Back in mid-May, a group of actors sat around a table with the producer and a director and performed a "read-through" of the script for Lie Down With Dogs. The read-through is the first time you hear the dialogue out loud and in character's voices. For the producer and director, it's when they see in their mind's eye how each scene is going to play out in terms of action and visuals. On a television series, a read-through can happen at the end of a long day's shoot or at 7.30am before a 10-hour stint on set. So it's a tough call for actors to put themselves in the head space of a brand new script when the rest of the day they're shooting the previous one. It doesn't always go smoothly.
But to those of us listening in the back row - the writers, the executive producer and some of the production team - Lie Down With Dogs already sounded like a pretty shiny episode. The script was tight, there was a balance of light and dark moments and it totally helped that the group of actors happened to be our amazing main cast and some great guests with international reputations in feature films, theatre and TV. And with the hard work of the talented production and post-production teams, what ended up on the screen was an episode that barrels along with sparks flying and guns blazing until it crashes head first into a screaming shoot out.

Time to raise our hands and admit to our sweaty-palmed and stammering "Ooh, he's got crazy-mad eyes but he's strangely loveable and I just want to take him home" Calabrese (Vince Colosimo) crush. It's awkward and teenage but true. People adopt dogs on the basis of that kind of feeling. And like a crazy-mad dog, you just know Calabrese would be impossible to train, he'd rip up your furniture and hit on your Nana. But one of the few who doesn't join the Calabrese-love conga is Simon, which is kind of understandable given the guy keeps poking him in the face with guns. Don't think you've seen the last of Calabrese - he's too tantalizingly dangerous to put back in the character cupboard for good.

Cathy Booth - the ballsy, bogan matriarch who's sharper, tougher and louder than all the blokes in her life and doesn't let Mick get away with betraying her and their marriage. Victoria Semple - the middle-class version of Cathy Booth, in some ways. Just as clever and cunning. Just as fiery and able to play the game. Just as determined to get what's owed to her family. We don't often get to see female characters like that on television, although they're in our newspapers all the time - mostly snapped outside the courts. One of the great things about crime stories is that you get to create compelling characters who aren't necessarily likeable. And in this episode we aimed for a double dose in Cathy Booth and Victoria Semple.
The gang of four found their rhythm this week too - though Duncan has been a little slow to catch on to the fact that Jennifer's here to stay. Next week's episode, The Return, is a huge one in terms of character development for Matt Ryan. He's been a bit of a low-key mystery boy so far, keeping his head down and getting the job done. He's not as smooth as Simon, or as in-your-face as Duncan, but he pulls the team together and then there's the whole "fluent in Italian" thing. Safe to say, he's got a lot going on underneath, but it takes some serious explosives to blast it to the surface. Bring on the dynamite.

The Creative Team, CITY HOMICIDE