Don Hany channels the devil in Devil’s Playground

TV viewers usually love to love Don Hany, but not in Devil’s Playground, where he channels an uncomfortably evil and secretive persona on screen.

DON Hany is under no illusions that his character in Devil’s Playground will be widely loved.

Hany’s Bishop Quaid is a high-powered clergyman in the Catholic Church who, when accusations of child sexual abuse by priests start to go public in the late 1980s, tries to keep any investigations ‘in house’.

“This bishop is second in line to take over the Archbishopric, a guy who in many ways became the moral custodian for the Catholic Church at the time. He will probably be compared to (former Archbishop of Sydney) George Pell, despite the fact he’s an amalgam of many different priests,” says Hany.

It all adds up to the likelihood that “you won’t like Quaid at all,” Hany concedes of his character in the dark drama which airs its third episode this week. “But there’s got to be that voice.”

Hany, recently seen in ABC TV’s Serangoon Road and The Broken Shore and with Hugo Weaving in feature film Healing, co-stars with Simon Burke, Toni Collette and John Noble in Devil’s Playground.

CARDINAL SIN: Jack Thompson’s role in Devil’s Playground

Don Hany as Bishop Quaid in Devil's Playground. Picture: Supplied

The Archbishop of Sydney is played by Jack Thompson, a casting decision Hany laughs is “probably the most poetic choice in television in modern times, given he was the first male centrefold in Australia”.

Though the subject matter is grim, Hany felt obliged to heavily research his role, watching documentaries and speaking to several former church members.

Secrets of the Catholic Church ... Jack Thompson and John Noble in Devil's Playground. Picture: Foxtel

“The more you know about it, the harder it is to ignore and the harder it is for it not to affect you,” says the father-of-one. “You don’t have to have kids to empathise. This hits at the heart of it — a lot of the victims from that time are finding voice now, 30-40 years after the fact. The effect it’s had on people’s lives is profound, it can’t be overstated. If they haven’t suicided, they can’t hold a relationship, they can’t hold a job … It’s important just on that level to bring an authenticity and an accuracy to it.

While Hany is quick to admit he’s “not of a religious persuasion”, he sees some kind of higher being in his legendary Aussie co-star Jack Thompson.

Tough role ... Don Hany stars in Devil's Playground. Picture: Mark Stewart

“When priests become ordained, they achieve what’s called an ‘ontological shift’ — when they pass this mortal coil, etched on their soul somewhere is the title ‘Priest’, so they achieve a different kind of spiritual status. If anybody has earned a higher ordination, Jack has.

“He’s an entity that I have had the profoundly fortunate experience to engage with. He’s such part of the fabric of our story and the framework of our industry that at times it’s hard to spot him. But if you subtracted his input, there’d be nothing left of any substance.”

DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND

TUESDAY, 8.30PM, SHOWCASE