A School of Fishers

It starts with a wide shot of a department store. Looking at it, it’s hard to tell what era we’re in. The building has Art Deco details, but the people are too far away, too small for us to use fashion as an indicator. Then there’s a close-up of a package – intriguingly made out to the ‘Adventuresses’ Club’ – which we follow until the camera pulls back, passes through a doorway and shows us a grand Victorian mansion. It’s Labassa, Melbourne’s storied homestead turned flats turned bohemian hub turned National Trust treasure and popular film and wedding location.^[1]See ‘Labassa’, National Trust website, <https://www.nationaltrust.org.au/places/labassa/>, accessed 24 May 2019. For our purposes, however, it isn’t Labassa at all; it’s the headquarters of the Adventuresses’ Club, and it will feature throughout all four movie-length episodes of 2019 Seven Network series Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries.

This opening sequence is a passing of the flame in more ways than one. The package we have followed contains the recovered belongings of Miss Phryne Fisher (the titular protagonist of predecessor series Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, played by Essie Davis) – who has gone missing – and their appearance tells those she left behind that the lady detective isn’t likely to be returning any time soon. The upbeat 1960s hit ‘Please Mr. Postman’ lets us know the era, and that around forty years have passed since we last visited this world in the original ABC series. Then there is the final, more subtle touch – Labassa itself. Aesthetically, it is a better fit with the 1920s setting of the earlier Miss Fisher (which, indeed, featured different parts of it a few times as different locations^[2]See ‘Melbourne Is Home to Australia’s Most Fabulous Female Detectives’, Film Victoria website, <https://www.film.vic.gov.au/showcase/melbourne-is-home-to-australias-most-fabulous-female-detectives>, accessed 24 May 2019. ). Its inclusion as a key part of the set in the spin-off feels like a deliberate nod.

Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries issued itself a steep challenge from the outset – not least because, despite the title, it’s a Miss Fisher series without the Miss Fisher audiences know and love. Phryne Fisher is an aspirational character. Confident, smart and with a wardrobe to die for, the 1920s lady detective is a woman ahead of her time. Unmarried during an era when such a thing was almost unthinkable, sex-positive in a conservative society and regularly embroiled in various crimes, the character, unsurprisingly, had a dedicated set of fans even before she stepped off the pages of Kerry Greenwood’s popular book series and onto the small screen.

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries turned out to be popular beyond what we might even hope to expect for a normal ABC series. Spanning three seasons from 2012 to 2015, it consisted of a modest thirty-four episodes and, as of 2017, has been sold to 247 territories and screened on Netflix.^[3]‘Miss Fisher the Movie’, Kickstarter, <https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/468758721/miss-fisher-the-movie/>, accessed 24 May 2019. Following the airing of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries’ last episode in 2015, fans pleaded for more – evident in petitions,^[4]See, for example, ‘Confirm Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries Season 4’, Change.org, <https://www.change.org/p/confirm-miss-fisher-s-murder-mysteries-season-4-abc-tv-every-cloud-productions-essie-davis-nathan-page>, accessed 24 May 2019. online speculation,^[5]See, for example, Kayti Burt, ‘Miss Fisher Season 4: Will There Be Another Season?’, Den of Geek!, 12 February 2019, <https://www.denofgeek.com/us/tv/miss-fishers-murder-mysteries/264002/miss-fisher-season-4-will-there-be-another-season>, accessed 24 May 2019. and vocal commentary in forums and social media. But hopes ebbed and flowed as more and more time passed. Compounding this, Davis’ career had started to skyrocket. After playing the lead role in the hugely successful The Babadook (Jennifer Kent, 2014) and being cast in a small but recurring role in Game of Thrones’ sixth season, the actor and her family moved to London.^[6]See Ebony Bowden, ‘ABC’s Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries Set to Become an Action Movie Trilogy’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 November 2016, <https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/abcs-miss-fishers-murder-mysteries-set-to-become-an-action-movie-trilogy-20161117-gsr3sa.html>, accessed 24 May 2019. Though the ABC series had not been officially cancelled, the factors against it continuing were beginning to stack up.

