A place for justice
This week’s Sunday Theatre drama, In Dark Places, puts the New Zealand justice system under the microscope. It tells the story of Teina Pora, a man jailed for more than two decades for a murder he didn’t commit, and Tim McKinnel, the ex-cop turned private
Many Kiwis know the story of Teina Pora and how he served a staggering 21 years behind bars for a murder he did not commit.
But less well known is the lengths to which private investigator Tim McKinnel went in trying to prove a miscarriage of justice had occurred.
TVNZ 1’s Sunday Theatre drama In Dark Places tells the story of how Pora was found guilty of raping and murdering Susan Burdett at her south Auckland home in 1992 and how McKinnel, a former police officer, worked tirelessly to prove his innocence.
The drama is based on writer and film-maker Michael Bennett’s book of the same name. He also made a M ori TV documentary about Pora in 2013 called The Confessions Of Prisoner T.
The author, who has a close friendship with Pora, adapted his book for television and wrote the screenplay with his partner Jane Holland.
In the one-off drama, Craig Hall plays McKinnel with newcomer Richard Te Are as Pora.
Supporting cast members include Aidee Walker (Catching The Black Widow), Colin Moy (The Brokenwood Mysteries), and Calvin Tuteao (Shortland Street) who plays the serial rapist Malcolm Rewa.
During the filming of In Dark Places, Pora was invited on set to meet Te Are, which was invaluable for the actor.
“I met Teina two days into the first week of shooting,” Te Are says.
“We spent about an hour together. It was a beautiful meeting. It really grounded me.”
The pair played guitar together and shared their thoughts.
“All I wanted to do is try to capture the essence of (Teina) because I can never walk in his shoes,” says Te Are, who graduated from Wellington drama school Toi Whakaari last year.
For the role, Te Are, who hails from Hawke’s Bay, had his hair styled like Pora’s and wore fake tattoos on his body.
“I don’t have tattoos myself,” he says. “These are the closest I’m ever going to get. It was quite fascinating to have them. We had to test them so I had to wear them almost overnight sometimes just to see how long they’d last. But it was a buzz and there was quite a process putting them on.”
For his part, Hall, who spent as much time with McKinnel as he could, acknowledges there are challenges in playing a real person.
“There is a responsibility that you feel to honour them, but then you’ve got a responsibility to honour the character that sits within the script,” he says.
“And, as you know, when things are dramatised certain things are highlighted more than others. Certain things are left out. Certain things are put in – all to serve a story.
“The thing is, Michael knows Tim very well so he’s honouring Tim but it is difficult.
“I didn’t want to study Tim for all his mannerisms and do a mimicry because it’s not a biopic of Tim McKinnel. He’s a character within a bigger story. “It was just good to find out things from his perspective and get to know how he was feeling about things along the journey and where the low points were in that chronology and where the high points were. “That was what I aimed for and it kind of took the pressure off in some ways.” Hall, who is currently starring in A Place To Call Home, lives in Sydney with his Kiwi actress wife Sara Wiseman (Mercy Peak, The Almighty Johnsons). “We get back to New Zealand as much as we can,” says Hall. “We are always keen to work there so it was great getting back last year to do In Dark Places. It was amazing to be at home and tell a story from home.”
“All I wanted to do is try to capture the essence of (Teina) because I can never walk in his shoes.”
– Richard Te Are on his role as Teina Pora