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Speaker 1: This is gem Nation with Jonesy. On October twelve, in

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Speaker 1: two thousand and two, a terrorist attack was carried out

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Speaker 1: and the tourist district of Bali, two hundred and two

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Speaker 1: people lost their lives, eighty eight of them Australians. Twenty

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Speaker 1: years later, wow, it's twenty years A series has been

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Speaker 1: made based on these events, and Richard Roxborough plays AFP

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Speaker 1: Commander Graham Ashton, who led the police investigation. He joins

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Speaker 1: us now Richard, Hello, Hi guys, what a story, what

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Speaker 1: a tale? I've heard said that this is the best

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Speaker 1: Australian television series that people have ever seen.

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Speaker 2: But is it hard to watch?

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Speaker 3: Look, I don't think it's hard to watch in the

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Speaker 3: sense that it's kind of horribly graphic. It's hard to

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Speaker 3: watch because it's about the kind of human things that

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Speaker 3: happened around an atrocity like that. But I think the

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Speaker 3: humanity of it, the stories of survival and what what

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Speaker 3: you know, the very great things that have brought out

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Speaker 3: in people, is what makes it kind of amazing and special.

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Speaker 2: Was this a role when they offered it to you,

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Speaker 2: did you instantly jump at it?

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Speaker 3: No, look I had I actually had a I think

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Speaker 3: about it. I have a very strange relationship with this

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Speaker 3: material because in two thousand and five I flew to

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Speaker 3: Bali to do a two part series about the Ballei bombings,

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Speaker 3: in which I played actually a different police officer. So,

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Speaker 3: you know, it's incredibly intense material. It's really difficult to

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Speaker 3: be a part of. But I thought the story was

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Speaker 3: measured very beautifully. I thought the way that it was

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Speaker 3: dealt with, in particular the relationship with the Indonesian part

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Speaker 3: of the story in the Balinese part of the story

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Speaker 3: was really really beautifully told.

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Speaker 1: What was Graham like and what was the role Graham

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Speaker 1: played in the tragedy.

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Speaker 3: Well, I've played quite a few bad cops, yes, yes,

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Speaker 3: So it's incredibly refreshing and quite wonderful to play one

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Speaker 3: of the very very good ones. Because so I had

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Speaker 3: quite a few talks with Graham, who's a really remarkable man.

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Speaker 3: He's incredibly quietly spoken, he's a thoroughly decent human being.

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Speaker 3: He spoke fluent Indonesian, which is really interesting to me.

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Speaker 3: So he was there as a kind of a very

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Speaker 3: quiet voice of moderation. But my god, what a job

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Speaker 3: because he had so many things that he had to

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Speaker 3: deal with. He had obviously the grieving you know, Australian parents.

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Speaker 3: He had the incredibly complex political geopolitical situation on hands.

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Speaker 3: So you know, this had never happened in Bali before.

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Speaker 3: You had an Indonesian government that was, you know, in

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Speaker 3: a very difficult position trying to deal with it. There

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Speaker 3: was so much he had to do. I mean, the

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Speaker 3: man didn't sleep for you know, essentially the entire first

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Speaker 3: week he was dealing with so much. But he was

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Speaker 3: He's a really terrific human being who was essentially doing

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Speaker 3: the very best he could in unprecedented circumstances.

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Speaker 2: Right, and when you filmed it, it wasn't really filmed

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Speaker 2: in Bali. Was that because it was just too hard

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Speaker 2: to be filmed in Bali or would have been too

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Speaker 2: sensitive to film it in Bali?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, good question. Look, essentially it was a lot to

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Speaker 3: do with COVID protocols because it was just going to

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Speaker 3: be hectic and a nightmare to try and do that. Luckily,

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Speaker 3: art departments now are so extraordinary. I mean, we had

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Speaker 3: an incredibly wonderful designer, Tim Farrier, who essentially built the

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Speaker 3: entire heart of Cooter out near Lucas Heights in this

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Speaker 3: kind of wasteland out there, and some of it we

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Speaker 3: filmed up in Terry Hills near where I am, in

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Speaker 3: these kind of incredibly thick jungle. So these things can

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Speaker 3: now be achieved. But essentially it was done to COVID issues.

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Speaker 1: How will families respond to this? You think the families

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Speaker 1: of the eighty eight Australians, Amanda.

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Speaker 3: I hope that this is seen as a work of

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Speaker 3: great respect and that essentially what it's about are the

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Speaker 3: great things that happen to humanity, to human beings when

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Speaker 3: something horrendous, something unmanagably horrible occur. So that's all I

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Speaker 3: can hope. I hope that what this is, this is

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Speaker 3: seen to be about, is about how in the worst

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Speaker 3: and most hideous event imaginable, the very best things about

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Speaker 3: us as human beings are allowed to prevail.

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Speaker 2: It's great we get to see you playing a good copper.

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Speaker 2: It's unfortunately you didn't come to me. I like it's refreshing,

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Speaker 2: you know, dodgy lawyer or a bad copper. You didn't

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Speaker 2: go to Amanda for any Indianise advice. As far as language.

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Speaker 1: You've got this inni rasilia capata. He copped this coconut

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Speaker 1: head that could have come in very useful.

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Speaker 3: It really could happen if only I'd known. Next time,

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Speaker 3: this is very late. Notice, even if you.

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Speaker 1: Just go for a holiday, ask me, because that one

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Speaker 1: she's slays.

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Speaker 2: She's been sitting on that bushel for some time.

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Speaker 1: I have.

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Speaker 3: I got it up my sleeve now, don't you worry.

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Speaker 2: Better than your bushel? Barley two thousand and two. All

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Speaker 2: four episodes are available to stream now on stand Richard Roxborough,

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Speaker 2: thank you for joining us.

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Speaker 3: Absolute pleasure. Guys, thank you