It's in the news today, but it was actually on TV Reloaded podcast last week.
I'm I, how would I describe a television set, oh Man from a headline grabbing point of view, the hack producer from me says one hundred percent put him in.
Welcome back guys to TV Reload. My name's Benjamin Norris and on this podcast I go behind the scenes with the biggest players in television.
Yeah, great questions. The show's about the game. There's a lot of great television out there in Australia.
But I've also got to go behind the scenes with writers. The truth is, when I started writing it, it wasn't had nothing to do with the news and casting agents they.
Know from a casting point of view what they need.
And editors because that's what we do as editors where storytellers them. Not to forget some incredible executive producers who are making some of the best TV content in Australia.
I have been on the program since the beginning and it's kind of in my DNA.
So thanks for joining me each week and I hope the podcast continues to give you real insight into the magic of television. This week on the podcast, to have actress Emma Hamilton. Emma is currently starring in the reboot of Royal Flying Doctor Service, which this week wraps series one on Channel seven. If you've missed the new series on Free to Wear, you are free to watch it
now on seven Plus, which I highly recommend. We are yet to find out the fate of this scripted drama, and I for one hope that we can all ban together and get the next series in production. It's well written, well acted, and the stories are mless for the Broken Hill setting of RFDS. The season finale does end on a cliffhanger and that makes me feel like we do have some hope for Emma's character. Emma has been seen in countless roles on stage and screen in both England
and Australia. There is a warmth to her acting which is always present, and her passion for creating characters is definitely inspiring, which we will find out today. We will talk about the actors who have inspired Emma's work, including a story about meeting Kate Winslet, how she won the role of Doctor Eliza, and if she's made lifelong friends with my favorite Justine Clark. However, let's get started with today's guests. I'd like to welcome to the podcast. It's Emma Hamilton.
When I read a script, I try to see if there's an inn out here.
You can see just about every.
Star, if there's something about the character that resonates.
If you screamed, you'd be pretty sure.
No one id hear. I'm sort of part of the fabric of Australian television pilot.
Mira flight NSP.
This is doctor Eliza harrodown USMR. When I got the news that I got the role, I had literally given birth a week before seven. If you do a show like this it will have far reaching the faith.
Hey, Emma, how are you?
I'm very well, Thank you, thank you very much for having me well.
Congratulations on the first season of RFDS. I am obsessed and I loved it.
Honestly, I can't tell you how much that means to hear you say that, that means a lot.
What was your reaction and to being offered this role?
It was definitely in the highlight reel of the best moments of my life. I was very overwhelmed, very teary, and yeah in shock.
Really yeah you like mom dad? I have a lead in the reboot of the role flying Doctor Service and they just run around screaming I'm imagining.
Yeah, it was that was That was a very cool moment when I when I got to say there's something off with this role, which was very shortly followed on with how are you going to do this? Because I literally when I got the news that I got the role, I had literally given birth a week before, so so that was so the first question was this is amazing. How are you going to do this?
I thought you were going to be talking from the perspective of how am I going to be a doctor?
Well, that was the other thing was just you know, apart from the actual creative side of it and the role side of it, and thinking, Okay, how am I going to go about this role, and you know, and the responsibility of kind of taking on such a large role, you know, and thinking you want to do it justice and particularly because it's a medical role, thinking you know about all of the research that you've got to do and the work that you you know, that's the stuff
I loved. So I was very excited about that. But yeah, it sort of came at a time in my life where it was there was also a lot of logistics to work out.
Well, do you know what's really good research is having a baby in a hospital and then having that be a recent thing so that you can kind of remember the doctor faces that you know people are obviously pulling during that experience, and then you can just mimic that.
I guess, oh, absolutely, I was paying attention to the doctor faces. No, I was. I was really lucky the Royal Flying Dupt Service in Melbourne invited me along to go and have a bit of a tour, which was lovely because you know, we were obviously we're going to be filming in Broken Hill, and I didn't know how much the lead time I was going to have once I arrived in Broken Hill to when we were actually
starting shooting. So to be invited along to meet a flight nurse and to have a look at the aircraft and to ask all the questions was very exciting and I'm very grateful to them for that. Miss Hannah was visited by the Queen in nineteen fifty four, which is how we got the official Royal in the Royal Flying Doctor title.
How much of the Old Flying Doctors did you watch? I mean, were you a fan of the original runs of the show.
Oh absolutely, I mean I don't.
I think.
