How the Wests were won

Detective Sergeant Zane Gerard, left (played by Charles Mesure), blackmails Van West, played by Antony Starr, to give up valuable information. Photo / Supplied

It's an unusually hot, late spring day in Henderson. On the edge of the disused section are eight run-down prefab buildings. Long grass creates a natural roundabout in the middle of the section. Parked near the grass is Van West's Nissan GTS.

Van (Antony Starr) is throwing stones at an abandoned washing machine, when an unmarked cop car pulls up. Out steps Detective Sergeant Zane Gerard (Charles Mesure) the new "cop on a crusade" as West's matriarch Cheryl calls him.

In the first episode of the fifth season, Gerard blackmails Van into being a nark to save his girlfriend, Sheree. Now the dim West twin must "nark up". But Van being Van, his session with Gerard isn't quite as staunch as he hopes and soon he's dobbing in a mate - accidentally.

Dressed in outfit of jeans, tight T-shirt and sunglasses, Mesure is basing his character on Vic Mackey from the critically acclaimed US cop show, The Shield.

Mesure's character needs all the Vic Mackey he can channel to cope with the Wests and the dastardly Nicky Greegan.

"Gerard is a bit of catalyst. He is there to make things happen," divulges Mesure.

He says we will see a softer side to DS Gerard as the season progresses, and lets slip that he is close to an older member of the cast. Ted West, I cheekily ask?

Mesure gives me a Vic Mackey stare - which is pretty hard to pull off considering he is dressed in a hospital gown and slippers, with a burgundy dressing gown.

Based in LA since 2004, the former Sydneysider missed the success of Outrageous Fortune. He is best known in the States for his role as the archangel Michael in Hercules: the Legendary Journeys and Xena Warrior Princess. He has had guest roles on hit shows such as Lost, Without a Trace and Bones and had a recurring role as the reporter JD Pollack on Crossing Jordan. But, as he says, he and OF creators James Griffin and Rachel Lang "go way back", to City Life, for which he was nominated for a Best Actor New Zealand Television Award for his work as Ryan Waters.

"They wrote my first gig. They had me playing the gay bartender. They put me in drag in one episode and now they have me playing the hardnose cop. They've had me come a long way."

It's not only Griffin and Lang who go back a long way with Mesure. Starr and Mesure were in the film Skin and Bones, and the last time he saw Antonia Prebble (Loretta West) was when they were in A Twist in the Tail in 1999 when Antonia was a teen. "And I come back and she's this beautiful young woman," he says.

When filming for Outrageous Fortune finished in March, Mesure turned down a part in US movie Kingdom Come, and was offered the lead role in what is touted to be one of New Zealand's most adventurous and highly conceptual TV series, the 13-part drama/sci-fi This is Not My Life.

Set in the future in a town called Waiomona, Mesure's character Alec Ross wakes up one morning in his beautiful home with his wife and kids and realises... this is not his life.

The show's associate producer, Polly Fryer, describes the series as a mystery thriller that is a mix between The Prisoner and Life on Mars.

"I was pretty exhausted when I auditioned for This Is Not My Life, which probably helped as my character is in a confused state."

The long hours on set are also helping keep in character. He's on set at 7am, finishes about 9.30pm then it's "home for a cup of tea and I run through my lines until 1 or 2am".

Spying a script under his lunch plate, I offer to help him run through his lines. Mesure slaps his hand on the script. It would take more than Vic Mackey and the Wests clan to make him nark.

* The fifth season of Outrageous Fortune is screening on TV3, Tuesdays, 9.30pm.