TV Week
25th July 1998
Goldie becomes the target of an obsessive woman when the detective saves her from suicide…
MADONNA, Steven Spielberg, Sandra Bullock, Mel Gibson and Michael Jackson, to name but a few of Hollywood’s big names who have been harassed by stalkers and survived.
Tragically, others, such as Rebecca Schaeffer, the teenage star of the American sitcom My Sister Sam, and Polish model Agnieska Kotlarska were ultimately murdered by the people who stalked them.
Closer to home, Triple J radio personality Helen Razer has found her life turned upside down by a stalker, Olivia Newton John had one, as did Elle’s sister Mimi Macpherson, Ita Buttrose and television journalist Peter Luck.
But for every person we hear about, there are thousands of others who also deal with stalkers.
This week, Water Rats tackles the issue when Det. Rachel “Goldie” Goldstein (Catherine McClements) becomes the obsession of a mentally unstable woman.
When Goldie saves Sarah, a young woman obsessed by religious omens and controlled by an equally unstable lover, from throwing herself from a cliff, a bizarre string of ultimately tragic events follow.
It becomes apparent that Sarah is toying with Goldie’s emotions, and is also involved in a murder being investigated by both Goldie and fellow detective Jack Christey (Steve Bisley).
“It’s basically about a girl… who believes that women have to pay for their sins, so she is beaten by her boyfriend,” T’mara Buckmaster who plays the emotionally fraught Sarah, says.
“You find out that her boyfriend has told her that God has been talking to him and they have to kill someone,” T’mara says.
‘Goldie saves her and she decides that Goldie is a sign from God and she becomes obsessed by her and starts doing all these crazy things.”
T’mara says she delved into her own personality to find inspiration for Sarah.
“I’m nothing like her at all but I understand obsession a little bit,” she says. “I’m quite a stubborn person. When I want something I really want it and when I believe something, then that’s it, that’s what I believe.”
T’mara says the relationship between Goldie and Sarah is complex and not as easy to categorise as simply a stalker and a victim.
“She gets Goldie hooked on trying to save her,” she says.
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