Dee Smart: Top cop on the water

By LOUISA CLEAVE

There is a spring in the step of Dee Smart these days as she runs to the latest crime scene on Water Rats.
Smart is more relaxed about her role as Detective Senior Constable Alex St Claire after knocking off her first season with the popular police drama.

She is halfway through filming her second year on the series, which returns to TV2 tonight.

On the phone from Sydney, she sounds happier and more laid- back than this time last year.

Then she was in defence mode after just taking over the strong female cop lead from Australian sweetheart Catherine McClements.

The demise of McClements' character, Rachel "Goldie" Goldstein, after four years on the show brought tears to the eyes of more than a few Water Rats fans.

"There was a lot of pressure to fill Catherine's shoes," says Smart. "There was a lot of talk, like 'Well, it won't go another season.' I copped that a lot. Even though I tried not to let it bother me, it was definitely there. It was hanging over my head the whole time.

" I was constantly asked how I felt filling Catherine's shoes. I really didn't see it like that but that's what everyone kept asking me, so towards the end I was agreeing that there was a bit of pressure there."

Once she had her first season under her belt she didn't feel the need to prove herself any more and could focus on having fun with the character. "I feel a lot more relaxed this season and I think that comes across. You can put more into it. I think that shines through in my character."

So what lies ahead for St Claire?

At the end of last season, the detective had a fling with her work partner, Detective Michael Reilly, and the romantic tension is a feature of this year's series.

"He is very stand-offish and when we are working together he doesn't want me to touch him. Things are heating up with Reilly and Constable Emma Woods and I'm not very happy about that."

While St Claire is chasing Reilly, her ex-partner comes back on the scene. To add to the romantic dramas, the show's writers are still playing around with her relationship with Jack Christie.

Sounds like there is more action between the sheets than on the streets?

Smart laughs: "There's dead bodies being pulled out of harbours, there's explosions, there's the action. But I think most people want to see the personal side of things, what they are going through and how they relate at work."

All very well on-screen, but Smart is shy to reveal more about herself and avoids publicity about her private life.

She and husband Chris Hancock were last year sharing a home with media mogul James Packer and his wife, Jodie, on Sydney's Bondi Beach.

"Don't go into that, it gets way too complicated. I'm pretty protective [of my life]. I read so many stories about Aussie actors, who come back from overseas and blurb about 'how fat I am' or 'how thin I am' purely just to get on the cover of a magazine and, to me, that just screams danger. I don't have a lot of respect for people who do that."

Before joining Water Rats, Smart featured in the Aussie dramas Murder Call and Halifax F. P.

She originally wanted to be a dancer and studied at the Victorian College of the Arts. After doing some modelling to pay her rent she landed a role in Home And Away, as Lucinda Croft, in 1991.

Smart is still able to pay her rent a decade later. She says the role of St Claire has changed her life. "I can actually go and have my hair done on a Saturday and get a massage once a month and get my toes painted."

As if her Water Rats role wasn't enough, she has just written and illustrated a children's book with her art-teacher sister.

Smart would paint while having her hair and makeup applied, or in between shooting scenes on Water Rats.

"The makeup artist would give me a piece of paper and let me draw with the makeup. Last year the whole makeup bus was covered in my drawings."

Smart graduated from makeup to watercolours for the book. But for now she is not looking at any other acting projects. Water Rats started filming last October and the crew takes a break over Easter before working through until July.

Despite the long hours and physical demands of the shoot, Smart is having fun and her confidence is sky-high.

She considers tonight's opening episode the best work she has ever done.

Not bad for an actress who was last year being led to doubt whether she could live up to fans' expectations.

"In Australia this year already, we've had the best ratings we've had since last year, so I'm sitting on top of the world."