Actor William McInnes is happy to play AFP forensic pathologist Roy “Rosie” Penrose in NCIS: Sydney even if others describe the role in less than flattering terms.
But in his typically larrikin style, it didn’t faze him.
“I think I’m best described as a squadron of (NCIS pathologist) David McCallum’s. Someone sent me a review, and they said ‘This pathologist is played by Australian actor William McInnes, who is like the Bundaberg bear come to life.’
“And I took that as a high compliment!” he tells TV Tonight.
Interviewing McInnes is always a whirlwind of anecdotes, slang, raucous laughter and unfit-to-print broadsides. On screen he is electrifying as The Newsreader‘s bullying news director Lindsay Cunningham. In NCIS: Sydney, he is the elder helping the younger, action-driven agents and AFP solve local crimes.
“I’m in the lab saying medical terms incorrectly, which is my want. Some of the things they give me to say! It’s like someone said, ‘You’re like Mr. Ed. They should just put peanut butter on your lips, just move your lips, and they’ll sort of do a voice,’” he laughs.
Ahead of its second season, McInnes remains pragmatic about what the 10 / Paramount+ series is -and what it isn’t.
The procedural show has been well-honed in the US, prior to its Australian adaptation by writer Morgan O’Neill.
“It’s a template show, and you don’t want to muck with the franchise. The good thing about this show is it knows what it is. It’s a show that sets out to entertain and take your mind off what’s been going on in your day. Just sit down and have a nice mystery that’s solved inside an hour and that can’t be underestimated. I mean, lots of people try to make a show like that, and they just make a meal out of it. But it’s nice to be a part of a group of people making a known product that’s enjoyed. There’s a big tick for that,” McInnes suggests.
“It tells a mystery, but it has a little bit of fun with it. It doesn’t take the piss, but it just knows how to take the mickey, just enough to know to say, ‘Hey, it’s just a fun show.’
“Jeez what do I sound like?” he asks, suddenly aware of his enthusiasm being turned into copy.
And while Roy plays his part in getting to the bottom of high energy crime capers, much of the action is left to younger cast.
“The action-oriented part of my career was Werribee,” he jokes, referring to 1990s police series Blue Heelers.
“I’ve been actually pretty lucky with the people I’ve worked with, when I go through what I’ve done. Blue Heeers was fun. This is a really similar feel.
“The Newsreader was fun. Seachange was a nice group of people disparate people, but you get together and you get on. I mean, you don’t get on with everybody all the time. They’re a nice bunch of people to work with, because on this show everyone knows what they’re supposed to do. Everyone knows their bag and that is such a relief.”
This season NCIS: Sydney gets out out the harbour city, filming two episodes in the Top End.
“It’s just insane. There’s crocodiles, South African hit men, vampires, kidnapping, pirates,” he reveals.
“Darwin was a bit of an adventure. It was so hot and humid. The locals, were saying they’d never had such awful pre-wet season. So it was incredibly difficult, climatically, but sort of fun. That’s one of the things you do in this show -you go and see lots of interesting things, like the military hardware up close is quite exciting.”
Returning cast include Olivia Swann, Todd Lasance, Sean Sagar, Tuuli Narkle, Mavournee Hazel
yet while McInnes praises his co-stars he is also proud of a shift he sees taking place in Australian drama in guest casting.
“What’s so great about it is the diversity of the cast that come through each week… it’s the changing face of Australia,” he explains.
“I tell my kids this sometimes, and they kind of think I’m a conservative, old fossil. And I sort of am.
“I just think you don’t realise how much this country has changed, and I know some of it hasn’t changed. That’s not great. Sometimes people might like that. But the way people get more of a look in, and the way you can identify how you want, I think it’s fantastic.
“That’s the best part of being in Australia. And I know we don’t get there all the time. But I think incrementally, that doesn’t suit some people, but incrementally we get to the right place. That’s something good about the country, I think.”
