“When a local man turns up dead on the beach, two vastly different detectives are thrown together to solve the case, fastidious local senior sergeant Dulcie Collins (Kate Box) and a rough-as-guts blow-in from Darwin, senior investigator Eddie Redcliffe (Madeleine Sami) along with their overeager junior constable Abby (Nina Oyama). As the town prepares to launch the annual arts, food, and culture event—Winter Feastival—the trio must put their differences aside and work together to find the killer.”

Deadloch quickly became my TV highlight of the week. And it had stiff competition form Silo, Platonic and guilty pleasure Never have I ever. It was just so fresh, so different from anything else currently streaming. Not for the fainthearted though because the Aussie humour is brutal. Turn on the subtitles if you don’t want to miss out on any of the ‘fast & furious’ one-liners thrown about.

The show has all the cinema mechanics to set the stage – jaw dropping cinematography, spot on casting, atmospheric music, sharp editing, an incredible location, and hilarious styling (of especially Eddie). Creators Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan then build a fascinating three-part show on top of that.

One, it’s a serious serial killer show that will have you on the edge of your seat. It’s a cliché, I know, but you won’t guess who it is until the last episode. Death is also treated with respect, even though the characters are shredded.

Two, it takes quite a hard look at societal norms around sexuality, poverty, and race, without being preachy.

Three, it is laugh out loud hilarious, which lessens the grimness of the murders and lightens the heavy load of the social commentary. In fact, the humour keeps the whole show together.

It is not perfect, but it’s unlike anything I have seen in a good 10 years and cannot wait for a second season.