Yes, it's another flawed but brilliant hero, but this British crime drama is enthralling
'Trauma scrambles the senses. It transforms even the most lucid mind into a labyrinth.' Of all the profound summations of the psychological response to traumatic events delivered by Professor Jasper Tempest (Ben Miller) to his Cambridge University students in this cerebral crime drama, this is perhaps the most relevant to the series.
Indeed, it is to be poignantly repeated. The professor's backstory, tied to his imposing childhood home that stands empty at the end of a walled garden, looms as one such labyrinth too terrible to explore, but which holds the keys to a liberating reckoning.
Making its Australian free-to-air debut, this enthralling 2021 British remake of Paul Piedfort's Belgian series, the fourth season of which will stream on Britbox from August 28, takes the genius but socially flawed forensic criminologist and makes his complexities as intriguing as the episodic mysteries to be solved.
The chameleonic Miller (also the amusingly tone-deaf dad in the ABC's comedy Austin) is superb, inhabiting a very different kind of detective from his amiable – but also awkward – DI Poole in Death in Paradise.
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Here, however, he is in darker territory. Lured out of his strictly academic role by an ambitious young detective (Emma Naomi, Bridgerton), the crimes Professor T helps to solve are presented in a disturbing light, rather than with the subtle detachment of the classic whodunit.
Like Hercule Poirot, Sherlock Holmes, The Bridge's Saga Noren, and even country GP Doc Martin, Professor T's pathological idiosyncrasies set him apart, but they also give him the edge. Unlike those other fictional criminal investigators, his autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder are acknowledged, rather than merely implied. The character certainly reinforces the stereotype of the neurodivergent savant, but at the same time, explores the role of childhood trauma in the developing psyche.
In a departure from many a British series, Professor T is largely shot under cold, grey skies, not during the short English window of summer light. The medieval stone buildings of Cambridge lend an austere atmosphere to not only the personal trajectories of the ensemble but also the disproportionate number of murders and rapes in the city.
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Canberra Times
an hour ago
- Canberra Times
The country economy of flowers, focaccia and friendship
Test your skills with interactive crosswords, sudoku & trivia. Fresh daily! Your digital replica of Today's Paper. Ready to read from 5am! Be the first to know when news breaks. As it happens Get news, reviews and expert insights every Thursday from CarExpert, ACM's exclusive motoring partner. Get real, Australia! Let the ACM network's editors and journalists bring you news and views from all over. Get the very best journalism from The Canberra Times by signing up to our special reports. As it happens Your essential national news digest: all the big issues on Wednesday and great reading every Saturday. Sharp. Close to the ground. Digging deep. Your weekday morning newsletter on national affairs, politics and more. Every Saturday and Tuesday, explore destinations deals, tips & travel writing to transport you around the globe. Get the latest property and development news here. We've selected the best reading for your weekend. Join our weekly poll for Canberra Times readers. Your exclusive preview of David Pope's latest cartoon. Going out or staying in? Find out what's on. Get the editor's insights: what's happening & why it matters. Catch up on the news of the day and unwind with great reading for your evening. Grab a quick bite of today's latest news from around the region and the nation. Don't miss updates on news about the Public Service. As it happens Today's top stories curated by our news team. Also includes evening update. More from National A national directory of stalls can be found via The Roadside Stalls website , while more information about the Adelaide Hills community can be found on their Facebook page . "I really enjoy that - making other people happy." "It's really heartwarming. If you can give a bouquet to the customer and their eyes get happy and sparkly, that's really what makes my day." "She didn't have a mum here, but she has a lovely neighbour who is like her Australian mum. She wanted to say thank you with a bouquet," Ms Boese says. One customer, whose family lives overseas, asked her to create a bouquet ahead of Mother's Day. Though Ms Boese rarely gets to meet those who stop by the stall, she has made memorable connections through the blooms. Katja Boese named her protea and leucadendron stall Blumenfeld for her German heritage. (PR IMAGE PHOTO) "If you just get the stems, it's not a big effort for me and it makes people happy." "It's a good alternative to bouquets because they are quite dear, if you consider how much time and effort goes into it," Ms Boese says. Her customers are encouraged