It’s time for a promotion
It has taken three years, but
Brokenwood’s Detective Constable Sam Breen is finally given a chance to shine this week.
“Shepherd (Neill Rea) is out of commission for a bit so Breen and Kristin (Fern Sutherland) have to step up to do more of the work to bring the case to a close,” says Nic Sampson, who plays the third wheel to the detective duo.
“I think Tim Balme (the show’s writer) has a lot of fun coming up with things that Breen is afraid of or worried about.
“If there is some really weird character, they always get Breen to go and talk to him.
“Maybe the world of Brokenwood is like
The Simpsons and (the characters) never really age and Breen’s going to stay a DC forever, but I think it is about time he got a promotion.”
While Breen might be the eternal novice, Sampson is
us to get me in and out of everything because there are just so many layers – hoop, overskirt, tights, bloomers,” Nairn says.
“It’s extraordinary dressing like that because it really gives you a sense of what it was like for women during that time and how restrictive it was.
“It also changes the way you stand. A corset immediately makes you stand up straight and it’s hard to breathe, it’s hard to sneeze, it’s hard to cough. If you feel a cough or a sneeze coming on you’re thinking, ‘Oh my god, here we go. This is going to hurt’ because women broke anything but. A versatile comedian and actor, he found instant fame – internationally if not in New Zealand – as Chip Thorn, the Yellow Mystic Ranger, in Power Rangers more than a decade ago. “I got to do this amazing, cool, internationally known show but Kiwis just assume Power Rangers hasn’t been going since the early 90s (as the show no longer screens here),” Sampson says. “When I was doing it, about 10 years ago, the internet wasn’t the social-media stronghold it is now. “If I wanted to find out what people thought I had to go to fan forums – where I found out I was one of the most hated characters.” That didn’t stop him going on to other roles on TV and in films including Emperor, alongside Tommy Lee Jones, as well as Step Dave, Go Girls and Spies & Lies. ribs when they coughed and sneezed because there was no expansion.”
Discomfort aside, Nairn relishes the chance to bring a new character to life – but doubts Charity will banish memories of Nurse Wendy.
“I am still Wendy Cooper to a lot of people,” she says. “Your brain thinks because I’m not doing it any more it’s going to be fine going to the supermarket, but it’s not because you’ve been in people’s living rooms for six years and the Wendy thing will never go away.
“That’s part of the show and I think everyone who has been on there understands that.”