I

kids in tow. “I’ll feel a little strange. Like I lost my right arm. I’ll be like, ‘ What am I missing?’ And my hand luggage will be that bit lighter without all the snacks to keep them going.”

BROOKE WEARS Zara top and skirt, zara.com/ au; Petite Grand necklace, petitegrand.com; (opposite) Paris Georgia dress, parisgeorgiastore.com (from top) Brooke Satchwell in her latest TV series

Mr Inbetween

with writer and co-star Scott Ryan; in 2001 with Steve Bisley in Water Rats; winning the Logie for Most Popular New Talent in 1998.

I have to say?’ I really love it when I have the opportunity to go into other layers, where it’s not all on the page, and deliver in a way that is less tangible.”

Satchwell’s experience fulfilling the requirements of commercial television is something she talks about frankly; she admits juggling the complexity of secondary studies with her work on Neighbours was intense. “I was doing five hours a day round trip in a taxi to get between school, home and work, and working 80-hour weeks, and getting tutored on the weekends. That’s an excessive workload for anyone.”

But the demands that came with her early career also put her in good stead when she went to Los Angeles in August, with Edgerton and the rest of the cast, to launch the show stateside. “I was able to navigate it fairly easily,” Satchwell recalls. “People were looking at me going, ‘ What are these secret Jedi skills you have?’ I was trained from a young age.”

onesty is maybe Satchwell’s most defining trait – and she is just as frank when asked to discuss the sensitive issue of domestic violence. In 2007, her former boyfriend Matthew Newton pleaded guilty to a charge of assault against her, but the conviction was quashed on appeal; in 2011, he would face charges of breaching an apprehended violence order taken out by his expartner Rachael Taylor. The charges were dropped after Newton agreed to comply with a mental-health treatment plan. More recently, Newton stepped down from directing the Jessica Chastain film Eve after a furore erupted over his alleged history of violence against women.

Given the nature of those headlines and the wider discussions around a host of topics affecting women, it is only natural to want Satchwell’s take. For starters, she points out, the nature of the chatter has changed significantly in the decade since her case.

“I think in the early stages it was all about outrage, and everyone being horrified, but the conversation didn’t necessarily progress into what it meant, or what could help shift and change people’s understanding and how people can become so entrapped in situations,” she says, adding that now “there are people like Rosie Batty speaking very publicly. I chose not to do that at an early stage, because I found that people were getting radically distracted by the whos, rather than the whats – and the people specifically involved in my situation. It wasn’t the point, really. [It should have been] a discussion about the behaviour. So I didn’t think it was helpful.”

Satchwell remains open to answering questions on the subject. It’s just that doing so can feel awkward, depending on the context. “I’m promoting a television show and I know I’m going to be asked. I’m only interested in being honest, which is why I respond, but it is tricky to be trying to shoehorn a conversation like this into a conversation about a television show. But there’s definitely a conversation to be had, and I wholeheartedly support that and in the right capacity, am more than willing to be involved.” Mr Inbetween premieres 8.30pm, Monday October 1, on Foxtel’s Showcase.