Starring role for Craig McLachlan

Mystery surrounds our lovable larrikin

By SHIRLEY BROUN

Dr Lucien Blake (Craig McLachlan) starring in ABC1's new 10-part murder mystery series `The Dr Blake Mysteries'.

THE countdown is on for the return of quick-witted lovable larrikin Craig McLachlan to our television screens but his new role is one of mystery and murder.

On February 1, the ever-versatile McLachlan, 47, will star in the 10-part murder mystery series `The Doctor Blake Mysteries', airing for the first time on ABC1, February 1 at 8.30pm.

His character, Lucien Blake, is described as a maverick country town doctor - a risk taker, impulsive and not afraid to upset the status quo. This sounds like a role made-to-order for McLachlan who has delighted audiences with a cavalcade of television and movies roles, stage productions and `live' performances during the past 25 years.

The series is set circa 1959 and McLachlan's alter-ego Dr Blake has returned home to take over his deceased father's medical practice. But there is more to Dr Blake than what he reveals on the outside, tormented by the horrors of war, his own personal loss and changed by his experiences as a prisoner of war.

Dr Blake undertakes his other role as police surgeon with precision and gusto - yet many find his unpredictable and unconventional manner unnerving. Ahead of his time, Blake looks to the science of forensics and his own understanding of the human heart to help solve the mysteries that inevitably come his way.

Blake is joined by a talented cast including his housekeeper Jean (Nadine Garner), her nephew Danny who is a young constable (Rick Donald), District Nurse Mattie O'Brien (Cate Wolfe) and Chief Superintendent Matthew Lawson (Joe Tobeck).

The first episode will feature some of Australia's leading actors in John Wood, Kate Atkinson, Louise Siversen, Ian Bliss and Penne Hackforth-Jones. The Doctor Blake Mysteries series is a December Media Production in association with ABC TV, Screen Australia and Film Victoria. The producer is George Adams, executive producer Tony Wright and ABC executive producers Christopher Gist and Carole Sklan.

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