Axe hovering over Street Legal's core cast

By FIONA RAE

The Street Legal rollercoaster ride of action and big emotion is about to get a whole lot bumpier.

Two new characters are being introduced in this third series, new challenges are in store for the three lead characters and - shock, horror - a core cast member is killed off.

The hard-driving action will still be there, says executive producer and writer Greg McGee, but there is a better balance between action and emotion than the previous two series.

"There are a lot of relationship arcs that spin right through the series," he says. "I don't want to give away too much, but one of the core cast is killed in the middle of the series and that has huge fallout.

"That's never happened in Street Legal before. It's probably the emotional core of this series."

The new characters are lawyers James Peabody and Matt Urlich, played by Dwayne Cameron (The Tribe) and Manu Bennett (Shortland Street). As well, Maddy McGuire (Ingrid Park), David's old girlfriend introduced in series two, returns in an expanded role.

They join the core cast of lawyers David Silesi (Jay Laga'aia) and Joni Collins (Katherine Kennard), and cop Kees Van Dam (Charles Mesure).

Tonight's episode features the exit of rookie lawyer Tim O'Connor (Daniel Gillies), whose sidekick role had come to a natural conclusion, says McGee.

"He was to some extent Robin to David's Batman and, you know, the actor was getting older. I really enjoyed writing him out because that gave us a wonderful story about how he went and it was a great opportunity to introduce two new characters."

Another aspect of the show being laid to rest is the triangle between David, Joni and Kees - sort of.

"I think to some extent we'd played out that triangle for long enough," says McGee.

"And there's the Maddy McGuire character who's very interested in David and has a history with him.

"Joni makes her choice quite early and marries Kees, and after that David has to become a supportive colleague.

"I think the dynamic of ex-lovers having to be supportive colleagues under the pressure of trying to run a business is really interesting, particularly when one of them is married to a policemen who has constantly got privileged information and so on. There's no shortage of on-going conflict."

The central theme of Street Legal hasn't changed, however.

"The way Street Legal works, which is different from a lot of legal dramas, is that it is a conflict between the lawyers and the cops as to getting to the truth first," says McGee.

"We've never, ever tried to set ourselves up as a traditional courtroom drama, because it becomes a talking heads, static kind of story-telling.

"It is also a distinctive genre that we never really wanted to do."

At around $6 million each series, Street Legal is not cheap, but hardly as costly as the US series it competes with, says McGee.

Vital overseas sales have ensured the show's continued survival, and he is optimistic for even a fourth series.

"Everyone really steps up in this series and it gives me huge optimism that it's got legs for another series.

"We can still keep having fun with it and get good drama out of it."

* Street Legal, TV2 8.30pm