In 2016, the show’s producers started talking about a prequel, focusing on Miss Fisher as an eighteen-year-old.^[7]ibid. This never came to fruition. In 2017, a Kickstarter campaign was launched by Every Cloud Productions, the company behind the series, in order to fund a long-rumoured film starring the original cast. That campaign attracted 7763 fans and raised A$733,210 – proving that the fandom was still there, still keen and more than willing to put their money where their mouths were.^[8]‘Miss Fisher the Movie’, op. cit. By late 2018, Miss Fisher & the Crypt of Tears, directed by Tony Tilse and with Davis back as the lead, had wrapped shooting,^[9]Don Groves, ‘It’s a Wrap for Miss Fisher & the Crypt of Tears’, IF.com.au, 26 November 2018, <https://www.if.com.au/its-a-wrap-for-miss-fisher-the-crypt-of-tears/>, accessed 24 May 2019. and the film is set to release in Australian theatres in February next year.^[10]Roadshow Films, release schedule dated June 2019.

Sometimes, a spin-off will outshine the original. Sometimes, it will sink the whole franchise. And other times – like in the case of Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries – it will be a bold, bright complement to what audiences have already been enjoying.

As attested to by the money raised, Crypt of Tears was pretty much what fans had been asking for – so the 2018 announcement^[11]Don Groves, ‘Seven Orders Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries Spin-off’, IF.com.au, 26 July 2018, <https://www.if.com.au/seven-orders-miss-fishers-murder-mysteries-spin-off/>, accessed 24 May 2019. of an additional spin-off series to be aired on Channel Seven came as something of a surprise.

‘Spin-off’ is perhaps the perfect term, because choosing to do one is like opting to play a round of Russian roulette. When it works out, great; everyone is relieved. When it doesn’t – disaster. Then there’s the fact that, even when the results remain to be seen, people wonder why you’d risk playing the game in the first place. Sometimes, a spin-off will outshine the original. Sometimes, it will sink the whole franchise. And other times – like in the case of Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries – it will be a bold, bright complement to what audiences have already been enjoying.

Fiona Eagger and Deb Cox of Every Cloud are the co-creators and executive producers of the original series, the upcoming film and the spin-off. Not only does their presence on these varied projects lend consistency, but they also demonstrate their deep understanding of and fondness for Miss Fisher the concept. It’s why, despite its many differences from the original, Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries feels like a natural extension of the world that fans are already familiar with.

Making a spin-off requires a delicate balance. It needs to be respectful to the source material without trying to replace it. It needs to be different enough to justify its existence, yet similar enough that it is recognisable as part of the same world. There need to be just enough reminders to keep the two tethered – but too many, and this will invite unwanted comparisons. The reason Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries works is that it adheres to these unspoken rules – and, at its core, it’s the same show but in a different body. New cast, new historical backdrop, new format, new channel. But pare back all the aesthetics and dressing, and the Miss Fisher franchise – whether on screen or on the page; whether about Phryne or her niece, Seven series protagonist Peregrine (Geraldine Hakewill) – is all about a strong, witty woman shaking off the expectations of her era and solving crimes.

The question remains, however: with the feature film already locked in, why take the risk of making a spin-off? The answer is a meeting point between fan appetite and necessity. ‘We knew the world of Miss Fisher had more travel,’ Cox tells me,

and we were keen to keep promoting the values of the show – the can-do optimism, the light-hearted and stealthy feminism, the healthy gender politics of romantic banter – and further explore the murder-mystery genre.

With Davis’ schedule not being conducive to a full season, a film (or films, depending on how well the first one goes) emerged as the best way to continue the Miss Fisher stories. But a film, no matter how good or how welcome, isn’t a neat stand-in for a television show. One story – even a movie-length one – isn’t a replacement for four. Or eight. Or thirteen. Part of the joy of the original Miss Fisher series was getting to know the characters, and then seeing how they evolved over months and years, how they tackled different scenarios, and how they spent their quiet moments. Films, of course, do allow for character development, but length constraints mean that what we lose are the small things: Seeing Phryne and Detective Jack Robinson (Nathan Page) have a drink at the end of each episode. Being able to build up the backstory and, to a degree, the in-jokes that make undercover scenarios funny. The film, no matter how good it is, will be like a new, longer episode. But that is just one new story. Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries gives viewers four.

As a result, the team ‘put our heads together to find a way that our much-loved Miss Fisher series could continue without our lead,’ says Cox.

