Marshall Law: articles


McCune marshals a new role

ONE of Australia's favourite television actors, Lisa McCune, has chosen a risky new drama for her comeback.

After almost three years away from television to focus on her family, husband Tim Disney and son Archer, McCune will debut in the quirky legal drama Marshall Law early next month.

McCune, who began her starring role as Maggie Doyle in Blue Heelers in 1994, said the Seven Network first came to her with the Marshall Law proposal two years ago.

But her role in The Sound Of Music stage production and becoming pregnant delayed the project.

The multi-award-winning actor said the offer to make a follow-up to Blue Heelers had to be good to lure her away from being a full-time mother.

"I wanted to do something a little lighter, something that deals with the comedy side of drama, because that is not something people would expect from me," she told The Sunday Telegraph.

"Seven had been speaking to me since I finished Heelers and I really did want to work with them again.

"They didn't try to pigeonhole me with Potato Factory or Marshall Law, and that's admirable," she said.

"When I became pregnant, I told them not to wait for me, but they did."

Marshall Law also features McCune's Blue Heeler co-star William McInnes and Frontline actor Alison Whyte.

Like Claudia Karvan and Georgie Parker, McCune and Whyte are juggling their 14-hour production schedules with caring for their young children.

"They have made it really easy to tempt me to come back here," she said.

"They decided they would only film a set number of shows per year because I couldn't commit to a Heelers-style show, which involves filming all year, with a baby at home. And I want to do other projects.

"I have a really great husband who makes sure Archer and I are extremely well fed and rested and loved. I am in a really good place at the moment."

There are high expectations for Marshall Law because of McCune's pulling power. It has already been through a rocky development, with Kerry Armstrong dropped from the role of Verity Marshall, the sister of fledgling lawyer Ros, played by McCune.

McCune believes the show's humour ­ most evident in episode three ­ will set it apart from the new crop of Australian dramas which deal with police or legal issues.

And viewers will also be introduced to a more "adult" side of the popular actor, as her character is renowned as a party animal who is as active in the bedroom as she is in the courtroom.

"People may say nobody sleeps with that many men, but I'm here to tell you that they do," McCune said.

"The way I see it, she's looking for Mr Right ­ and they're not so easy to come by these days."

Like her fellow actors on MDA, Nine's new Young Lions and Ten's upcoming White Collar Blue, McCune wants all the new shows to find a substantial audience.

"All of them are very different in their flavour, and we all know how competitive the networks are, so hopefully each will be given their chance to show the viewers what they can do.

"I really want this to work, because it allows me to stay in Melbourne with my family and continue to do something I love."

When she finishes filming the first series of Marshall Law, McCune will begin rehearsals to star as Sally Bowles in the Melbourne season of Cabaret which begins in December.

By KATHY McCABE
July 21, 2002
The Daily Telegraph