Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries Teacher Notes – The Arts BACKGROUND Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries is a thirteen x one-hour series based on the novels of Australian author, Kerry Greenwood. Our lady sleuth sashays through the back lanes and jazz clubs of late 1920s Melbourne, fighting injustice with her pearl-handled pistol and her dagger-sharp wit. Leaving a trail of admirers in her wake, our thoroughly modern heroine makes sure she enjoys every moment of her lucky life. The Honourable Miss Phryne Fisher (pronounced Fry-knee) began life in 1989 as the daring lady detective protagonist of a series of eighteen crime books written by Australian author, Kerry Greenwood. A glamorous and thoroughly modern woman of the late 1920s with an acquired taste for the best – but who also has impeccable working class origins – Phryne was an instant success with readers and still shows no sign of hanging up her pearl-handled pistol or giving up her adventurous love-life for just one man. Producer Fiona Eagger firmly believes that the tone and wit of the books, which have attracted hundreds of thousands of readers, will translate for the fans. The result is a delightful “whodunit” series combined with a bit of old fashioned fun, taking audiences back in time to a meticulously realised, decorous world – a world of beauty, wit and charm. Behind the scenes videos take teachers and students to the heart of the Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries production. In these clips, interspersed with illustrative grabs from the television series, author Kerry Greenwood, the producers, director, the steam train drivers, visual effects and production designers discuss their roles and the creative process of the various aspects that blended to become the extraordinary production of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. Of particular interest are the methods employed to overcome the many and varied challenges of filming a period drama series in the streets and parklands of contemporary Melbourne within the confines of the budget. The videos include interviews with: Series Author – Kerry Greenwood (2:49) Producers – Fiona Eagger and Deb Cox (2:22) Leading Lady – Essie Davies (2:19) Steam Train Experts – Jim Murty and Steve Lumsden (1:40) Set Tour– Kerry Greenwood (3:47) Start-up Director – Tony Tilse (3:04) Visual Effects – Scott Zero (2:26) Art Department – Robert Perkins (3:41) 3rd Assistant Director – Scooter Welbourn Journalist Graeme Blundell reviewed the series: The series is characterised by a charming facetiousness of style similar to that of Greenwood's writing. It constantly surprises with its cleverness, and Eagger and Cox's mastery of the crime thriller's tropes ensures continual surprises of plot. When it pauses for breath the show takes us into a decorous world - a world of beauty, wit and charm - elegantly realised by director of photography Roger Lanser and production designer Robert Perkins. Like Miss Fisher herself, the series should leave a long trail of admirers in its wake. Graeme Blundell, The Australian, 18 February 2012 FROM BOOKS TO SCREEN Not surprisingly, Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher books have been optioned on and off for many years. As Greenwood explains, she feels Phryne and the other characters she has created are her children, and she was very particular about both who would be able to do them justice on the screen, as well as accurately capturing the setting of Melbourne as it was in 1928. A stickler for accuracy and attention to detail, Greenwood was also aware of the costs involved in making a historical drama. To learn more about adapting the books and character of Phryne Fisher to the screen from the series author watch the interview with Kerry Greenwood. THE PRODUCERS' PERSPECTIVE In the competitive television genre of murder mysteries, so well realised by UK productions of Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, Midsummer Murders and numerous other series, producers Fiona Eagger and Deb Cox discuss how they chose the books and character of Phryne Fisher and adapted them to the screen. Steering away from the orthodox murder mystery formula, the producers combine a more natural mix of charming characters in a delightful world with a strong sense of social justice. Working closely with the books’ author, Kerry Greenwood, it was imperative to portray Phryne’s character as defined by the novels and to create an authentic 1928 setting for the fast-paced action scenes. The producers also wanted to incorporate a playful, tongue-in-cheek look at the world while capturing the complex nature of the relationship between the series’ protagonists. From a television production perspective, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries has it all – intriguing and unique murder mysteries, a strong female character, beautiful costumes and locations, and a great legacy from a very well-loved series