Leading Australia's Latest Compelling Whodunnit with a Stunning Setting: Leah Purcell Chats 'High Country'

With Mystery Road, True Colours and now High Country, Australia's screen industry has been increasing its Indigenous detective tales of late. It's a welcome shift, and one that Leah Purcell chalks up to the strength of the genre. "I think a cop show is a great drama. You've got everything in it, and we do cop shows very well in this country," she tells Concrete Playground about her stint as Andie Whitford, the character that was written for her — in the series that was also penned for her — by Wentworth duo Marcia Gardner and John Ridley.

"Then when you've got a mystery-thriller, it's an opportunity to get audiences together, sitting on the lounge at home with their family — and actually, it brings about discussion," Purcell continues. "That's when you know that you've got a good show. We did a screening, and people got around and were wanting to work out who'd done it, and they saw that opportunity with only one episode," Purcell continues.

Debuting its eight-episode first season in March — which is now available to watch in full via Binge — High Country gives viewers much to talk about and sleuth along with. In the Mystery Road and The Dry mould, it's about a city detective digging into a rural case and cracking the secrets of close-knit communities. It's also about the landscapes that shape not only small towns but also the people in them, and reflect their strengths and struggles in the terrain. And, High Country follows a personal journey. Andie didn't grow up in the town of Broken Ridge, only to return now, as the protagonists of Mystery Road and The Dry did with their respective settings; however, she's trying to embrace the place as home after making a tree change with her artist partner Helen Hartley (Sara Wiseman, Under the Vines) and high-schooler daughter Kirra (Pez Warner, making her TV debut).

The setup: Andie and her family move to Victoria at its most mountainous (where Force of Nature: The Dry 2 also traversed earlier in 2024) just as a spate of missing-person cases pile up. Sam Dryson (Ian McElhinney, The Boys in the Boat), the retiring police chief that she's replacing, has an older disappearance that he's determined to solve — a missing boy that he's insistent that former teacher Damien Stark (Henry Nixon, The PM's Daughter) abducted — but also notes that deaths and vanishings aren't uncommon in the region. He's still a helpful mentor, though, as Andie endeavours to stop people going AWOL or worse from being a local fact of the life. But even before she begins asking questions, the rest of the town isn't always as accommodating, nor are all of her new colleagues.

Narelle Portainer

Purcell's acting career spans three decades now, and everything from 90s dramas such as GP and Police Rescue, then Lantana and The Proposition on the big screen, through to the likes of Redfern Now, Black Comedy, Wentworth, The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart and Shayda recently. It wasn't just the whodunnit Aussie-noir angle that appealed to her about High Country, but also Andie's complexity, the challenge of being first on the call sheet on a major series and co-stars that also include a first-time dramatic collaboration with Aaron Pedersen (High Ground). As she did with The Drover's Wife — which she made as a play, a book and then a movie — showcasing a part of the country that she fell in love with while filming Somersault and Jindabyne in the 2000s was a big factor.

That passion on Purcell's part is evident in every scene that she's in throughout High Country, as it always has been whenever she's in front of the camera — or, with The Drover's Wife, also behind it. What gets her excited about a role, the series and the part of Andie being specifically penned for her, championing more than just the stereotypical vision of Australia's landscape, digging into Andie's backstory and the response to her arrival beyond the dialogue, working with the rest of the show's cast: we chatted with Purcell about all of the above.

Martin Philbey

On Both High Country and the Part of Andie Being Written for Purcell

"The project was written for me, so that was pretty awesome and humbling. Marcia Gardner and John Ridley, who were the creators behind Wentworth — when we were wrapping up that series, Marcia said 'we'd love to work with you again, Leah. And guess what? I've written something for you and a show around you'.

And she said 'would you be interested in being in it?'. And I said 'mate, if you get it up, give me a call'. So six months later, she rings me and says 'I've got it up'.

But what was also appealing is the beautiful high country. I'd just finished, a couple of years before, The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson, my first feature — that was done in the high country, the Snowy Mountains on New South Wales side. So to come across to Victoria to film in that location was amazing.