I think every Australian is. It's sort of part of the when you're growing up, this sort of part of the fabric of Australian television. You know, you have an awareness of that show. It's so iconic. I've been very lucky, actually I've worked with a couple of the original cast and yeah, I've always been in awe of them because it had that show has such a legacy and it's still shown in some places in the world and people
still join the rf the real RFDS. Even now, people from like doctors from overseas will see the show and think, oh, you know, maybe I'll go to Australia and I'll you know, do a stint, you know, working with outback communities and it's been wonderful for them, and it still has that
pull from that original show. So we knew going into this that there was there was a lot of responsibility because you're representing a real organization that do really important work and it meant everything to us to try and get it as accurate as we could and to as truthful as we could, and to really do them proud, because if you do a show like this, it will
have sort of far reaching effects. This is people, we have cod blue patients coning, we need a neurosurgeon on the phone and gear prep for a procedure in hangar for whole What else do we need?
I need the closest thing to a surgical trillion Again, what surprised you about the character of doctor Eliza Harrod?
Was very, very attractive and just really from the second I read the script, it just resonated with me. She's someone who's well, she's a mum for a start, and at that time I was when I was auditioning, I was pregnant, so I was sort of relating to that side of it. But you know the fact that she's from the UK. I'm British as well. I'm a dual citizen and I've lived over there for a long time, so that world of living in London and everything like
that is extremely fresh for me. So I felt I could really relate to that and hopefully bring that to the role. I've never been a doctor, but I've always been fascinated. But I am a bit squeamish, to be honest.
I felt squeamish watching some of the some of the scenes.
I know, and I'm very grateful that for some of the some of the particularly detailed shot, I'm not necessarily present for all of the blood.
You need to make a cut from the top of the left here straight up, except do not cut over the midline.
Whatever you do, you could hit the superior saginal scientus.
What if I do that, you'll bleed to death. But if you do nothing, she has no chance.
Of survival, definitely for some But but yeah, it's there's a lot of magic that comes to it from to do a convincing medical drama, and a lot of different departments are involved to bring that to life. It's not just us. There's a lot of people who are putting in a lot of time and a lot of effort to make it, to make it realistic.
Were there elements of your personality that you kind of injected into the.
There's definitely some moments that, yeah, I can kind of see myself in. I am a from a bit of a bit of a dag and there are some definitely some daging moments. The bit where Eliza gets pulled up on stage in episode one to dance on stage at the pub, and she's very embarrassed to do that. I can I can tell you that was very real.
It came naturally, It came very naturally.
I did not want to, Emma, Emma Hamilton, did not want to get up there and dance around. But because I mean we were still early and shooting, I didn't know everybody very well. You're in a room full of crew and cast and extras, and yeah, having to get up and dance around was I am a little shy,
and having to do that was was terrifying. And it was one of those moments that sort of for a lies it was really important because she she's taken the moment where she kind of lets go and actually really has a moment of freedom and a little moment of self revelation for herself and sort of comes alive a little bit in that moment. And yeah, for me it was it was interesting because I was also sort of
letting go and thinking, Yep, let's just do this. It's not gonna be pretty, but let's just let's just get involved, ladies and get a huge Silver City Welcome to our us, serosexual doctor Alt. She got some half dacent waves about you.
Yeah, I just thought that was incredible, though, I mean, you're talking about the fact that you had this ability to be a bit daggy but then definitely knew what you were doing when you were pretending to be a doctor. So like I wanted wanted to know, like, how hard is it to actually look like you know what you are doing as a doctor? Did you watch a lot of grays Anatomy and look at Alan Pompeio, like, how do you how do you look so convincing being a doctor?
You're right, well, I mean all all of the things, you know. I did a lot of reading and listened to some great audio books written by surgeons and things like that to kind of get a feel for it. I did watch some tally. I actually watched I Binge watched all of the episodes of The Surgeon, which actually starts justin Clark, and that was That's an incredible series. If you haven't seen it, definitely watch it. Do you think she can handle a debridement now and another one tomorrow? Could be joking.
This girl's already septic, and she's on nor adrenaline to maintain any blood pressure at all.
She's incredibly fit. Surely you can keep a stable for a few hours. Death then why don't you do it? Eve?
If it's that easy.
I'm trying to save Lee, trying to.
Save her life.
That was fabulous watching the surgeon, But like I was just saying before, there were so many people who were there to help us get it right. We had a medical advisor on set at all times so we could ask. We were able to rehearse a little bit, so we actually had a cent of the equipment. What we're doing. Can I touch this? Is this sanitor? And would I be wearing you know, would I be wearing gloves? You know,
those sort of questions. But you know, you've also got you know, the makeup department, who are who bring the prosthetics and make sure that everything looks right. You've got department, You've got props, You've got all these people who are bringing the best of and that they are the best of the best. These the people who were working on RDS, They're fabulous. They everything goes into the into the pie, as it were, all the ingredients to help create a
medical scene. It's a huge collaborative effort. Looks so you're having this.