to buy single stems to create their own bunches. Among the 19 hectares was an established crop of proteas and leucadendron Ms Boese sells by the stem at her Blumenfeld stall, named for her German heritage. After spending years looking to escape the pressures of city life, engineer Katja Boese and her partner found a property at Lenswood, in the Adelaide Hills, teeming with native wildlife. "Stalls are popping up a lot more in these sort of places because people are trying to support the smaller people, not the big companies." "There's a lot more people trying to become more self-sufficient out here," she says. Ms Frankish likes to think the stall, adorned with bright yellow bunting and sunflower motifs, helps keep the caravanning community connected through items made with homely care. The Evenindee Homestead farm stall, which sits next to a street library, sells plants, soap, wire art, craft, bath salts and dried flowers. Daneve Frankish's stall at Captain Creek was inspired by a two-year trip around Australia. (PR IMAGE PHOTO) "It was nice to be able to stop and support these little communities we were driving through," Ms Frankish, a part-time teacher's aide, says. The family's most memorable moments on the road included buying sourdough from a vintage fridge in Tasmania and swapping their kids' books at street libraries in countless country towns. Two years travelling around Australia with her young family prompted Daneve Frankish to establish her stall in Captain Creek, in Queensland's Gladstone region. "It's bringing people to our community that have also stopped around at the wineries and the brewery and all the other roadside stalls," she says. Social media posts that capture idyllic days in her kitchen and fertile vegetable patch have even helped lure visitors to town. Googies and Greens, which has more than 1000 followers on Instagram, allows Ms Rothe to work at her own pace while raising her children at home. Baked treats like focaccia, brownies, pinwheel biscuits and banana bread are stocked in pastel hand-painted eskies alongside jars of homemade pesto, dried herbs and pickles. "It was supposed to be just a little hobby selling veggies on the side of the road and it quickly expanded." "I needed something else to focus on, so it gave me a project and something to distract myself with," she tells AAP as fresh loaves of bread bake in her oven while her young children nap. Ms Rothe set up the stall in Langhorne Creek, a picturesque wine-growing region 55km from Adelaide, as she recovered from post-natal depression. Mother-of-three Louise Rothe's stall Googies and Greens , which stocks an abundance of homemade food, is so successful she didn't have to return to a previous job in catering. "Fewer income earning opportunities in regional and rural locations see households operate in the informal sector," it wrote. The Tasmanian Women in Agriculture group told a 2023 parliamentary inquiry examining country bank closures that stalls help secure and diversify farming families' earnings. Nearly a century later, roadside stalls still play an important role in many rural households. Roadside stalls dot the Australian landscape, offering an array of flowers, crafts and produce. (PR IMAGE PHOTO) "Everything looks enticing and is good to taste, touch and smell." "Whatever direction you take a run in a motor car on Sundays you will find the road sides lined with stalls and the stallholders are the farmers and their families," Queensland's Western Champion newspaper reported in 1931. These kinds of stalls, which usually operate on an honesty payment system, have a long history of offering fresh, homegrown produce directly to communities. Roadside stalls dot the landscape across Australia, offering fresh fruit and vegetables, nuts, eggs, honey, jam, plants, seeds, books, craft and even bags of horse and sheep manure for garden fertiliser. "It's more of a wholesome life." "It's the environment of living rurally, you make your own fun," she says. With beginnings in a sweet gesture of friendship, The Blue Bee Market has become a way for Ms Smitheman to connect with her neighbourhood, teach local kids about nature and earn some money while raising two daughters. "I finally had my own flowers to give her," Ms Smitheman tells AAP. She gifted her friend a bouquet on the first anniversary of her grandmother's passing. Tiarna Smitheman sells flowers by the bunch from her Blue Bee Market stall southeast of Adelaide. (PR IMAGE PHOTO) In her first season, the stall sparked conversations around town, was a popular choice for Mother's Day presents and captured the imaginations of tourists staying at the motel next door. Ms Smitheman sells bunches of her home-grown blooms from the welcoming wall-papered stall, giving the community of 1400 an alternative to supermarket or servo bouquets. The women's connection through flowers is the inspiration for her little roadside stall, The Blue Bee Market in Keith, a farming hub 230km southeast of Adelaide. A sunny spot in her backyard brims with cosmos, sunflowers, dahlias, billy buttons and zinnias in spring and summer, a reminder of her friend's late grandmother. All other regional websites in your area The digital version of Today's Paper All articles from our website & app Login or signup to continue reading Subscribe now for unlimited access. When Tiarna Smitheman couldn't find fresh flowers to comfort a bereaved friend, she grew her own. Louise Rothe's roadside goodies have sold so well she hasn't had to return to a previous job. Photo: PR IMAGE PHOTO Your digital subscription includes access to content from all our websites in your region. Access unlimited news content and The Canberra Times app. Premium subscribers also enjoy interactive puzzles and access to the digital version of our print edition - Today's Paper. 