The stories were really interesting. Who doesn't love a good cop show and a mystery-thriller whodunnit? To be a part of it and being in the rural area — I'm a country girl from country Queensland in Murgon, so to go back and portray that sort of setting on our TV was important to me as well."

On Championing More Than Just the Stereotypical Vision of Australia's Landscape

"Normally it's the reds and the brown and the heat. I fell in love with the high country when I did Jindabyne and Somersault in that area. And I just went 'gee, we don't utilise this landscape enough'.

Then when I got the idea to pursue The Drover's Wife, I said 'we've got to do it in the high country and have that beautiful big sky, and the blues and the greens that we don't see'.

Even when I was selling the project overseas, people said 'what, there's snow and green in Australia?'. And I thought 'yes, there is'.

The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson

As I said, it was one of the drawcards to High Country for me. And also because that landscape is so alive, it is a character within this show as well.

It's also important to Andie on a couple of levels. One, yes, as the detective, the sergeant trying to solve the mysteries — because is it just that these people took a wrong step on a trail in the bush? Or is there more behind it? And also for her and her journey, the land really speaks to her and makes her look at herself. You want a character with many story threads to it, so you've got depth to play in emotionally. So that was another drawcard.

But the location, your eyes will be stimulated — the beauty in the landscape is just phenomenal."

On Purcell's First Read on Andie — and What She Knew That She Could Bring to the Part

"She's a fearless woman, but also there's a vulnerability to her, which is nice. She's a great detective — and it was something that I had done before, but the challenge was to find what I could bring to her that was new to me as a performer.

It was different from the other roles that I had done, so that's where the challenge was for me. And what I liked is that she's quieter, she's an observer. And I guess that's what makes her a great cop. She observes things, takes things in — and a deep, a deep thinker.

But I really wanted to show her vulnerability as well as the brilliance in her detective work — and that she's a strong, strong woman in the face of what she has to do for her job."

On Conveying the Tough Journey That Andie Has Had in an Unspoken Way

"We're women. We've lived it. It wasn't anything too difficult. We've all had those sort things thrown at us — and it was just great to have an opportunity to play with that on-screen.

And then Andie finding the power, and showing that she's worthy of the position that she's in, and that she's good at what she does, and the respect comes.

But it's a great place to start in a series, so you've got a place to go — and she works hard to do it, but she does it."

Shayda

On What Gets Purcell Excited About a Role Three Decades Into Her Acting Career

"Getting a lead role is something that's important to having a look, because you want the challenge. And I think that I've earned my stripes. So that was appealing, of course. And I just want to be able to connect.

To be challenged, I think, is important, so that you stay engaged and you want to be there, and work hard."

Martin Philbey

On What Purcell Learns From a Part Like Andie and a Show Such as High Country

"Be careful what you ask for in being number one on the call sheet.

There's a lot of hard work, that's what I've learned. But I love that. Thirty-three years [in], I want to be engaged. I want to be challenged. That's what was appealing that for me in taking on the role of Andie."

On Working with the Rest of High Country's Impressive Cast

"Believe it or not, this is the first time that Aaron [Pedersen] and I have actually shared work together in a drama. It was awesome. Our chemistry is really, really great. And he was a pleasure to work with.

Then you've got Ian McElhinney from Belfast in Ireland. Mate, what a legend — just what he brought.

We all challenge one another. There's some really awesome people that are doing awesome acting, and it's a challenge in a friendly way. But it's like 'ohh, so you're going to do that — right, can I top you on this?'.

So that made the project fun, and it was a joy to go to work every day. We had an awesome cast that worked so hard and tirelessly. That was pretty demanding. There were really cold days and rain, and there was snow, and there was minus-zero days where I had to stand there with no jumper on, and I had too many clothes on to put the thermals underneath.

But it was just a pleasure to be on, and I'm so excited and I just want our Australian audiences to really support Australian stories — to tune in, and hopefully the ratings will be there and we'll be able to go again on a second season."

High Country streams via Binge. Read our review.

High Country images: Sarah Enticknap / Narelle Portanier.