If you like a gritty Australian drama with plenty of twists and turns, the ABC‘s Treasure & Dirt, starring Yellowjackets‘ Liv Hewson and The Secret Life of Us‘ Michael Dorman could be your next watch.
In this week’s episode, Nell’s (Liv) detective career is on the line when she’s found in a compromising situation with local opal dealer The Irishman (Dean O’Gorman). But her problems could disappear if she does the one thing she won’t agree to… inform on her detective partner, Ivan (Michael), who wakes up in the desert at the Dead Tree.
Previously, Ivan succumbed to his darker urges when he attended an illegal underground boxing match before his drink was spiked and he passed out.
“Ivan’s in search of human connection,” Michael, 45, tells TV WEEK. “But in his experience, he has not been able to accomplish this and so when we meet him, his exterior is so hard, he is lost in his own demons.”
Why was he left at the Dead Tree? And was somebody trying to tell him something?
Curiously, Ivan runs into the cult, The Third Row in the desert. On the bus back into town, he chats to Elsie (Arnijka Larcombe-Weate), who is looking for her seriously ill daughter Bess’ (Evie Greay) father, Zeke.
Meanwhile, Nell is up to her teeth in trouble when she’s busted in bed with The Irishman by local police sergeant Richter (Sarah Peirse). Turns out, The Irishman is cooking fake black opal which, in Richter’s eyes, makes her guilty by association.
“You make the same mistake very time,” Richter tells Nell. “You think you know it all.”
The mysterious Phelan, from internal investigations, offers to bail out Nell if she reports on Ivan. Phelan sends her footage which explains why Ivan is so secretive about his past.
When Ivan and Nell reunite, they’re determined to solve the murder of opal miner Jonas McGee. Remember, he was the guy who was found without his head way back in episode one. Their investigation leads them back to the Dead Tree. But what will they find when they start digging in the dirt?
Filmed in Coober Pedy, the look and slightly surreal feel of this drama is unlike any other on television.
Treasure & Dirt airs Sunday, 8.30pm on ABC and iview.
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