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Sydney Morning Herald
3 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
A picture of arrogance: Disgraced surgeon's battles with patients revealed
One of the first things Sharon Jones-Baldwin noticed when she entered Munjed Al Muderis' clinic was the large portrait of the star doctor hanging on the wall. It was the product of his interview on Anh's Brush with Fame, the iconic ABC show where comedian Anh Do profiles celebrities over casual conversations and art. 'Is that the one you had done on the ABC?' Jones-Baldwin asked the doctor, according to her affidavit. 'Yes,' he smiled, before leaving the room. This was the last cordial encounter between the doctor and patient, in what Jones-Baldwin described as a horror experience in February 2021 at Macquarie University Hospital that left her in excruciating pain, traumatised and sobbing. 'I would not return to Al Muderis for medical opinion or procedure even if you paid me,' she stated in her affidavit. 'Al Muderis states that he cares about his patients that was not my experience at all.' Jones-Baldwin was one of more than 30 patients who gave evidence during Al Muderis' failed defamation case against Nine, this masthead and 60 Minutes. In the landmark judgment handed down last Friday, Justice Wendy Abraham found the investigative series that revealed serious concerns with his practice, including that he downplayed risks and provided poor aftercare and negligent surgery, was true and in the public interest. 'The positive media coverage his practice had enjoyed needed correcting, and the investigation revealed another side of his practice,' Abraham ruled. 'Patients should be making their decisions with both sides of the story.' Abraham's 770-page judgment found that Al Muderis' practice was unethical and negligent for a significant cohort of his patients, treating some with neglect, callousness, disrespect and that he 'washed his hands' when they needed him. The case rested on whose account Abraham believed – the celebrity doctor or everyone he accused of lying. Ultimately, she found it was the patients who told the truth. 'All had suffered significant forms of personal hardship,' Abraham wrote. 'They stood to gain nothing by giving evidence, other than saying what happened to them.' Abraham's damning findings included that Al Muderis performed experimental surgeries, ignored red flags, failed to respond to patients' pleas for help, performed medical services in the United States without a licence, paid secret cash commissions to recruit patients, failed to obtain informed consent and prioritised fame and money above his patients. This week the medical regulators, HCCC and AHPRA, signalled they were reviewing the judgment but surgeons and experts have little faith action will be taken. 'AHPRA is not in the business of punishing people,' Australian Law Alliance health expert Ngaire Watson said. 'While they're doing that, there is a tendency they will let people go on and on and on.' Loading Medibank, which jointly owns a short-stay hospital with Al Muderis at Macquarie University Hospital, said it was 'very concerned' about the judgment and 'are taking this extremely seriously'. Medibank asked Macquarie University Hospital, where Al Muderis continues to operate, to investigate the judgment and take 'all steps necessary' with the regulators. Al Muderis, represented by Sue Chrysanthou, SC, painted a picture during the trial of extensive charity work and links to prestigious institutions. In the wake of the judgment, though, this evidence has publicly unravelled. Major charities Amnesty International and Red Cross Australia have denied Al Muderis served as an ambassador, as stated in his affidavit, while smaller charities he claimed to represent either denied knowing him or said the relationships were historic and limited. The University of Sydney contradicted his evidence about having a position at the top university, stating there was no affiliation and hadn't been for years. During the trial launched by the millionaire surgeon to protect his 'carefully curated' public image, this masthead can reveal Al Muderis was fighting several battles at the same time, as six separate lawsuits were filed against him over the past three years, many by patients unrelated to the trial. 