Rodger Corser dives into Tham Luang cave rescue role in Thailand

Popular Australian actor Rodger Corser has landed one of his most intense roles to date.

Australian actor Rodger Corser has taken on his most mentally and physically challenging role to date.

The Doctor Doctor star has landed a lead role in the Tham Luang cave rescue drama and will play Richard “Harry” Harris — one of the two Aussie divers who played a vital role in rescuing the 12 stranded Thai boys in 2018.

Rodger Corser is currently filming in Thailand.

Currently in Thailand filming the yet-to-be-named series, not even his time as Detective Constable George Newhouse on Water Rats or police drama Rush prepared him for the gruelling gig.

“Though I’ve previously done an action-based procedural show (Rush), the physicality of this role is greater than I’ve experienced,” Corser told The Saturday Telegraph.

“Half the shoot is on a massive sound stage in Bangkok in water tanks and the other half around Tham Luang cave in northern Thailand, shooting in monsoonal rain and mud.

“The other Aussie actors and I have been learning to dive from an amazing stunt team (including a diver actually involved in the real rescue).

“Not only are most of us learning from scratch, we’re learning the elements of the specialised field of cave diving, which has different skills, gear and rules to keep divers safe.”

Some members of the Wild Boar soccer team who were rescued from the Tham Luang cave. Picture: EPA/Pongmanat Tasiri

Wild Boars team member Phanumas Saengdee reinacts the rescue in a prop cave.

Divers taking part in the rescue.

The Tham Luang cave rescue took place in 2018 after a junior football team called the Wild Boars, which included 12 members aged 11 to 16 and their 25-year-old assistant coach, entered the cave after a football practise session.

Corser said he and his cast members feel “privileged” to be able to tell the unique story.

“Once you dig into it you realise just how many moving parts there were in such a massive and complex task, that had so many unpredictable and untried elements,” he said.

“It took an unprecedented collaborative effort, orchestrated in a very short amount of time from thousands of people from across the globe to realise the miracle of all boys being rescued.”

With Covid-19 halting the majority of productions around the world, this was Corser’s first overseas gig since the pandemic swept the globe.

“It’s all new but also very similar to home … just five times as big,” he said.

“Some cities in Thailand have been locked down which means at times logistics have been affected with things such as flights cancelled … Regular Covid testing is part of your shoot week and we’re separated into groups or ‘bubbles’ for eating on set.”