Leah Purcell is renowned for being tough on screen, but it’s what lies beneath that is the secret to her success

Laughter might not come easily to the characters Leah Purcell plays: taciturn police sergeant Andie Whitford in High Country ; fierce but distraught Molly Johnson in The Drover’s Wife ; double-crossed undercover cop, now prisoner, Rita Connors in Wentworth .

But asked why she thinks audiences have embraced her High Country character, she erupts in raucous and infectious laughter. “Maybe they just like me … everyone fell in love with me!”

As an actor, director, producer and playwright, Purcell has forged a remarkably varied and successful career playing fierce and tough-minded women battling adversity and hardship. It’s what lies beneath that hard surface that is key to her appeal.

What Lies Beneath is also the subtitle of the returning season of the mystery thriller High Country , which sees Whitford back in uniform and investigating dark deeds in a small, close-knit town.

For those coming in late – no spoilers – High Country evolves around Purcell’s police officer Andie, who is transferred to a picturesque but insular mountain township of Brokenridge to replace retiring cop Sergeant Sam Dyson (Ian McElhinney, the veteran Northern Ireland actor best known as Barristan Selmy in Game of Thrones ).

It’s a town filled with grievances, suspicion and vendettas and a handful of missing-person cases. Those disappearances dovetail with the discovery of a far-reaching conspiracy involving many of the town’s residents.

Alongside the mystery-thriller element, High Country also dealt with Andie’s new-found connection to her Indigenous ancestry and relationships with partner Helen (Sara Wiseman), teenage daughter Kirra (Pez Warner) and ageing mother (Melissa Jaffer).

It was filmed in Victoria’s high country, mainly around the township of Jamieson, which is where John Ridley – who created the show with Marcia Gardner – grew up and continues to live. The dramatic mountain landscape is a key element of the show. It also happens to be a region associated with many real-world events, from missing hikers to the cult known as The Family and most recently the notorious fugitive Dezi Freeman .

Purcell wears many hats on High Country . In addition to playing the lead, she is an executive producer, which allows her to have input to the script and key production decisions. She is also the cultural consultant, ensuring all protocols are correctly carried out. That haunting voice on the opening soundtrack is hers as well.

The new season takes up months after the events of the 2024 debut. It kicks off with a double murder on a houseboat, but there are many continuing storylines and characters, most notably Sam Dyson and Andie’s family.

Purcell says that many decisions regarding the new, eight-episode series were based on audience feedback. “Everyone fell in love with their relationship,” she says of Andie and Sam.

“We both thoroughly enjoyed working with one another. So we kept [the storyline] open and everyone’s diaries aligned and away we went,” she says. “He’s a great bloke and phenomenal actor and the story lent itself to opening up that relationship.