Baby up here?
My god, I'm not ready hard stopping New Australian drama. Who are some of your actor inspirations like over time, you know, not necessarily for this show, but you know you as an actor.
I've always really admired. Well, I'm Cate Blanchet, and Kate Winslet's a big icon for me. I think she's fabulous. I actually met her once and I tell me she came. She came to see a play I was in, and yeah, it was it was quite quite amazing. She just sort of came over to say hello, and I didn't know what to say. And another person I was in the show with the fabulous, fabulous actress Kate particularly wanted to tell her how moved she was by her performance, which
was incredibly moving. And as it happened, this particular actress didn't recognize Kate Winsland at the time, and Kate sort of sitting there saying, you're amazing, You're music, and I'm standing there thinking, oh my god, it's Kate Winslet, It's Kate Winslocks.
And then eventually the penny dropped and this actress went, oh, you're the Winslet and sort of waved her hands because it had just in a daggy wait like she just sort of figured it out.
I think Kate was very very cool about it and sort of went, oh, yes I am, and then kind of walked off. But that was my that was my brush with Kate. What is it?
What do you look for in a role? Is there like a criteria that you have that you that you try to seek ount I.
Suppose I try to when I read a script, I try to see if I if there's an inn if there's something about the character that that resonates that I think could be a way into understanding them and to yeah, to find to finding how to play them, because you know, often I've played a lot of characters that that are very different to me, and if you can find your way in, then that's that's the joy of kind of finding out how someone else ticks and why they make the choices that they do.
You kind of own this character, which I made me think, did you know when you picked up the script and you were auditioning that this one kind of felt like.
You, Yeah, there was a residence there, And I thought, I think I recognized a lot of things in Eliza and thought she's someone that I think I could I could play. She's someone I really want to get to know and bring to life. That was pretty instant. It was pretty instant. It was one of those times when a script comes through and you think, oh, wow, this is amazing, this is amazing, and then you think and then you think, because you want it so much, you think, oh,
I want it too much. Now I'm done. I'm done. It's not going to go my way because I want it to. Yeah, it was just everything about the script just divine, all the characters, the world just I loved it from the very beginning.
Well, the love scenes were really convincing.
Yeah, it does get a little bit spiney. My aunt rang me up on the phone when after she watched the first episode and she.
Was like, well, I don't think that they had to get into bed straight away.
I think, I don't know. I don't I don't know that I'm happy about that. And I was like, well, how the story is going.
Like that's just kind of how it works, mate.
Yeah. I actually, I actually really like the way they put the twist on it that way, because usually if there's if there's sort of a connection, a romantic connection, frequently they'll draw you know, a TV series will draw that out, whereas this one you know, it's it's fireworks, and then all of these other things transpire to kind of flip that and it was really refreshing to do, to play that romantic connection but in that order and with all those things happening, because to me, that happens
in real life.
Well, that's what I was going to say.
Sometimes you jump in with both feet before you've sought it through. And I think, you know, hopefully a few people will will relate to that. I have just the one first man, not me and Dad would in years and there was drag queens and brain surgery and oh wow, anyway, who am I?
Well, there was a long flight. I'm going to use that as the turn of phrase. There was a bit of a long flight from the show being green let to you know, getting to screen. What were some of those hurdles that you guys came across getting this show.
Made, getting it off the ground.
Yeah, let's keep going.
Yeah, I think, well, look, I mean the obvious one's COVID. You know, originally we went to start shooting I think I think it was April last year, but you know the world was up, it was turned upside down in March and we got the word that things were going to be. You know, at first we heard okay, the production officers up and running and broken hill, and we all thought, okay, well, how's this going to work? And then and then it got delayed and we didn't we
didn't know what that meant. And I, you know, we didn't know if we were going to get the word that it was all over, it wasn't going to happen. We didn't know. Like the rest of the world, none of us knew what was going on. And then eventually we got the good news that we were actually going to go. And then for me, we got the word
that was going ahead in July. And then suddenly the outbreak happened in Victoria, and you know, Victoria started to close its borders to New South Wales for the major lockdown, which we didn't know it was going to be a major lockdown at that point. And I got the call that morning, you need to get into New South Wales now, you need to leave now. So I had to pack up my four month old and jump on a plane.