of books. The main difference between Phryne and other crime series is the focus on characters. Central to both the books and the television series is a woman who is unconventional and ahead of her time, which gives the genre an unorthodox edge. And, because Phryne champions the underdog, there is more depth than just solving crimes. Additionally, the books are set in the late 1920s, which was an extraordinary time for Australian women whose lives had been dramatically impacted upon by the Great War. Through the enormous abc.net.au/phrynefisher devastation of the war and the loss of so many men, women held positions of authority and new opportunities emerged for them. Many women missed out on partners and marriage and the conventional choices because there just weren’t the men around. However, women like Phryne Fisher embraced the opportunity. Phryne joined the war, driving an ambulance in France. She had a taste of being a woman unhampered by a reliance on men. Unique to this society was the combined effect of delirium at having survived the war and the blissful ignorance of the looming Depression and the Second World War. Despite the beautiful frocks, magnificent home, snazzy sports car and all the escapist elements of Phryne’s life, Phryne is trying to change the world for people who are in serious trouble. If she’d just been a dilettante – the Honourable Miss Phryne Fisher trying to save the world – rather than someone who grew up with injustice, her character would not have been anywhere near as interesting. Her working class past included a hard life living in poverty on the streets of Collingwood. There, a terrible crime was visited upon her younger sister. When Phryne’s sister’s case was not investigated because she came from a poor family for whom no-one cared, Phryne became driven to resolve the crime for herself. Phryne’s insistence on justice subsequently spread to helping other people in similar plights. Learn more about the production by watching the interview with producers Fiona Eagger and Deb Cox. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT OF THE LEADING LADY In her interview, Essie Davis, one of Australia's most accomplished actors, talks about her view of Phryne in the production phase and how she approaches portraying Phryne on screen. Watch the interview with Leading Lady Essie Davis discussing Playing Phryne Fisher. One of Deb and Fiona’s proudest moments was sharing early footage with a delighted Kerry Greenwood. Kerry says that, now, every time she writes a Phryne book, the actress who plays Phryne in the series, Essie Davis, will be front and centre in her mind. “Kerry was part of the process in our choice of who to play Phryne. Once we had a short list it was important to get Kerry’s input and Kerry was very clear about who her Phryne was and why – there was no question in Kerry or our minds that Essie embodied Phryne,” Fiona says. Deb Cox said that it was essential for the character to have worldliness and an intelligence to be able to believably portray a woman of Phryne’s history and abilities and, as an actor, have the ability to skate from playfulness to seriousness. “Essie is very accomplished, she knows her stuff inside out...she’s done a lot of theatre as well as television so she knows how to formalise her work. She has a class to her, a polish to her performance and, in every respect, in her delivery, in the way she accents the work, in her body language in particular, there is a certain grace. Phryne needed to be flamboyant and uninhibited, but always graceful. Essie has pulled that off completely!” Deb says. abc.net.au/phrynefisher “The other thing that Essie brings is a more personal quality and, in particular, our author Kerry Greenwood was impressed by this when she met her, she brings a certain command to the performance. She’s in charge. You see moments when she is emotionally vulnerable but she’s always in control, she’s not subservient to anyone, unless she chooses to be.” One of Australia’s most respected and acclaimed film, theatre and television actors since graduating from Australia’s National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), Essie's feature film credits include Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, Code 46, Charlotte’s Web, Isolation, Baz Luhrmann’s Australia, The Wedding Party, and South Solitary which opened the 2010 Sydney Film Festival and for which Essie earned a Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Supporting Actress. Essie has starred in numerous television series and miniseries including Sweeney Todd (BBC), The Silence, After the Deluge – which earned her an AFI Award for Best Supporting Actress – and Halifax fp: The Spider and the Fly. In 2011, Essie appeared in two of the most acclaimed programs on Australian television: the highly anticipated Showtime mini-series of Tim Winton’s Cloudstreet directed by Matthew Saville, and The Slap, adapted from the multi-award winning novel by Christos Tsiolkas.