'Your leg's f---ed' In one case, detailed in Supreme Court of NSW documents released to this masthead, patient Joseph Gavin Harvey sued Al Muderis, surgeon Mustafa Alttahir and anaesthetist Craig Plambeck alleging medical negligence and a failure to uphold his duty of care. The amended statement of claim, filed in November 2023, repeats many allegations raised in the defamation case: that Al Muderis failed to explain risks, rushed into invasive surgery, failed to gain informed consent and performed negligent surgery resulting in serious injury and disability. During the pre-operative assessment, court documents allege Al Muderis rushed Harvey into surgery without providing adequate information about the risks. 'This is one of the worst cases I have seen,' Al Muderis allegedly told Harvey. 'You need the surgery because your leg's f---ed.' In his defence, Al Muderis states he provided Harvey with an 'information pack from the Australian Orthopaedic Association … which included information on risks' – a practice Abraham deemed was insufficient for informed consent. The court documents allege Al Muderis encouraged the patient to have both legs surgically straightened 'because total recovery time would be shorter' but ultimately agreed to operate only on one. Al Muderis allegedly told Harvey the hospital stay would be two to four days and did not discuss alternative treatments or provide any written information about the surgery or recovery time. The patient, who was a soccer player and wanted to return to the field as quickly as possible, was allegedly not informed that the surgery 'is likely to cause significant and persistent knee pain and lead to an accelerated need for knee replacement surgery'. After the surgery, Harvey claimed he suffered pain 'significantly greater than would be expected'. 'Because of the severe pain, the plaintiff was given a Ketamine infusion and then a femoral block … neither of which provided lasting pain relief,' the documents state. Despite the severe pain being reported, Al Muderis allegedly told Harvey he should start walking, exacerbating his pain. Instead of the expected hospital stay of between two and four days, Harvey languished in hospital for 2½ months and has ongoing injuries and disabilities, according to the documents. 'Prof Al Muderis breached his duty of care,' the claim says. Al Muderis allegedly told the patient his condition was 'so severe' it warranted expedited surgery 'when he knew this was not the case' and in doing so 'recommended treatment that was overly aggressive' for the patient's condition. The claim alleges Al Muderis subjected the patient to unnecessary harm and 'failed to determine that recovery time was a matter to which the plaintiff attached material significance', injured the patient and then failed to correct the injury. As a result, Harvey alleges a range of physical, pyschological and financial harms. Al Muderis, Plambeck and Alttahir dispute the allegations and the matter is next listed for directions in September. Alttahir was also a witness for Al Muderis in the defamation trial and gave evidence Abraham found was defensive, not impartial and showed he clearly had 'an interest in the outcome of the case'. In the case, documents show Al Muderis is represented by Eliza Faulk, formerly the head of practice claims at the country's largest medical insurer, Avant. This masthead is not suggesting these allegations are true, only that they have been made in court documents. Alttahir and Plambeck were contacted for comment. 'Hefty non-disclosure' The defamation trial heard Al Muderis' insurer paid out large settlement sums to two former patients, Kim Gollan ($1.2 million) and Leah Mooney ($1.75 million) after operations went wrong. The settlements were previously sealed under confidentiality agreements that Al Muderis waived in his pursuit of defamation litigation. While the Gollan matter was settled on a 'no admissions basis', the court ruled in Mooney's favour. Still, Al Muderis did not acknowledge any wrongdoing in Mooney's case under cross-examination. 'Ms Mooney's incidents have changed my life,' Al Muderis told the court. 'It did affect me deeply and to this day, every day I wake up, I think what would I have done different, and to this day, I think that I've done everything that I could do to help this woman.' Abraham found this answer reflected Al Muderis' preparedness to 'embellish his evidence' and criticised his inability to admit error 'even with the benefit of hindsight' and in the face of indisputable evidence. 'Even if the assertion is hyperbole, it is made (when not true) to emphasise his concern for the position Ms Mooney was in,' she said, which 'tells against his credit'. The cases of Gollan and Mooney take the known lawsuit tally against Al Muderis to nine. Nurse-turned-barrister Watson said more than half-a-dozen medical negligence cases being filed against Al Muderis 'indicates a serious problem': 'If I'm seeing them again and again and again, there is something seriously amiss.' Watson said there is a 'high bar' for medical negligence cases in Australia, that are often David-versus-Goliath battles between injured individuals and well-resourced doctors backed by large medical insurers and law firms. 