Marta Dusseldorp’s lived experience of moving to Tasmania during the pandemic served as the perfect inspiration for the new dark comedy Bay of Fires.

The eight-part series tells the story of Anika Van Cleef, a Melbourne-based CEO and mother whose life is turned upside-down when she is whisked away by a mysterious woman and told there’s a hit out on her.

Anika is then forced to change her name to Stella Heikkinen and flee with her two children to Mystery Bay, a remote spot on Tasmania’s west coast.

Not only does Dusseldorp play Anika/Stella, she also co-created the series alongside Andrew Knight and Max Dann and also produced the series.

Speaking to The New Daily, she explained how she and Knight came up with the pilot over Zoom during the pandemic, while she watched the world crumble on the news.

“When the pandemic hit, I rang him and I said ‘I bet you’re sitting locked-up in Melbourne and I’m here in Tassie, do you want to talk about a show because I’ve been living in the most beautiful place in the world?’,” she said.

Knight and Dusseldorp had worked together in the past and she knew she always wanted to do a show with him. The same day they pitched the series to the ABC, it was picked up.

The gritty, dramatic-comedy is intended to make you cackle, while drawing you in to the characters of the small Tassie town and the mystery of it all.

In praise of busy women

It’s clear from the get-go that Stella is a complicated woman. Trying to balance working full-time with being a mother and shielding her children from the recent events that de-railed their lives, the cracks start to show.

“I think Stella’s biggest flaw is that she thinks she knows better,” Dussledorp said.

“And because she’s run huge corporations and been very successful, she’s missed the nuances, which is about listening, and about understanding when you’re out of your depth.”

Dusseldorp said Stella is like that, possibly because she’s from a big city, and she drew from her own realisations about the cultural differences when moving from the big smoke.

Once in Tasmania, Dusseldorp learned she needed to stick to a slower pace and make friends with those around her.

“I had a very sharp learning curve about how how to be in a place, to be a part of it, and that’s not about imposing yourself on it,” she said of her move from Sydney.

Marta Dusseldorp wanted to pay homage to busy mums in Bay of Fires.

However, the character of Stella has inspired a lot of praise, with women telling Dusseldorp that, as mothers, they get it wrong sometimes, so it was good to see that explored on-screen.

“She would do anything for her children but she doesn’t know who they are and so she has to learn from them, I really wanted to show that because I’ve learned so much from my daughters,” she admitted.

In saying that, Dusseldorp thinks Bay of Fires is for anyone and everyone. She hopes families can get together and watch, and week-after-week viewers can get together to discuss the latest episode.

Though, she also hopes the series will inspire people to visit Tasmania’s west coast.

“It is one of those hidden parts of Tasmania and possibly the world, where people just don’t go because it’s seemingly too difficult … but the beauty of it is that it’s completely untouched,” she said.

Filming through a COVID wave

Having appeared in many Australian productions and having her own  company, Archipelago Productions, Dusseldorp is passionate about Australian film and TV.

She said Australian actors and crew members aren’t the type to complain about standing in the rain on set, and she stressed the talents of the cast and crew, calling them a “beautiful mix of theatre, unknown film people”.

When Bay of Fires wrapped filming in Tasmania, Dusseldorp revealed on her Instagram how the cast and crew went through more than 9000 COVID rapid tests.

Filming during a COVID wave there were a few set backs and challenges.

“We just kept shooting as these poor, beautiful people would have to disappear for five days … we would drop food to their doorsteps and, you know, we got through it,” she said.

Getting the series done on time and within the budget was a group effort, she said.

Due to COVID, Dusseldorp did have to isolate herself a bit during filming.

“But if we did do it again, I’d be hoping to be a part of that pool comp that I missed out on,” she laughs.

As for the possibility of doing it again, with a second season, it could happen.

“I think that that’s the privilege of television – you can stay with these people for hours and years and the opportunity of storytellers is so great, but also the satisfaction for the audience is so deep,” she said.

Bay of Fires premieres on ABC at 8.30pm Sunday July 16.