Family tragedy in the spotlight in thriller The Cry
THE CRY ★★★★
New series, Sunday 8.30pm, ABC
When Asher Keddie read Helen FitzGerald's book The Cry, she didn't sleep properly for a week. It was that disturbing. But that didn't stop her saying yes to a central role in the harrowing television adaptation. Having director Glendyn Ivin and writer Jacquelin Perske on board was a major factor. "I've worked with them both before, so I was hooked by the book and by the idea of working with Jacquelin and Glendyn," Keddie says. "I just thought Glendyn would handle the material so delicately, but with guts as well." It also felt like time to leave Nina Proudman behind. "It's material I hadn't explored before – and decidedly different from the tragicomedy I'd been exploring for a few years now."
The fact that it would be a "co-pro" – a co-production between Australia and Britain – and also star Jenna Coleman was an added incentive too sweet to resist. Increasingly, co-pros are a financial necessity, especially when it comes to making serious primetime drama. But they can end up as Mr Potato Head kinds of things – a whole lot of disparate international parts wodged together.
That's not the case with The Cry, which from the outset was set between Australian and Scotland (author FitzGerald is an ex-pat Aussie) and which involves serious top-line talent on both sides of the camera. "For me there were only positives," Keddie says. "It allowed for a larger audience – which of course I want, just like every other actor. I knew that it'd be big in the UK because beautiful Jenna Coleman is so beloved over there – and rightly so. She's fantastic. And I had total faith in the actual story. So it was really just exciting for me."
The Cry is a psychological thriller full of twists and turns, so to deliver spoilers would be a capital offence. Let's just say it involves a couple – she's British (Coleman as Joanna), he's Australian (Ewan Leslie as Alistair) – and their baby son goes missing soon after they arrive in Australia from Scotland. Meanwhile, Alistair is suing his ex-wife Alex (Keddie) for custody of their daughter. What exactly happened and who did what to whom and when is central – and we're never quite sure of any of those things until the final act.
At different points in the story it's easy to believe that any of these three people could have done something heinous – without any of them ever appearing to be out-and-out villains. "All the characters are very complex and that's definitely something that was appealing to me," Keddie says. "There was no black and white about the circumstances, the situation or about them as people. And it's so grey being a parent." (Keddie has a son and stepson with husband Vincent Fantauzzo) "Parenting is so confusing and it's very complex. I was very conscious of the choices my character was making, and her choices were really valid to me."
The Cry is very much a story about appearances and the judgements we make about people like Lindy Chamberlain, for instance, or the McCann family. "Yes! What the f--- is an appropriate way to behave in a crisis?" Keddie laughs. "It's a really interesting question." And one that's central to the drama here as the media hound both the grieving parents and the imperfect ex-wife. The nature of the story also makes us complicit in that hounding and judging – it's the whole point, from the audience's perspective. A whodunit almost compels us to guess and to judge.
While she's never been in the hellish situation faced by Coleman's Joanna, Keddie has spent the past 10 years as a very recognisable face. At first, losing her anonymity felt decidedly odd, but these days she's relaxed about what other people think about her. Of course, she has a professional face she wears at public events. "But when it's everyday I feel much looser about that now. Because I can't control it. I don't worry about judgement. I'm more concerned about whether I find my own behaviour acceptable."
This series also has plenty to say about social media. Alex gets a tiny bit stalk-y with her husband's new partner on Facebook; Joanna invents a false identity to track what people are saying about her online after her baby disappears. In real life, Keddie has a public Instagram account ("To put images out there that I was comfortable with – as opposed to being followed! Giving a little bit more as opposed to not giving anything at all. And it's fun.") But things have never got creepy, either on her part or anyone else's. "I've never really had the impetus to stalk someone!" she laughs. "I do understand why Alex does what she does. I can understand her curiosity. But that's not me. I get it, but it's not me."