'The power imbalance is stark,' she said, adding cases rarely make it to trial and often involve 'no admissions' settlements, with large sums being paid to avoid public scrutiny. 'I settle 95 per cent of my cases out of court, that come with hefty non-disclosure agreements.' Loading She said there is very limited transparency around the safety of Australian doctors and believes there needs to be greater transparency in error rates and disciplinary histories for all healthcare practitioners. Through her practice, Watson said she has observed 'frequent flyers' – doctors who face several medical negligence cases and regulatory complaints yet none of them are publicly disclosed – which she said indicates a 'serious problem'. 'It goes with a certain personality type,' she said. 'These people have enormous egos and they don't like being corrected.' She said the current healthcare regulation model is deliberately non-punitive and rarely holds doctors accountable for harming patients, leaving costly and risky litigation as the sole remaining option for justice. Watson said she had seen the HCCC dismiss complaints that later resulted in significant settlement sums being made through litigation. She has little faith in the current regulatory investigative processes. Patient advocate Dorothy Kamaker said private hospitals need to take greater accountability. 'They know what's going on. And they really need to look after the patients. Their duty of care is to the patients, not the surgeon,' she said. 'The surgeon might be the milk cow. They might be making a huge amount of money, but in my mind I feel the patients are being screwed.' Corporate governance expert Helen Bird said neither Medibank nor Macquarie University Hospital should be responsible for investigating the judgment's implications for Al Muderis' ongoing career. She argued the institutions were conflicted because of their financial links to Al Muderis. 'It's very hard to see Macquarie University Hospital setting up a robust inquiry,' Bird said. 'The hospital will say 'we do whatever is in the best interests of our patients'. The short answer is they also know who keeps them open and viable.' In a video uploaded to social media, Al Muderis, who has said he intends to appeal the judgment, promoted the doctor-shareholder joint ventures with health funds where he said he does 'hips and knees' and other surgeries. 'Patients recover very fast, normally,' he said. 'Basically, the health fund shifts the money that they give to inpatient rehab to the surgeon, anaesthetist and the assistant and the physio to cover for that. And they still save money. It's a good program. We've been doing it [for] two years very successfully.' Two orthopaedic surgeons, speaking this week on the condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation from Al Muderis, said these structures led by health funds like Medibank are 'trying to turn us into America and go with managed care', where profits drive surgical decision-making. Another surgeon said Al Muderis was now spending significant time overseas, in Abu Dhabi and elsewhere, where he performs surgeries. 'All the surgeons who invested in the short stay at Macquarie have been left high and dry. Munjed was the draw card on which the [doctor-shareholders] banked [to] make it a success.' Al Muderis did not respond to questions for this story by deadline, but a statement earlier this week said that he had been 'cleared of any wrongdoing by all relevant authorities, including AHPRA and the Medical Council of NSW, and there are no active complaints or investigations against him that he is aware of'. 'Vindicated' Patients who gave evidence in the trial stated they considered suing Al Muderis for medical negligence, but 'felt powerless when considering his wealth, fame and celebrity status'. Mooney has complained several times to the HCCC, and despite the damning evidence of Al Muderis' negligence, lies and dogged failure to investigate her bone infection and its devastating consequences, the regulator is not interested. 'How can that be the case?' The defamation trial involved subpoenaing medical records for each of the patients, and experts then assessing the quality of care they received. In Jones-Baldwin's case, expert and orthopaedic surgeon Stephen Ruff found that Al Muderis ordered scans and determined her hip joint had 'severely collapsed' as justification for rushing her into the emergency hip replacement. However, Ruff said there was a 'huge disconnect' between what Al Muderis said was wrong and the real position, where X-rays showed her hip was 'essentially normal' and there was 'no gross collapse' evidence. The judge accepted Ruff's opinion. Before her surgery with Al Muderis, Jones-Baldwin was recovering from leukemia, and praised the doctor who treated her as a 'walking talking angel'. 'I understand what professional medical care looks like.' When she was first referred to Al Muderis' clinic, she was thrilled to be treated by such a celebrated surgeon. 