Aahana Swrup
Yolanda Ramke’s ‘Troppo’ invites the viewers into a world of crime and riveting morality as it follows the narrative of an unlikely duo who enter a partnership as private detectives in the Australian outback. Ted Conkaffey, an ex-cop, travels to Far North Queensland to escape his own past after facing ostracization due to false accusations for an unpalatable crime. There, his paths cross with Amanda Pharrell, a local PI with her own disturbing backstory, who is investigating the mysterious disappearance in town.
Consequently, the duo with kindred pasts but not much else in common begins working together to uncover a disturbing truth. As a crime thriller, the show remains grounded in reality, with the dynamic between Ted and Amanda as its narrative nucleus. As such, in following their criminal investigation, interest naturally arises about whether their tale is based on a true story or not.
Troppo is Inspired by Candice Fox’s Crimson Lake
‘Troppo’ has fascinating origins, with the crime novel series’ Crimson Lake’ by Candice Fox becoming the show’s primary source of inspiration. For the most part, the show faithfully adapts the novels, translating literary characters to the screen and staying true to the thematic and narrative elements of its source material. Even though each new season showcases its own varying degrees of basis in Fox’s work, the series as a whole authentically replicates the significance of Ted and Amanda’s partnership in accordance with the crime novels.
In fact, the central dynamic between the protagonists emerged as the beacon that ignited Yolanda Ramke’s interest in adapting Fox’s crime novels as a TV series. In a conversation with ScreenRant, the show’s creator spoke about the same and said, “It was absolutely the dynamic between Ted and Amanda in the book—that sort of oil and water, chalk and cheese awkward, unlikely friendship dynamic.” She also added, “That uneasy chemistry combined with the world that they inhabited — this wild place where everything can kill you from people to wild animals—it just felt like a really juicy setting for a crime show.”
Consequently, at its core, the show strives to bring an authentic and absorbing crime story that finds its roots in Candice Fox’s crime novels. However, for the same reason, ‘Troppo’ ends up inheriting a connection to the real-life inspirations behind ‘Crimson Lake’ as well. As a result, even though Ted and Amanda’s characters and their storylines are fictitious, the overarching narrative of ‘Troppo’ retains a slight basis in real-life influences, too.
The Real-Life Inspirations Behind Fox’s Work
Even though the ‘Crimson Lake’ novels are not a true crime series, Author Candice Fox mined real life to farm inspiration for her work. As such, the books end up holding an even deeper relationship to actual crime than its genre strictly necessitates. Notably, the author employed one of the biggest missing person cases to unfold in Australia as a base inspiration for Ted and Amanda’s story.
The case revolved around the disappearance of a pre-teen boy, Daniel Morcombe, who went missing in 2003. The ensuing investigation into Morcombe’s case lasted for more than a decade until the authorities finally caught up to the perpetrator—convicted sex offender Brett Peter Cowan—in 2011 through an undercover operation. In 2014, Cowan was found guilty of Morcombe’s murder, indecent treatment of a child, and interfering with a corpse. Thus, he received a sentence of 20 years with no parole.
Even though ‘Crimson Lake’ isn’t directly based on this case, it served as a jumping-off point for Fox, who found herself asking several what-if questions about the true crime story. “[And] I extended those questions out. What if [someone witnessed the abduction] [and] he was a criminal? What if he was a cop? You keep going, and you keep going, and you keep going, and that’s how you start a novel,” said the author in an Amazon Book Review interview.
On the other hand, while Fox’s book series’ narrative gains inspiration from the speculative exploration of Daniel Morcombe’s murder case, the story’s physical setting also retains connections to real life. As it would turn out, Crimson Lake—the titular town where the books and, subsequently, the show take place—is also based on an actual town. Yet, Fox has never revealed the identity of the real-life town—something she has been advised against.
Fox expanded on the reasoning behind the same in a conversation with the Tor/Forge Blog, where she said, “In the book, I write about two very corrupt, menacing police officers, and with the small towns of tropical north Queensland manned by small police forces, it’s too dangerous that someone might take offense.” Thus, even though she didn’t take any real-life inspirations for her characters—finding the idea to be too restricting—she based Ted and Amanda’s situation around a realistic town. Ultimately, as a culmination of the inspiration behind its literary source, ‘Troppo’ ends up sporting some true crime influences within its otherwise fictional tale.
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