Consistency the key to City Homicide

In the second of a two-part interview with TV Tonight, actress Noni Hazlehurst talks about City Homicide in its fourth year.

Her role as Bernice Waverley is the first long-running TV drama role she has undertaken since The Sullivans in 1976. But as she explains it is a role she relishes.

“I love the character. I just love that she’s not anguished, downtrodden or needy like so many female roles,” she says.

“She’s strong, respected and she’s the boss. She’s a great role model and I thought she was a different person for me to play. There’s also the quality of the writing and the fact that it wasn’t a full-time involvement was appealing to me. I like to do other things as well.”

When she isn’t shooting the Seven drama, Hazlehurst remains active in theatre, chrarity work and even stints hosting radio.

This season sees a subtle shift in the series incorporating more personal stories for the characters. Bernice Waverley has to deal with nephew Rhys Levitt (Ryan O’Kane) as part of the team. There will also be longer story arcs.

“There’s more of a sense of continuity of storylines so it’s not necessarily a totally self-contained episode each week,” she says.

“We’re trying to keep a nice balance between procedural and personal. People want the ‘heart,’ if it’s not there they miss it. I think it’s important but it’s a really fine balance between becoming a Soapie and holding onto the integrity. It’s called City Homicide. It’s not called Cops at Work.

“The personal dynamic comes in because it is a 24 / 7, 25 / 8 job so it impacts on their personal lives a lot.

“It’s better for the actors too because otherwise you’re just going ‘At 4:00 on the 14^th of March where was that Torana going?’ So it’s not very satisfying creatively. But to be able to have a joke and a little bit of background going on makes them more real as people.”

The series is now under the watch of new Executive Producer Richard Jasek after Maryanne Carroll has moved to oversee Winners and Losers for Seven.

“We all felt him to be an intelligent empathetic Director. Maryanne got that feedback, so when it was time for her to move on she asked him if he wanted to do it and he jumped at it. He’d been doing documentaries as well as drama. He’s listened to us all, taken everything on board and he’s shaping some interesting directions,” says Hazlehurst.

But in the four years the show has been on air there is now renewed competition with TEN’s Rush, Nine’s COPS L.A.C. and even emergency series Rescue Special Ops crossing into the genre.

Hazlehurst acknowledges the competition with a cheeky grin.

“There was a real interest in it and, never afraid to try something old, they all leapt onto the bandwagon and away we went!” she says.

“But I still think we have a strong point of difference and consistent quality which puts it in a deservedly high position.”

Recently that position has been hovering around 1 – 1.1m viewers, well short of its glory days of 1.8m viewers, but slowly edging upwards after some weeks where it has struggled with competition and moving timeslots.

Hazlehurst has a clear view on  how the show should be programmed.

“There are a lot things impacting on figures, but I don’t think shifting timeslots helps,” she insists.

“I truly believe once something is working in a timeslot you do not move it. But that’s not my decision to make.

“People like reliability. It’s not easy to change viewing habits and I think people get annoyed.”

It isn’t just the changes from Monday to Sunday to Wednesday that factor into the equation, either.

“I personally would like to see it start at 8:30 too but that’s not my call. That’s a decision made for a number of reasons,” she says.

“The figures have improved hugely since the beginning of the year which is wonderful, given that there are so many other possibilities for people to watch on Free to Air alone.

“It’s settled now where it is and it appears to be staying there so people are getting used to thinking, ‘Oh that’s City Homicide night.’ We’re just about back to where we were.”

So is she happy for the show to remain on Wednesdays, or should it return to its original Monday night slot?

Perhaps drawing upon the direct, if tactful, strength of Bernice Waverley, she simply says: “I’d be happy for it be consistent.”

City Homicide airs 8:30pm Wednesdays on Seven.

Part 1: Noni pushes for new kid’s TV Classifications