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Caroline Craig, forever Sergeant Tess Gallagher to Blue Heelers fans, is the voice of several Australian crime series (the Underbelly franchise, Murder Uncovered) and a hospital observational (Medical Emergency ICU).

But she is much more than a narrator for hire. Having grown up with a forensic dentist mother, who identified victims of the Bali bombings and the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, and a forensic psychologist father, she has an appreciation for the emotional toll of the work.

Caroline Craig narrates the fly-on-the-wall police drama Missing Persons Investigation.

Through research for her screen roles, shadowing cops on patrol and abseiling with Police Search and Rescue, Craig developed a deep respect for the men and women of the police force. It is this personal connection that she brings to her narration of Nine’s new series Missing Persons Investigation, which follows searches for some of the 50,000 Australians that go missing each year.

“What’s interesting about this show, apart from the generous move on behalf of the police letting you inside a world that we don’t often have access to, is that it shows that people come together. It shows police and families really working together to find someone,” Craig says. “It’s a real insight into the Missing Persons squad and the detectives, the lengths that they will go to. They work tirelessly. It’s their job, but it’s also a human instinct. These people are absolute heroes.”

At the recent memorial service for Senior Sergeant Michelle Kerley, of Victoria Police’s Purana Taskforce, who died of a medical condition, Craig was reminded of the dedication of the woman on whom her role of Jacqui James, in the first Underbelly series, was based.

“Michelle Kerley was incredibly inspiring. I found [the service] really moving,” says Craig. “There were hundreds of people there, and she touched so many people’s lives. There were all these families there that she’d helped. There were kids that had been on the streets that she’d helped … She really made a huge difference.”

Missing Persons Investigation follows the search for some of the 50,000 Australians that go missing each year.

The first episode of Missing Persons Investigation tracks a grandfather who disappeared during the 2022 Melbourne floods, and a 28-year-old woman who went missing in Sydney. The differing status of their cases reflects the reality.

“People have expectations of police,” says Craig. “They have got amazing technology, they’ve got dog squads, and you see in this show the incredible resources they have, but they’re completely stretched as well. I think that they really do take it all on board and they sometimes get a bad rap. They feel a lot of responsibility, personally, and that’s why I think you’ve got people working on cold cases from 20 years ago.”

As frighteningly gripping as the series is, watching those statistically precious first 72 hours after a person’s disappearance tick away, is more than pure entertainment. There is a hope memories or consciences may be jogged and that people will be moved to come forward. In the digital age of the citizen detective, that may result in increased potential leads.

“The show brings out the inner detective,” says Craig. “I think we’ve all got it in us, especially women. My mates and I love true crime and piecing stuff together. Often, in this show, it doesn’t all work out. It’s not like the narrative of a TV series or a drama, and that’s heartbreaking.

“But the show also has a power to connect families that maybe haven’t spoken for years. It’s really a brave show because it doesn’t always give you a happy ending because life doesn’t work like that.”

Craig is now writing a television series based on her experiences working as a receptionist at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine mortuary, when she was between acting jobs.

“There were people there who were on the Missing Persons list, and we were working with the cops, and I got to see things that I don’t know if I was really prepared for. Some of this stuff, you can never get out of your head. But it made me think, oh my god, life is so precious.”

Missing Persons Investigation premieres on August 14 at 8.40pm on Nine, which is the owner of this masthead.

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