When TV comes to town

The locals are appearing as extras and the small businesses have never had it so good.

Bay of Fires, a new eight-part ABC drama described as a darkly comedic crime series, is filming in Queenstown, Strahan and Zeehan on the west coast of Tasmania.

The brainchild of Marta Dusseldorp, with writers Andrew Knight,  Max Dann and Sarah Bassiuoni, Bay of Fires tells the story of single mother Stella Heikkinen (Dusseldorp), who finds herself in a small community where simmering feuds, crime and even murder, are rife.

Filming in Tasmania has followed after another scripted series, Deadloch, coming to Amazon Prime, and has been a boon for the local economy.

Queenstown pizza restaurant owner Darren said it had been his first profitable winter.

“It’s been good for the economy, it’s been good for jobs,” he told ABC.

“I’ve been talking to other business owners and they’re pretty happy with what’s been going down.”

Half of the 111-strong cast are also Tasmanian, mostly locals as extras.

“I’ve been trying to get out and do something a bit different, I wanted to be able to do something out in the community so this is a great opportunity,” resident Georgia Sherriff said.

“I really love Australian TV shows, especially Tasmanian ones — Rosehaven and the like — so doing a local one and showing this area is really good.”

Alex Sangston, the executive manager of Screen Tasmania, said crews have been in production and full-time employment for pretty much all of the year.

“There are a number of shows in development and a couple of feature projects up and coming so it’s been a very busy eight or nine months and it’s not going to slow down for the next six or so.”

Bay of Fires screens on ABC in 2023.