But fortunately, yeah, and then we got to Sydney and we quarantined for two weeks and we did our isolation and all of the official stuff, which is very very important, and the production were really great about it, and I think that's partly why we were able to go ahead, is because our juices and you know, animals shine and everyone was so meticulous about protecting not only our production and everybody involved in the production, but also protecting the
community out there. We definitely did not want to bring anything into the Broken Hill community, and so you know, everybody had to isolate. Everybody had to cross their t's and dot their eyes and follow the protocol and we had it. We had a COVID, We had a COVID officer on set every day and he referred to himself as our COVID coach, which was awesome.
Well, I remember I was at the Channel seven upfronts when it was announced and it was just some footage of a plane and Justin Clark narrating it. I don't know if you remember that. I don't know if you saw that which the Channel seven upfront where they preview things that are coming out, and I'm I feel like there was like two or three years ago when we first saw that, you know, so it was a really long road to having the show being greenlit and then getting us to be able to watch it all, so
there was worth the weight. Though I'm going to say I know it was a long road.
I wasn't privy to a lot of that because I sort of came in later on in the piece. But yes, it sounds like it was a long road to put it together. And I think, look, getting anything, getting anything off the ground in Australia has its challenges, and you know, we're very lucky that things aligned global pandemics aside, we managed to keep going. There was no incident, We got
through it without any trouble. And yeah, we've got to show that we're all really proud of and just really hope that Australian audiences connect with and get behind and hopefully we'll get a chance to make some more.
Well are we going to see more? Because I've watched the Cliffhanger now three times, like I mentioned at the start, of watching the whole series through, and it was amazing, and I'm just I just want to know, do you know do you even know we're getting Are we getting more?
Ah? Nothing nothing confirmed at this stage. Every one of us is crossing our fingers and toes and and legs and hoping that it does. We had such a great time making it, and I hope, I hope that comes through. It's not every day that you do a show where the entire cast and crew get on and really enjoy coming to work and you know, enjoy the work and have a good time. And it really was an absolute
joy from beginning to end. I think we'd all just love to make some more and tell some more stories because there are so many stories.
There's so much more to do. I mean, I'm annoyed there was only as many episodes as there was because I'm like, what, I'm like, I need some more and I want to know who out of the cast have you formed lifelong friendships with. I mean, I'm mildly obsessed with Justin Clark, and that's probably why, you know. I hope no one's having a drink every time I mentioned her name through this interview, because they'll be drunk by now. But please tell me you've become real life BFFs.
I am mildly obsessed with Justin Clark myself, and I'm genuinely serious. She's an absolutely divine human being, absolutely gorgeous, phenomenal actress, wonderful singer, and just amazing human. I'm I'm a huge fan of her and I took my little boy to go and see her in concert at the My Music Ball and that was really fun. But because of COVID, we haven't been able to get together. We weren't even able to get together really to have a
sort of a premiere Hello. We had a cast zoom ahead of the airing of the first show, which was amazing and just so gorgeous to see everybody. But it was a bit like a family Christmas dinner in that no one could get a word in edgewords and everybody was just chatting and it was just it was just so lovely to see everybody.
One of my questions that I ask all of my guests before they go is what is an amazing story from behind the scenes that we as an audience might appreciate, something we didn't see on the show, something we might not have ever known. Can you share with us something that might have happened behind the scenes.
Definitely, definitely. Well, I wouldn't say it's funny, but this is the kind of thing that would happen quite regularly because we were shooting on an active base. This is the real actors are. They're doing their actual job, and they were kind enough and patient enough to have us filming there at the same time. We were in a separate area, but they but they were going about their actual job of actually saving lives, and so fre you know, our paths would cross and all the time. So I
vividly remember one night. It was a night shoot, and there's sort of you'll see in the show, there's sort of clinic doors that open out onto the tarmac that go into sort of the hospital clinic area, and I was sort of standing near my character was sort of standing in the door, and over on my right at the other hangar, there was a plane and Deve's character Pete was taking up and putting the patient into an ambulance, and so, you know, so I'm standing there and I'm
watching this, but directly in front of me is a plane with the real RFTS getting the patient off the plane and putting them into a real ambulance. And it looked like a mirror image. What we were doing over here looked exactly the same as what was happening in front of me, except one was real and one wasn't.
And it made the hair on your arms stand on edge. Meanwhile, the real after just a kind of walking past me in and out of the clinic doors, and I'm sort of saying, you know, it's everything, okay, it's the patient, right, and they're saying, yeah, yeah, you know, it's fine, you know,
or whatever, And that was happening while we're shooting. So there was a real sense of, I don't know that the gravity of what we were doing and the importance of what we were doing, and how important it was for us to tell their story properly and to tell it accurately and to not you know, overegg the pudding, because we wanted to do them justice, because we were watching them and seeing what they were doing every day right next week,