Virginia Gay was recently on Nine Network's After the Verdict, playing Trish, fiancee of murder trial juror Margie (Magda Szubanski).
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"She's Australia's sweetheart. I'm honoured to play her fiancee," Gay says.
More recently this popular actress is in a very different role on ABC TV's Savage River as detective Rachel Kennedy.
Formerly married to the town's prominent businessman Kevin Pattison (played by Daniel Henshall), she is now a detective in the city, who returns as head of the investigation into the murder of one of Savage River's townfolk.
Also on the small screen of late is Mark Coles Smith, who recently played young detective Jay Swan in Mystery Road: Origin, alongside fellow Savage River alumni Cooper Van Grootel and Henshall.
"He is such a good actor, charisma personified, a spectacular talent," Gay says of Coles Smith. "He and Hattie Hook [who plays Gay's teenage daughter Ivy] are so good."
Of her role as the determined detective Gay says: "One of the great joys of this completely mad business is sometimes, if you are lucky, you get to do things from the opposite end of your experiences. I have felt so lucky in the last little while".
Golden Globe nominee Katherine Langford stars as Miki Anderson, who returns to Savage River having spent a decade in prison for the accidental death of her best friend when she was 16.
"She is a tremendous talent; what a joy to work with her. She's in nearly every scene, and watching her work ethic was inspiring. Then there's Dan Henshall; he's an incredible human being. Working with them made me a better actor."
"Nadine [Garner, who plays Miki's mother] is spectacular and one of the nicest human beings on the planet; it was like family."
Gay says she loved Savage River for its strong women's roles.
"It's a bunch of women trying to put things right. This is incredible, us running to the rescue of each other."
She believes the series will strike a chord with Aussie audiences.
"I feel like Australia has always liked landscape and themes grounded in small community towns separated by so much distance. There is a feeling that everybody in town relies on each other, and it's very familiar.
Savage River's final two episodes screen October 2 and 9, but you can catch up on this immersion into the seamy side of a troubled remote Victorian town via ABC iview.
