Deadloch Season Two Ventures to the Top End with Crocodiles and Comedy
The Emmy-nominated Australian crime comedy Deadloch returns for its highly anticipated second season, trading the southern gloom of Tasmania for the muggy heat of the Northern Territory. Madeleine Sami and Kate Box reprise their roles as detective odd-couple Eddie and Dulcie, this time investigating mysteries in a region teeming with crocodiles, big characters, and comic potential.
From Tasmania to Territory: A Location Shift with Teeth
Co-creator Kate McCartney discovered the show's new direction shortly after arriving in the Northern Territory. "I always had a pretty firm regard for crocodiles," McCartney explains. "But once I got up there and I saw one, I was like, 'This is gonna become my entire personality.'" The season one finale had already committed the creative team to this geographical shift, but the territory's unique atmosphere proved serendipitous.
McCartney and her longtime collaborator Kate McLennan, known for Get Krack!n and the Katering Show, found Darwin overflowing with material for their next whodunnit. Their research included booking three crocodile tours in a single day, which McCartney admits was excessive but invaluable. "Having someone talk to you in those reflective sunglasses ... they have this power, they're part-entertainment, part-safety officer," she says. "The things that were coming out of their mouths, you know that they've said it 100 times on tours – it was just gold."
The Origins of Deadloch's Detective Duo
The series originated from both Kates' obsession with "really bleak crime noir mystery" during early motherhood, when they would exchange notes about Olivia Colman's performance in Broadchurch while breastfeeding at 3am. McLennan recalls their creative question: "What if we took a performer who's a bit like that Olivia Colman character, but you dialled up the comedy a little bit [and] still made something that was really engaging and took the crime seriously?"
Their answer became Deadloch's central pairing: the strait-laced Dulcie (Kate Box) and the broad, sweary Eddie (Madeleine Sami), a territory local haunted by their old wingman "Bushy's" death. Season two finds them in Barra Creek, a fictional town with "a pub, a police station, and one bin" where the biggest industry – crocodile tours – is embroiled in rivalry between a tired family business and a slick new operation run by celebrity fisher Luke Hemsworth. Missing backpackers, unresolved baggage, and a severed hand complete the mystery.
Creating Barra Creek in Batchelor
To bring Barra Creek to life, the production took over Batchelor, a town an hour from Darwin with fewer than 400 residents. Despite its status as a three-time winner of the Northern Territory's Tidiest Town award, the set required 93 cubic metres of red dirt trucked in to match other shooting locations. The local pub transformed into the Barra Creek Tavern, complete with sun-bleached signage for beer, takeaways, and pokies.
Cast member Nina Oyama, returning as young constable Abby, notes the season's tonal shift: "I think this season has a different tone; the last season was very dark, a lot of night scenes. Tassie noir, they called it. And this one's sort of like a spaghetti western – maybe not a spaghetti western, it's a schnitty western."
Addressing Complex Territory Realities
Beyond crocodile gags and weather jokes, the creators deliberately engaged with the Northern Territory's complex social and political landscape. McLennan emphasizes their approach: "These crime shows, they are about truth and secrets. We wanted to have a conversation about Australia, and how we don't have a great relationship with the truth and the past ... there is a lot of denial."
This context appears throughout the season: glossy drone shots of wide rivers occasionally include youth detention centers, while macho local detectives in aviators and tight chinos recall real-life police text message chains exposed during the Kumanjayi Walker inquest. Kate Box observes: "The territory is such a beautiful place and a terrifying place. And you look at ... everything that's going on politically up here, and it's wild. It's a wild, wild place of many contradictions."
These contradictions find voice through Indigenous ranger Miki, played by Shari Sebbens, who scolds Eddie for "carceral thinking" while highlighting different stakes for First Nations characters suspected of crimes. "If a blackfella was bumping off every land-stealing whitefella, 80% of this town would be dead," she tells Eddie in one episode.
Balancing Humor and Serious Themes
Despite tackling weighty issues, the production maintained Deadloch's signature humor. McCartney recounts another crocodile encounter at a Bynoe pub with a cyclone-fenced enclosure containing a five-meter reptile named Two Dogs. "The casualness with which they treat one of the most impressive predators in the world's entire history, I think, is pretty amazing," she says.
True to their comedic mission, the Kates named a missing crocodile central to the season's mystery "Triple-pet." Deadloch season two premieres globally on Prime Video from March 20, offering audiences a unique blend of crime investigation, social commentary, and Australian humor set against the dramatic backdrop of the Northern Territory.