'I was shocked and excited that I could get to see a specialist of his reputed calibre,' she wrote in her affidavit, saying the waiting room was full of people. 'The best way to describe it is manic.' In Abraham's ruling, she was persuaded that Al Muderis equated being busy with being successful. 'Being busy has with it many consequences,' she said. Jones-Baldwin said Al Muderis never properly explained the surgery and visited her only once briefly at Macquarie University Hospital, where he treated her 'with contempt'. 'He did not acknowledge or greet me. As he left, I called out 'doctor' but he continued to leave,' she said. 'The only thing he was interested in was the actual operation'. Formerly a publicly listed company director and senior government bureaucrat, Jones-Baldwin said when she read and watched the investigation into Al Muderis by this masthead and 60 Minutes published in 2022, she felt vindicated. 'I cried for the other people who had a similar experience with Al Muderis.' Not all Al Muderis' patients feel this way. Some launched a petition this week pledging their support for the surgeon, which now has more than 1200 signatures. 'At a time when his contributions are being publicly questioned, it is vital that the voices of those who have benefited from this groundbreaking procedure are heard,' the petition stated. In the Federal Court judgment, Abraham found Al Muderis told patients they were 'family' and 'connected for life' and invited them on boats and to dinners and social events. She found this 'altered the patient-doctor relationship' and made some feel dependent on him and afraid to sever the therapeutic relationship. In the witness box, Jones-Baldwin was subjected to aggressive cross-examination by Chrysanthou, who accused her, in court and in closing submissions, of being a 'lying fantasist'. Justice Abraham did not agree, saying: 'That description is gratuitously disrespectful. I do not accept it.' This week, Jones-Baldwin said she was grateful for being able to 'speak the truth about Dr Al Muderis' through the trial but has now joined others in calling for the institutions with a duty to protect the public to step up. 'I hope the regulators will take this matter seriously and put things in place to stop this man from harming others,' she said. As for Al Muderis, this masthead asked the doctor this week, through his lawyers, if he would like to apologise to the patients in light of the Federal Court's judgment. He did not respond.
Sydney Morning Herald
3 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Perth's big, beautiful movie studio is getting ready for its close-up
It was always expected Western Australia's first purpose-built movie studio would be big. It's one of the reasons the state government decided to shift the $233 million screen facility from Victoria Quay in the heart of Fremantle to the southern edge of Whiteman Park in Perth's northern suburbs. But it is not until you get up close and personal to Perth Film Studios, as it has been rebranded, that you fully appreciate the size of the four state-of-the art boxes that in years to come will host large-scale Australian and international productions that will put our city on the filmmaking map — that is, if everything goes to plan. Taken aback by the size of the facility – in particular the sound stage in the most advanced stage of completion – the first question to Perth Film Studios' British-born chief executive Tom Avison must be: 'What level of production could it not accommodate?' 'Not many,' replied Avison, who was head-hunted from London to shepherd the studio into operation and help lure the kind of big-budget film and television productions for which it was designed. 'A James Bond movie or a Mission: Impossible might require something bigger. 'But for most things these four sound stages are comparable to facilities in the UK such as Pinewood, Leavesden or Sky Studio Elstree. 'They're plenty big enough for most of the movies and television series being shot around the world.' The facility boasts 19,232 square metres of production space — including 8361 square metres across four sound stages — and a backlot bigger than the playing field at Optus Stadium. Equally impressive is the overall quality of the build and various facilities that will be used to support the sound stages — production offices, dressing rooms, spaces for costumes and laundry. 'A movie studio is like a reef. It acts like a centre of gravity. It brings the ecosystem to it. You get big fish, you get small fish and everything in between.' Perth Film Studios CEO Tom Avison And in Avison, the WA Labor government and Home Fire Creative Industries – the Perth company that won the much-publicised competition to build and operate the studio – have found a chief executive with recent experience opening a similar facility, Sky Studios Elstree, in London. Sky Studios was a baptism of fire for Avison in his role as director of operations, as the new studio's first production was Wicked, Universal's blockbuster musical that took over eight of the studio's 12 sound stages. 