Joanne Lees: Murder in the Outback (2007) (TV)

Director:

Tony Tilse

Writer:

Kate Brooke (writer)

Release Date:

18 March 2007 (Australia)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Briton Abroad | Murder | Outback | Based On True Story

Cast

Bryan Brown	...	Rex Wild QC
Joanne Frogatt	...	Joanne Lees (as Joanne Froggatt)
John Wood	...	Grant Algie
Tom Long	...	Tony
Asher Keddie	...	Anne
Richard Carter	...	Bradley Murdoch
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Derek Adams	...	Sullivan
Dion Adams	...	NT Policeman
Laurence Breuls	...	Peter Falconio
Shane Briant	...	Journalist
Mike Bullen	...	TV Producer
Kelly Butler	...	DS Kerr
Kate Carruthers	...	Forensic Officer (as Katy Carruthers)
Damian de Montemas	...	PC Bantan (as Damien De Montemas)
Bridie Ferguson	...	Melissa
Mel James	...	Clerk
Russell Kiefel	...	Kesby
Barry Langrishe	...	Fields
Gail Mather	...	Joan
Peter McAllum	...	Dr. Whittaker
Pip Miller	...	Frank Thorne
Toby Leonard Moore	...	Paul Falconio (as Toby Moore)
Paul Moxey	...	Hepi
Rod Mullinar	...	Judge
Glenn Robert Murphy	...	Police Forensics (as Glenn Murphy)
Silvio Ofria	...	Luciano Falconio
Barry Olds	...	Rod
Morgan O'Neill	...	Mark Wilton
Tom Pelik	...	Nick
Anthony Phelan	...	Police Interviewer
Leigh Pickford	...	British Reporter
Claire Quinn	...	Female Reporter
Denise Roberts	...	Helen Jones
Simon Roborgh	...	Reporter #5 (as Simon Roburgh)
Andrew Schmidt	...	Reporter
Kyas Sherriff	...	Kathy
Raj Sidhu	...	Martin Bashir
Rawleigh Smith	...	Les
Rob Steele	...	Judge MacGregor
Sean Taylor	...	Bates
Jamie Vergan	...	NT Police Officer
Garry Waddell	...	Vince (as Gary Waddell)
Deborah Woodley-Page	...	Erica

Also Known As:

Murder in the Outback (UK)
The Joanne Lees Story (Australia) (working title)

Runtime:

Australia:95 min

Country:

Australia | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Acer Arena, Olympic Boulevard, Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Company:

Film Finance

Trivia:

The Darwin airport terminal scenes were filmed in the Grand Foyer of Acer Arena (formerly the Sydney Superdome).

Goofs:

Errors in geography: When two men are walking through the front entrance of the Darwin airport terminal, an Acer Arena sign can be seen in between the two escalators (Acer Arena is located in Sydney).

Soundtrack:

Say Goodbye

Joanne Frogatt is due an Oscar

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This is yet another gripping and fascinating real-life dramatisation featuring the formidable and sensational acting talent that is Joanne Frogatt. The ITV drama department are have again surpassed themselves.

Frogatt plays Joanne Lees, the girlfriend of Peter Falconio, the missing English backpacker, assumed murdered by a stranger while on a camping holiday in the Australian outback. Frogatt is simply expert at this type of role, something she did equally brilliantly in Danielle Cable: Eyetwitness back in 2003, from the same writer, Kate Brooke.

Joanne Lees underwent a terrifying ordeal at the hands of a maniac who duped the couple into stopping their VW camper van ('combi' in Australian vernacular) in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. Falconio was apparently murdered (though no body has ever been found) and Lees was subjected to a brutal attempted abduction and who knows what else had she not valliantly managed to escape.

The director, Tony Tilse, does an adequate job in the photography and so on. At one point, the couple set off into the sunset and the arid and scorching Australian outback, their van disappearing into its vastness in a huge landscape shot - totally flat, red, and with just a few scrubs and bushes for company. That symbolises very well the deep chasm into which the two of them are about to fall.

Anyway, Lees eventually undergoes media assassination for not being appropriately traumatised enough (at least in public) and at one point even becomes the main suspect. Enter Bryan Brown, that Michael Caine of Australian actors going back to Breaker Morant in 1980. He does a fine job of persuading Joanne Lees to act as witness in the trial, successfully persuading her to return from Brighton in the United Kingdom.

Joanne Frogatt is master at the close-up; particularly that of the traumatised and vulnerable person caught in an unimaginable situation. Every little nuance of eye and mouth is just spot-on. Joanne Frogatt is, simply, the only decent actress EVER to come out of Coronation Street, that famous British 'soap'.

She really deserves an Oscar for her performance here. Actually, as she's still only about 27 years old, I would put money on her winning an Oscar within 10 years, assuming she moves onto Hollywood movies.