, Alison Whyte and Suzi Dougherty add to this fine ensemble.

Director Rowan Woods ensures Tasmania is showcased like a European landscape. It is grand, atmospheric, unforgiving. Dwarfed below are the players, given space for silence, and a narrow view of the world -save for those who are convinced they have been visited by something unearthly.

Quite what it all means is no doubt the perplexing point of this set-up. The drama gives few sugar-hits and unravels to those settled in for the long haul. On that front, it could have benefited from clearer turning points. But this is a piece where character and style take precedence over plot. Given that, The Kettering Incident sets itself apart from procedurals and melodramas.

Welcome to Tasmania. Have a nice stay.

The Kettering Incident premieres 8:30pm Monday July 4 on Showcase.