'We had just completed the build when Wicked moved in. Builders out on Friday, production in on Monday,' Avison said. 'It was a challenging time but very exciting and incredibly rewarding. 'It battle-hardens you and your staff and forces you to get up to the highest standards very quickly. 'When a film is green-lit it goes fast. The train is leaving the station and you have to climb on board.' It is doubtful that Perth Film Studios will kick off in the first quarter of next year with a production the size of Wicked. However, if Hollywood wants to shoot a mega-budget musical, or an action fantasy, or a series about the world overrun with the undead, then Avison and his team will be ready. 'We will have conversations with producers who have the biggest projects to those with the smallest,' Avison said. 'And the studio will be a fantastic option for local and national projects. 'A good example are the two recent television series that were filmed in Perth, Ghosts and The Postcard Bandit. We want the Perth Film Studios to become the hub for the Western Australian screen industry.' Avison says that he was lured away from his big job in one of the world centres of film and television production because of the excitement around the WA film industry and the support of the state government, which is backing its investment in the studio with an array of incentives to ensure it doesn't become a 'white elephant'. 'There is an industry here that has been growing organically and successfully and a government that is supporting it,' Avison said. 'And when you factor in organisations like ScreenWest and the crew of highly skilled freelancers you feel that Western Australia is on the cusp of something great. I wanted to be a part of that.' Avison said there was also the understanding that it was not enough to just build a studio: 'You need to build an industry to support it.' Ever since the movie studio was announced by then-premier Mark McGowan during the 2021 state election in a starry press event at Victoria Quay with local stars such as Tim Minchin, Kate Walsh and Ben Elton, the industry has been debating the issue of whether Perth is ready for a movie industry. There are arguments that WA's industry is not mature enough to service a movie studio, and that most of the talent will have to be imported, raising costs and make it less attractive to American studios and other production entities around the globe. Loading Avison disagrees that WA is putting the cart before the horse. 'A movie studio is like a reef,' he said. 'It acts like a centre of gravity. It brings the ecosystem to it. You get big fish, you get small fish and everything in between. 'In the past productions have come here to take advantage of the wonderful locations then go somewhere else for the studio component. They will now be able to do everything here.' He also sees potential for crews returning if they have a good experience in Perth, giving the example of a series production, which could take months. 'That means that the various services that support a production are assured of long-term work,' he said. 'All of this occurs because at the centre of the ecosystem is a movie studio.' The other big challenge is distance. Perth is, as we hear ad nauseum, the most isolated capital city in the world. Loading So, will the production entities in the United States, Europe and, to a lesser extent, Asia be willing to send their projects across multiple time zones to do what could be done on their respective home territories? Adding to the challenge is that, since the rise of streaming services such as Amazon, Netflix and Apple, screen facilities have been popping up across the United States and across the globe, with Sydney recently announcing plans for a second studio. While some aspects of international filmmaking are out WA's control — the rise and fall in the dollar, and Donald Trump's tariffs have added another element of uncertainty — Avison believed the studio would overcome distance by offering a unique, high-quality experience. 'Filmmaking is complex and stressful, with tight deadlines and fixed budgets. So crews need to feel reassured they can do their jobs,' he said. 'We will create an environment that will not just get the job done but will allow filmmakers to flourish. 'We want them to be reassured that they don't have to worry about the basics, and they can put all their energy into their creativity.' While there is pressure on Avison and his team to lure the kind of bigger budget productions that will brush aside the naysayers, he believes it will take time for the studio to build a reputation and drop into the field of view of the global film industry, like Tom Cruise in Top Gun. 'I come from an industry where studios have been there for 100 years,' Avison said. 'That is what we want to build — a facility that is not a flash in the pan something that will serve the local industry for generations to come. We will be ready in the first quarter of next year, but our eyes are also on the future.'
