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Trouble in paradise – Metro US

Trouble in paradise

A woman’s half-eaten, headless corpse floating in a pond of alligators isn’t a welcome sight first thing in the morning. But in “The Glades,” A&E’s new crime drama, it’s just the beginning — literally the first scene of the pilot — and the first of a slew of nasty murders to hit the small town of Palm Glade, Florida.

Australian actor Matt Passmore makes his American debut as Jim Longworth, an abrasive but charming homicide detective transferred to this sleepy, muggy town just outside of the Everglades after a scandal forces him out of his Chicago position.

“As long as he gets what he wants, this guy doesn’t care what anyone thinks of him,” Passmore says.

“Tongue-in-cheek wise, I almost think he’s a combination of Columbo and Magnum PI, without the tweed jacket, the ferocious rotter and the ‘man-rugs’ he wore on his chest.”

As the pilot unfolds, Longworth pushes and cajoles his way to the bottom of the case — his first exposure of the dirty underbelly in an idyllic paradise — a product of restlessness that pervades the town as much as the humidity. Passmore says Longworth is fun to play as he digs into his new environment, but he’s a bit selfish and easily bored.

“The good thing is, because our accents are so different, I get to leave him at work and bring Matt home,” Passmore says. “It’s a nice way to differentiate so I don’t become a complete prick and lose all my friends.”