Serial Killers an uncanny hall of mirrors

By GREG DIXON

How's this for perplexing post-modernism: a network asks a writer to write a comedy about a bunch of writers writing for a hospital soap opera not unlike a hospital soap opera that the network actually plays and that the writer himself has actually written for.

When the comedy is written, those cast as the writers are actors well-known for starring in the network's hospital soap opera, which the writer's writing may or may not be satirising.

Confused? Well you should be. But this is exactly the uncanny hall of mirrors that is TV One's new New Zealand comedy series Serial Killers.

I'll walk you through it slowly. The writer is Aucklander James Griffin. He's a bloke who's written scripts for Gloss, City Life and Mercy Peak. But none of these matter. The bit that's important is that he spent years writing for a little soap called Shortland Street.

Now I have to take you back four years. It was then that Griffin's first play Serial Killers — a black comedy about a group of writers working on a daily soap — was first produced by the Auckland Theatre Company. It was a success, it won an award.

Now come forward again to the present. TVNZ asked Griffin to write a comedy based on his play. So he wrote a seven-part sitcom called Serial Killers about a group of writers working on a weekday hospital soap called Heart Of Hearts.

Now we come to the casting. Many of those who play the
writers in Serial Killers, or actors in Heart Of Hearts (the soap within the sitcom) came to the nation's attention in a little soap called Shortland Street, John Leigh, Robyn Malcolm, Oliver Driver ... the list goes on.

So there you have it: Serial Killers, a comedy set behind the scenes of a hospital soap opera called Heart of Hearts, is written and performed by a good number of those have worked on a serious hospital soap opera called Shortland Street.

If his comedy blurs fiction into reality then back into fiction again, it's exactly what Griffin intended, because that's what writers do, particularly writers on a five-night-a-week soaps.

The original idea for Serial Killers came from such an experience, Griffin says.

"I was working at Shortland Street in the mid-90s. A school friend was in on a one-day guest acting stint and I ran into her in the cafeteria. I asked about her family and she started telling me this story, this terrible thing that had happened.

"I realised that half of my brain was going 'oh my goodness that's so terrible' and the other half was thinking 'I can't wait to get back to the story-lining table and start working on this'. That's what happens to writers on shows like Shortland Street. Reality blurs into fiction."

He started writing up the idea as a play and five years later Serial Killers was complete, and has since been performed around the country. However, the only points of similarity between the play and the series are the cast of characters and setting, he says.

"It's not as dark as the play, it's more fun. Johnny Leigh's character in the play was a lot angrier and a lot more disillusioned."

Serial Killers draws its comedy from the foibles, vanities, strengths and weaknesses of the writers and actors of Heart Of Hearts. But one can't help but
suspect there's payback operating too. Will all those people with whom Griffin has worked over the years — actors and writers on Shortland Street, for example — spot themselves on screen?

"I'm sure there will be people who think that it's them. It's not. After having spent so many years on this, whatever the original impetus was for this is long gone. But there are little moments I've taken from truth and little phrases."

John Leigh thinks everyone should be fair game for satire.

"Nobody's above it. There are lines disparaging of the actors and their vanity. But it was interesting as an actor to play Alan, because in a way I could see what they were up against on Shorty.

"That's the wonderful thing about acting. You get to experience other people's lives at a safe distance."

Griffin says the result is more Spinal Tap-type satire — which is to say it's affectionate — than The Office.

"You don't work on something like Shorty for eight years
without respecting the beast. But you recognise there are things in it that need the piss taking out of them. So you do."

The main risk — if you exclude making a sitcom in New Zealand in the first place — is that Serial Killers would be insider-ish, a telly in-joke. Griffin was hugely aware of this danger.

"It was one of the reasons I thought the network wouldn't go for it. But it is not really important where you set something, except to give the show a certain flavour. It's how you tell the stories and whether you relate to the characters."

As to all those former Shortland Street actors playing a satire of something not totally different from their old soap, well that's easily explained, he says.

"If you tried casting anything in this country without having people who'd been in Shortland Street, you'd be struggling."

Didn't you used to be ...


ROBYN MALCOLM

In Shortland Street: Nurse Ellen Crozier

In Serial Killers: Pauline, co-creator of Heart Of Hearts

Which means: She's the story editor, which means the show's her baby. She runs the writers' table — "The Table Of Pain" — and takes her responsibilities very seriously. Pauline's staring down the barrel of 40 and is pregnant to husband Alan, whom she's divorcing but still secretly loves — even though she'd much prefer to hate him.

JOHN LEIGH

In Shortland Street: Goofy Lionel Skeggins

In Serial Killers: Alan, co-creator of Heart Of Hearts

Which means: By dint of being co-creator and being there the longest, he's kind of the unofficial head writer. Alan is an angry man. He fears this is the best he can do. In his head he dreams of novels and plays and movies. He still loves Pauline — even though he'd much prefer to hate her.

OLIVER DRIVER

In Shortland Street: Nurse Cameron Scott

In Serial Killers: Matt, storyliner

Which means: He's the ambitious one. After four years as a storyliner, Matt's been on the Table of Pain long enough now to think he knows how the thing runs. He covets the big chair at the top of the table.

TANDI WRIGHT

In Shortland Street: Nurse Caroline Buxton

In Serial Killers: Sally, producer of Heart Of Hearts

Which means: The latest in a long line of producers, Sally loves her job because it makes her famous by association. She hates it because she has to deal with the bloody writers and their whining. As soon as she can figure out a way of doing the show without them, by God, she'll have the longest lunch on record.

DEAN O'GORMAN

In Shortland Street: Nurse Harry Martin

In Serial Killers: Actor Andrew Lomas

Which means: Depending on which writer you're talking to, Lomas, who plays Dr Gilligan, is either sex on legs or an idiot. He started on the soap straight out of school. He never trained as an actor, he just became a soap star. He's 26 now and he's looking to discover himself before he ends up being Ken Barlow.

SIMON PRAST

In Shortland Street: Nurse Paul Churchill

In Serial Killers: Patrick Falder

Falder plays Dr Harrington, but feels he's slumming it and should be playing better roles in better shows. He's a luvvie with a penchant for cross-dressing.