McLeod's Daughters

Self-described "inner-city girl," Bridie Carter, shares her similarities to her character, Tess. "My father always had a connection to the countryside and the bush. So we had a house in the country from when I was a very little girl...But you know, it's very different visiting the bush to actually living and breathing it."

Bridie Carter, who plays Tess, gives a shoutout to fans and encourages viewers to watch.

Bridie Carter details her first days on set - including why the producers "had absolute heart attacks!" "So of course I said to the producers, 'Yes I can ride!' She further explains that she rode as a little girl and was obsessed with horses, "but to ride and to RIDE are two entirely different things."

Bridie Carter on "the magic and the challenge" of shooting entirely on location. "We shot entirely on film and entirely on location. There was absolutely no studio whatsoever; and so it was hard going. It was bitterly cold in winter and ridiculously hot in summer. But...I really embraced that. And we never had to reach, we didn't have to reach too far for the truth of anything."

They say never work with animals and children. "They" apparently didn't work on "McLeod's Daughter," Bridie Carter reports. "The animals were always looked after and if anything big had to happen we always had vets on set...And we had vegan actors on set who really, you know, some people really struggled with that... Everyone, everything and every beast was always extremely well cared for."

"I'm old school," Bridie Carter concedes. "So, you know, my script is my blueprint. And it is for us here - you know, especially on shows like 'McLeod's' - there's no, you know [departing from that]. Your job is to do a hell of a lot of preparation and turn up with all of that. And then, essentially, throw the work away and be present, I suppose...To be frank, there just wasn't the time."

"We never just did a scene," Bridie Carter says. "Because it was about human relationships; so we always wanted to do that...I think Posie Graham Evans, the creator and producer of the show, did the most wonderful casting with Lisa and I because we are really different women and there was so much chemistry there...And that was wonderful and tough at times...We are actually like sisters today."

Bridie Carter takes viewers behind the scenes of Episode 3, "Don't Mess with the Girls." It was remarkable. We had hundreds of extras and it was a really, it was a big episode to shoot. A really exciting episode, I think, because we had a sense of who these people were in their community. You know, who were the people around them? So we landed in the world of 'McLeod's,' really, in that episode."

Just because you're on a rigorous shooting schedule, nature doesn't care, Bridie Carter graphically recalls "It was incredibly grueling. But you know, once again, it's that challenge. I suppose, that I embrace; and we needed to throw ourselves in, you know, completely...[And] it's only sometimes, if terrible things happen - or we have to catch up - [that] we shoot on a weekend."

It may be fictional in "McLeod's Daughters," but Bridie Carter says you can really find it in Australia. "Gungellan is actually a little real town called Freeling. So the main property, Drover's Run, was about an hour north of Adelaide...Most actors, a lot of them stayed around that homestead. I'm always different. For me, when I work, it's really important to maintain Bridie and me and my life."

Sheering sheep and all of the other rigors of working on a farm are as rough as it looks, Bridie Carter attests. "Yes, yes absolutely it was all hard. Once again, I was meant to be a novice, thank God, so I din't have to look proficient in it. But yeah, all that stuff was really hard and really physical. But I'm a physical actor and I love that...That was another wonderful thing about the show."

Here's how Bridie Carter says she and Lisa Chappell prepared for that moment Tess and Claire are under the stars: "It was the first moment that they were quiet and that they stopped and they really listened to each other and their guards were down. They let go. And it was extremely private and they were both vulnerable...So yes, we absolutely talked about that, and then we could just let it go."