Never before have out TV screens been so crowded with female leads - not fluffy, one-dimentional types but complex characters drawn from real life. Here, Gavin Darling talks to six Australian actors who are breaking the stereotype.
Lisa McCune
Maggie Doyle, Lisa McCune’s character on Blue Heelers, is probably the most heroic of all out TV heroines. Each week, she saves lives, settles disputes, rights wrongs and apprehends the bad guys. Taking a break from shooting another episode of the hit series, McCune us eating lunch and talking about the character that has won her four silver and two gold Logies.
“Maggie is very much the all-running, all-jumping type - and that’s the fun part about playing her. She is loosely based on a couple of real policewomen who have done amazing things,” says McCune. “I think that’s what makes her a hero in the eyes of all the young girls that follow her. It’s that she doesn’t ever act the hero. She likes to slip into the background. I think that’s becomming a trait, which is maybe why I play her that way.”
Constable Maggie Doyle is so popular, 400 or so fans have set up websites in the show’s honour. But demanding shooting schedules mean McCune hardly ever gets a chance to visit them. “I don’t really get on the net that often but there are so many sites about my character and the show. One girl even has a running diary and she invents new scripts each week. You could probably find the spin-off series to Blue Heelers there. It’s a terrific way of getting feedback.”
Having been on stage since the age of two, when she was a junior tap dancer, McCune has an incredibly relaxed attitude to being on of this country’s biggest small-screen starts. “I tell people that I’m serving my apprenticeship at Blue Heelers. I’m working every week, keeping my skills well-oiled and working with some of the best actors in the country who come and do guest roles..”
McCune auditioned for the role in 1993 as a virtual unknown. Is she ever afraid the public will always see her as Maggie? “I think that’s always a risk when you do series TV. But it’s up to your skills as a performer to change people’s perceptions. Look at Sigrid Thornton, who I just adore - she is probably one of my favourite actors. She was great in The Man From Snowy River and as Philadelphia in All The Rivers Run and now I totally believe that she is Laura in SeaChange. She has the skill to master different roles without changing her appearance markedly. Hopefully, that’s what I will be able to achieve. Another thing I love about Sigrid is that she has juggled having a family and a career very successfully, which I also want to do.”
If you were beginning to think that McCune was a little too grounded and that all those years of playing a cop have taken their toll on her sense of humour, then another item on McCune’s must-do list might change your mind. “What I really want to do with my life is be on Xena. I just love Lucy Lawless - she’s really good at what she does. I think the show is hysterical.”
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