Both sides now

Why Madeleine Sami's planned shift behind the camera has been arrested by Aussie detective comedy Deadloch

- RUSSELL BAILLIE

 Let us begin with a summary of Madeleine Sami’s flurry of new shows in the form of a quiz.

Deadloch is a murder who dunnit set in Tasmania where she’s the tough out-of-town detective helping the local constabulary.

Double Parked is a local show about a lesbian couple trying to start a family via IVF who succeed beyond their wildest dreams.

Which one did she help write? Which one did she also direct? Which one is the comedy?

In order, Deadloch, Double Parked, and – sorry, trick question – both.

Yes, despite a grim story set in a bleak, misty landscape, Deadloch is a very funny show. That’s helped by Sami’s outlandish performance as Eddie Redcliffe, a cocky detective flown in from Darwin with an Aussie accent as wide as Bass Strait.

She’s there to help local senior sergeant Dulcie (Kate Box from Wentworth and Rake) after a body is found on the beach just as the local arts festival is getting under way.

And yes, just when Aussiebased Kiwis have won more rights across the Tasman, along comes Sami in a merciless piece of Ocker-mockery.

“Or have I destroyed every chance?” Sami wonders aloud after the Listener suggests her Eddie performance might enhance any future citizenship application.

Today, Sami is in Auckland in the home she shares with pop-star wife Ladyhawke/Pip Brown, a substantial number of guitars belonging to both, and their 5-year-old daughter. Sami is due back in the editing suite for Double Parked, a show she shot after Deadloch over Auckland’s alleged summer.