australian television information archive

Wood cops a darker role

SCREEN veteran John Wood has done a sidestep as far away from the ghost of his Blue Heelers character Senior Sergeant Tom Croydon as possible - to play a rogue sports agent in the new ABC-TV series The Cut.

"It's great to be finally doing it," Wood said from the film set.

"Thank God, anything to be no Tom Croydon is half-way down the track to success."

Filming for the six-part drama commenced at the Sydney Football Stadium this week, with the one-time Gold Logie winner teaming up with former Hey Dad! star Ben Oxenbould to bring the murky world of sports management to life.

After escaping a terrorist bomb blast in Thailand, Wood's character Billy Telford returns to Australia where, confined to a wheelchair due to injuries, his dodgy deals begin to unravel.

Written by one of Australia's most highly regarded writers, John Misto of Heroes' Mountain and Day Of The Roses, Wood says The Cut mixes wit with a tangled web of stories.

"The complexity of the script (attracted) me," Wood says.

"There is a lot of subtext going on and a lot of different stories happening. There are three or four undercurrents happening all the time with a character like Bill."

By Erin McWhirter
June 25, 2008
The Daily Telegraph