It wasn’t until Marg Downey was cast in The Newsreader that she could reveal her dark side.
It wasn’t until Marg Downey was cast in The Newsreader that she could reveal her dark side.
By Kate Jones
February 19, 2025 — 6.30pm
Marg Downey is a woman in the second act of her career – and she’s soaring.
Throughout the 1980s and ’90s, she starred in some of Australia’s iconic comedy sketch shows, The D-Generation and Fast Forward among them. Alongside Magda Szubanski, Gina Riley and Jane Turner, Downey was at the forefront of TV comedy.
But these days, people who recognise her are more likely to mention her role as Evelyn Walters in The Newsreader than Marion from Warrandyte on Kath and Kim. Much like Downey’s new career direction, the two characters couldn’t be more different.
“Some people will come up to me and say, ‘Oh my God, your character is so horrible’,” Downey says. “And then there are other people who say, ‘I think she’s great, I completely understand where she’s coming from and her motivations, and I admire Evelyn’. So, I do like the fact that she divides people.”
In the ABC drama, Evelyn is the wife of newsreader Geoff Walters (Robert Taylor), who had been a mainstay of the 6pm bulletin until he was shafted by management and replaced by the younger Dale Jennings (Sam Reid).
While the series focuses on the relationship complexities between Dale and fellow newsreader Helen Norville (Anna Torv), Downey is part of a strong supporting cast that includes William McInnes as the repugnant news boss Lindsay Cunningham.
Downey’s portrayal of a strident and Machiavellian Evelyn is masterful. She stars in some of the show’s most tense and explosive scenes, such as when she confronts a smug Lindsay at the Logies for failing to hand over file footage of Geoff for a tribute. “I grew accustomed to your graceless and vindictive treatment of my husband, but I had thought now that he’s passed you’d show a shred of compassion to a bereaved family,” she says, later adding: “It’s remarkable to have such a low opinion of someone and yet still to have overestimated them.”
Inspiration for the character of Evelyn came to Downey easily.
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“I just felt as though I had met women like that throughout my life,” she says. “Not many television series portray a woman like that. The sort of power behind the throne. Certainly, in my mother’s generation, there were so many women who were so supportive of their husbands and would sit around at night and discuss their career decisions and the directions that they should head in. And they probably weren’t given a lot of credit for it, but they were pivotal.”
Evelyn’s stinging rebukes and backhanded compliments usually add some comic relief, but only for the cast, says the show’s producer Jo Werner.
“When we do a cast read-through, every line of Evelyn’s gets met with huge laughter,” Werner says. “And I think Marg was a bit confused as to why at first, but it’s because Evelyn’s just such a brilliant, evil manipulator.”
In addition to replaying the major news events of the mid to late ’80s, The Newsreader spotlights gender inequities in and out of the newsroom. Werner says Downey’s handling of Evelyn shows how stifled women with leadership qualities felt during that decade.
“In any other era, or today, Evelyn Walters would be a CEO of a company,” Werner says. “But instead, in the ’80s, she was behind the scenes propping up her husband, making him feel that he’s as smart as he believes he is. Marg’s done an amazing job with her, and really proven what an incredible, serious dramatic actress she is.”
Despite her years in comedy, impersonating current affairs presenter Jana Wendt and playing characters such as Janelle from Janelle’s Beauty Spot (both in Fast Forward), Downey always wanted to work in dramatic roles.
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“Well, it’s funny because I’ve just been doing another drama, and the make-up artist there was the make-up artist on Fast Forward and she said, ‘You’ve always been saying that you wanted to do drama, even back then, 25, 30 years ago’,” Downey says. “I did, but I fell in with a lovely group of fellow comedians, and we had a ball, and it was always so much fun. But I think I probably harboured that secret desire.”
The show’s careful depiction of the 1980s has the power to transport its viewers to the past. Everything – from the shoulder-padded dresses to the peach-coloured lounge rooms – is spot on, so much so that filming the Logies scene was something of a spin-out for Downey, who remembers attending the 1989 Logies – the same year the season three episode depicts.
“I’m pretty sure I was there in that very same room, so it was full circle for me,” she says, laughing.
Written and created by Michael Lucas (Offspring, Five Bedrooms, Rosehaven) and directed by Emma Freeman (Offspring, Glitch, Stateless), The Newsreader has won a slew of awards since it first aired in 2021, including for best drama at last year’s AACTA awards.
In this third season, Evelyn attempts to warn her daughter Kay over her budding relationship with Dale. Kay’s past addiction problems and Dale’s battle to keep his sexuality private makes it a tenuous pairing.
All of it plays out in tandem with the big news stories of the year, such as the Tiananmen Square massacre. The ability to simultaneously focus on the foreground and background is what makes The Newsreader so strong, Downey says.
“I like the way the show tackles all these issues and the big news stories, but also the interpersonal relationships,” she says. “They’re really sensitively drawn, particularly Dale’s struggles with his sexuality. I love the focus on mental health.”
But this third season is The Newsreader’s last, and Downey is already feeling bittersweet about it.
“It’s such a good show, so it’s sad, but that’s the end,” she says. “I just can’t wait for everyone to see this final season because I feel as though each season has lifted slightly, and I think the final season is absolutely superb.”
The Newsreader airs on Sundays on ABC TV and ABC iview.
Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.
Kate Jones is an experienced journalist who writes about culture, lifestyle and property.
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