Rebecca Gibney takes charge in The Killing Field

WOMEN on TV have previously been considered to have an expiry date. Now Rebecca Gibney has revealed what’s keeping her in the business.

IT’S a snapshot of where Rebecca Gibney is in her working life.

Directed into position for our cover shoot, she sits as if on a throne — upright and in control. Literally three frames later and the 49-year-old has nailed it.

Now, this is a woman who can find her mark and deliver gold.

In Seven’s compelling new telemovie, The Killing Field, Gibney is similarly in charge — both in front of the camera, as lead detective Eve Winter, burying her own past, as she hunts for a serial killer in a country town; and behind the scenes, as a first-time producer.

“Living and breathing the project for a year,’’ Gibney revelled in her new role at the helm and the opportunity to showcase lessons learned over three decades in the television business.

Far from the anxious actress who spent her 20s and 30s insecure about her talents, fearing the “expiration date’’ which still hangs over many women, Gibney has her eye on being Australia’s answer to Dame Helen Mirren.

After six years and a Gold Logie on Seven’s much loved Packed to the Rafters, Gibney was keen to explore life after Julie Rafter.

“There was always that panic of ‘oh I’ve got to get in as much as I can because everyone talks about roles drying up for women in their 40s’. Well, you know what, I’m nearly 50 and it’s not happening,” Gibney says.

REBECCA GIBNEY: Tells of panic attacks and depression

TV WOMEN: Get better with age, star tells

Comfortable in her skin ... actor Rebecca Gibney. Picture: Nigel Lough

“I’m not worried about my expiry date anymore because I’m creating jobs for myself now. It’s not about waiting for roles to happen. My husband (Richard) and I have a production company and we’re developing two film scripts on top of what we’re doing in television. Regardless of what happens in television, I’m here for the long haul,’’ she says, defiantly.

“Women moving into their 40s and 50s can go “actually, we are still vital, we still have voices, people still want to watch us’ and that’s been such a blessing for me.”

In a nod to Dame Mirren’s enviable-at-any-age appearance in a swimsuit a few years back, she adds: “I might even rock a red bikini myself in my 60s. Well that’s the plan, anyway.’’

The comparison to the great British actress, who paved the way with her pioneering performance as detective Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect, is not too far removed from what Gibney has created with Winter in The Killing Field — an enigmatic woman with a quiet strength, but not too cold she’s unlikeable. Competent and career-minded, but made vulnerable by the nature of the job tracking child killers, only further complicated by her romantic entanglement with her colleague, Detective Inspector Lachlan McKenzie (Peter O’Brien).

REUNION: Flying Doctors stars back together

Looking for clues ... the stars of The Killing Field. Picture: Supplied

So nuanced is Gibney’s performance, it’s not surprising she confirms Seven is in talks to develop the telemovie into a long-running series.

“We talked about how (Winter) gets very attached to victims’ families and there is this back story we will explore in the series. We couldn’t go into it too much because it would have impacted the plot. “

The reunion with O’Brien is good news for both actors, who picked up where they first left off in the iconic outback drama, The Flying Doctors.

Gibney was ``little bit dubious and a bit concerned’’ about recapturing the magic they had as TV lovebirds Emma Plimpton and Sam Patterson, ‘but the minute Pete walked on set we were back to being how we always were. We’re lucky we did have that chemistry, we still do and hopefully he’ll be back for the series as well, if we get the green light’.

Crime drama ... Rebecca Gibney and Peter O'Brien star in The Killing Field.

THE KILLING FIELD

TONIGHT (SUNDAY MAY 4) 8.40PM, SEVEN

Originally published as Rebecca Gibney takes charge in The Killing Field