Moonlighting in Mallorca: New crime drama moves to Spanish holiday island.
The Mallorca Files, a new crime series starting on TVNZ 1 this week, draws inspiration from 80s detective comedy drama Moonlighting.
Acrime-comedy where expat cops investigate murders on an exotic holiday island? No, it’s not Death In Paradise, but The Mallorca Files, set on the Spanish island of the same name, which is also known as Majorca.
The expats catching Mallorca’s crims are the somewhat icy Detective Miranda Blake (Elen Rhys), a play-it-by-the-book officer, and German detective Max Winter (Julian Looman), who relies on gut instinct and isn’t afraid to bend the rules.
Death In Paradise, set in the Caribbean 8000km to the south west, has a murder a week, making its idyllic island setting one of the deadliest places on Earth.
But there has been nothing particularly objectionable about the sort of crimes that expat British detectives have investigated over the years.
The Mallorca Files’ lead writer Dan Sefton has taken a leaf out of that playbook.
“The tone is very clear,” says Sefton. “When we created the show, we said there is going to be no sex, crime or missing children – just good wholesome murder.
“It’s full of interesting themes – drugs, death and bullfighting. We haven’t gone to the places other cop shows go to – that’s just not my thing.”
Sefton says the inspiration for the show came about when he read an article about British cops going to Magaluf (a resort on Mallorca) in the summer because British lager louts were not listening to Spanish cops.
“I thought it was a very strong idea that people would get straight away. There are hundreds of thousands of buddy cop shows, but this idea of teaming a German and a British cop is very original.”
Why choose Mallorca?
“I had been here a couple of times before and I knew how beautiful it is, so it wasn’t a difficult sell for me. The idea is that the Germans think
it’s a German island and the British think it’s a British island.”
The island also has a great range of locations, says Sefton.
“We could go from British gangsters to German beach resorts to vineyards to the beautiful mountains to the train in Soller to drugs in Palma to models and artists in villas in the hills to Eurotrash characters.”
A point of difference from Death In Paradise is the male and female central characters, giving a ‘will they, won’t they?’ theme missing from that show. Sefton says it has more of the vibe of Moonlighting, the detective comedy-drama series from the 80s starring Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis.
“Elen reminds me of Cybill Shepherd in that show,” he says.
“Moonlighting had humour, sexiness and wit. If we could get close to that, I’d be very proud.”
Elen Rhys, who plays Miranda Blake, confirms there is an element of ‘will they, won’t they?’ about the relationship she has with her German counterpart.
“When we meet them, they’re polar opposites. They’re from two completely different schools of thought. They can’t understand each other. But one’s strength is the other’s weakness and gradually they start to learn from each other. Ultimately, they complete each other.
“The beauty of this situation is that obstacles are constantly in their way. If they did get together, the show would be over. Viewers will want them to be together, but they’re not. Do they fall in love? You’ll have to watch to find out.”
Viewers will quickly see that there’s a definite chemistry on screen between Rhys and Julian Looman, the Austrian actor who plays Max Winter.
And Looman reveals that was no accident. “We had ‘chemistry readings’ at the auditions in London. I tried out with a couple of different Mirandas, but it was immediately obvious that I had the best chemistry with Elen. As soon as we read the script together, it all fell into place.
“When I read the script, what I really liked about it was the Moonlighting aspect. These are not only crime stories, but they are also about an ongoing relationship. That’s something the audience will really warm to. You see Max and Miranda’s relationship develop and you don’t know where it’s going.”
Looman echoes Dan Sefton’s view of the show’s light tone. “I really enjoy dark crime stories, but this is very different from that. This is light, sunny and easy watching without losing its sense of sophistication. It has a retro feel – but in a good way.”