Bodies bring insight
Coroner star Serinda Swan talks about the new season and a couple of her favourite things about the job.
Season 3 Mondays (from 8 March) Universal Channel (*117) 20:00
Toronto-based coroner Jenny Cooper (Serinda Swan, Chloe, 2017 in sports dramedy Ballers, 20152019) is being overwhelmed by bodies when season 3 of drama series Coroner (2019-now) begins, in the midst of the of the first wave of the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020. “Every single body that comes in because of the virus or because of anything else that’s going on in the world goes through her office. In the beginning of the season, you see this overwhelm her, the despair and the exhaustion, and Jenny trying to keep it together and understanding that she is collecting these bodies,” says Serinda.
There is a very slim silver lining to this storm cloud though. For Jenny, the pressure triggers an important step in her process of dealing with her mental issues. And as for Serinda, behind the scenes the real coroner’s office is a source of endless fascination.
THE RAGE ROOM
Throughout the series, we’ve seen Jenny battle anxiety and panic disorders stemming from her suppressed memory of pushing her sister down the stairs to her death when Jenny was six. “Jenny is careful with her emotions because of how much death and sorrow is around. Before, any type of physicality that was towards, not necessarily violence, but anger, terrified her because the consequence of that anger was how her sister died,” explains Serinda. “She finally puts it together that that is why she holds everything so tight in her body. She doesn’t want her body to react because it was her body’s reaction that killed her sister. And she starts engaging with it this season in a really fun way. She ends up in a Rage Room (like an amusement therapy playground where you get to break stuff), which was so much fun to shoot. There are perks in your job and that’s one. They put a printer in front of me and I was like, ‘Yaahhhhh!’ They’re much sturdier than I thought they’d be!”
MORBID FASCINATION
One of Serinda’s other favourite perks was getting to meet the prop cadavers for the new season. “Our pathologist on set laughed so hard, because I was so excited. We have a case that revolves around carbon monoxide poisoning and it actually creates a cherry pink discolouration of the lungs and the organs, and so all of the prosthetics were that colour, and I was like, ‘Is this accurate?’ And she’s like, ‘Yeah’. So we were talking all about it and it’s so intriguing.”
“There’s also one case that revolves around a brain. After witnessing a real autopsy and watching how they remove the brain, I was wondering how much of that we’d be able to show on television. And we go there! We really go there, which is so amazing. There’s this thing where to access the skull they have to pull down [Serinda mimes removing the facial skin]. And I thought, ‘They’re not going to be able to have that!’ But we do! The inside (of the prop cadaver brains) is always filled. I think the last one was oatmeal, bananas and chopped raisins, which I was like, ‘Delicious!’. All the things were usually edible, which makes it a little bit more creepy. It’s really fun,” Serinda says, laughing.
The only thing that makes the star squeamish? “It’s a little gross like when they bring the live maggots, that’s a little tough for me,” she admits.
says Eric. “Will looks at Grace’s love-life and while it’s something of a disaster, it’s still a lot better than his. They are both successful in their professional lives, but they have mental blocks when it comes to relationships. They just can’t win, but Grace is having more fun.”
While the title characters add the charm to the show, it’s left to their two besties to add the over-the-top comedy laughs. Karen Walker (Megan Mullally, Franny Marshall in comedy series Web Therapy, 2011-2015) is Grace’s assistant but she doesn’t actually work. “She is rich and she needs an outlet for her personality,” says Megan, who doesn’t sound like her character in real life. “It’s a creative space where she’s allowed to have vodka as breakfast – not with her breakfast – and she loves being fabulous and looking down on everyone.
The last of the group is struggling actor Jack, played by Sean Hayes (Sean Harrison in comedy series Sean Saves
The World, 2013-2014) who latches onto Karen’s fabulous persona. “He has been Will’s bestie since college. They are total opposites and that is probably why they’re so perfectly matched as pals,” says Sean, adding that “Jack is the most overly dramatic character on the planet. He can go from something being the end of the world in one scene, to being ready to take over the world in the next. And while he is a bit of a pleb, he can’t help but pretend to live the life of Karen – they get kicks out of mocking people to mask their own insecurities.”
LIVING THE TRUTH
Will & Grace was hailed for being the first prime-time show to feature openly gay characters in the lead, and Sean is proud of it despite the difficult times he went through during filming. “I’m gay and I have always been gay. I was too scared to come out while we were filming,” says the actor, who only revealed his sexual orientation in 2010. “I didn’t have the courage to speak out at that age on behalf of the gay community. We got death threats daily and we worried that we would be attacked at home. We have come a long way since then – thankfully!”
by a woman, or the ending of a highflying career. In the latter case, how do they cope with a loss of status and identity?” Nell asks. “I think it’s important to place these cases into wider social context. The Newall Brothers case (episode 3), for example, sums up, for me, the avariciousness of the 1980s – Wall Street, yuppies, the desire to get money by whatever means.” • Coastal Killers season 2 airs Sundays from 28 February on CBS Justice (*170) at 19:00