We investigated all manner of ‘spin-off’ [options] – including a First World War origin story about the forging of our detective heroine – but the 1960s seemed such a joyous and bold era for women beginning to become a force again after being put back into their ‘place’ post the Second World War.

On top of enabling opportunities for bold and interesting costumes and sets, this choice of era also comes back to the feminist principles that lie at the heart of the Miss Fisher franchise: telling stories about women who were progressive for their time. Eagger points to how the 1960s were ‘sort of what the 1920s were for women’:

There was also a big movement in the 1960s. When the [birth-control] pill came about, there was the liberation in women’s fashion, political awareness – so it felt like it was also a good decade to base a female protagonist like that, who could represent a modern woman.

But the new series is also true to the original in another way: staying in line with Greenwood’s underlying vision for the character. ‘Miss Fisher has a bedrock of politics that is Kerry’s,’ says Cox.

She’s a trained lawyer who worked for legal aid for a long time before her writing took over. She’s a feminist, environmentalist, rabble-rouser daughter of a Melbourne wharfie – and lots of fun. She trusts us to honour what matters to her, which also includes historical authenticity.

When we contemplated the 1960s, we consulted Kerry, just as we’d done with our earlier original story ideas and our feature-film concept – both for her input and her approval. She loved the idea of a long-lost niece and the 1960s were her own heyday, so she was very happy to support our new venture and trust us to devise stories she might have written herself.

Asked if there was any additional pressure due to the series being a spin-off rather than a direct adaptation of the original books, Eagger responds, ‘We have a very passionate fan base with Miss Fisher and the originals, so there were certainly people going, “We want more!”’ With the film confirmed, however, she is keen to highlight that the situation is ‘not an “either–or”’. Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries doesn’t exist instead of or in place of a fourth season of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries – it is simply a new chapter added to a sprawling storyworld that is already there.

‘What’s been terrific is that a lot of the sceptics, when they’ve actually watched the new series, really enjoy it for what it is,’ Eagger adds. ‘It’s very vibrant; a lot of people really love the fashion and the design of the 1960s.’

While episodes of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries were often drawn directly from the books they were based on, it is worth noting that, as with most adaptations, creative licence was also taken. With twenty books in the series but over thirty episodes in the show, it was necessary to come up with new plots and storylines that stayed true to Greenwood’s characters and world, but didn’t come directly from her text. ‘We did create episodes from scratch [for] the first series, then forg[ed] further into new material as the series progressed,’ says Cox. ‘By that stage, though, we had a very close and robust relationship with Kerry, and we understood innately her priorities and values.’

These skills and lessons were, evidently, carried over into the creation of Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries. Despite not featuring any cameos of characters from the original show, and despite being set in an entirely different era, the Seven series does feel like a continuation, as though it is picking up what its ABC predecessor had put down. It feels authentic and non-gratuitous, which is actually a remarkable accomplishment.

At the time of writing, it is uncertain whether Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries will be renewed for a second season, or whether there will be any films to follow after Crypt of Tears. But, when there is strong fan interest in a series, there will surely be a temptation to milk that for all it’s worth. Miss Fisher has fans worldwide. The upcoming film has also been slated for release in the US,^[12]Don Groves, ‘North American Deals for Miss Fisher & the Crypt of Tears, Ms Fisher Telepics’, IF.com.au, 13 February 2019, <https://www.if.com.au/north-american-deals-for-miss-fisher-the-crypt-of-tears-ms-fisher-telepics/>, accessed 24 May 2019. and there is a Mandarin-language remake of the series already in the works.^[13]‘Production Underway on Chinese Remake of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries’, IF.com.au, 15 April 2019, <https://www.if.com.au/production-underway-on-chinese-remake-of-miss-fishers-murder-mysteries/>, accessed 24 May 2019. The Seven spin-off has set up a format that would (relatively) easily allow for further instalments: Cousins, great-great-grandmothers, secret half-nieces once removed! Miss Fishers for every era! But this outcome seems unlikely. Even if funding were easy to come by, Eagger and Cox – and, by extension, Every Cloud – seem very aware of the delicate balance between meeting fan demand and maintaining integrity and quality.

https://7plus.com.au/ms-fishers-modern-murder-mysteries