Behind the story of CBC's riveting thriller series, The Sounds

Created by the best-selling author, Sarah-Kate Lynch, The Sounds is an eight-part thriller coming to CBC Gem that will keep you glued to the screen as you watch grieving wives, cheating husbands, embezzlement and historic crime collide into a complicated web, set against the majestic Pelorus Sound — the largest of the four Marlborough Sounds (an extensive network of sea-drowned valleys) of New Zealand.

And while The Sounds was inspired by the many thrillers Lynch has watched over the past three years, mainly a Scandinavian one called Acquitted, it also has many more facets — marrying the multi-layered approach of Big Little Lies with the marital nuances of The Affair and the unexpected twists of Ozark. 

Lynch, who's also the head writer of The Sounds, describes the series as a story of a deeper human condition: morality and ethics and the extraordinary lengths people are willing to go in order to get what they desire.

It plays with the concept of never truly knowing someone, no matter how much you think you know and love them, because "you never really know what is going on in somebody else's head." 

So what's the story behind a story where nothing is quite as it seems?

A five minute idea

The original concept for the series was an unusual one for Lynch who writes novels and explains that while she loves writing novels, the ideas for those can take longer to form as they combine a number of different factors. 

"You do spend a year working in a cupboard under the stairs all on your own without knowing how it's going to be received which can be a tiny bit heart breaking. With television, there are a lot of people in the cupboard with you all making it abundantly clear what result they expect and you're delivering episodes regularly — so if feels a bit more instant gratification-y, which I like."

For The Sounds, the idea was formed in five minutes while on vacation, boating in Turkey, with her husband, reflects Lynch.

"He was swimming and I was reading — and all of a sudden I thought, 'Oh, he has been in for quite a long time, I wonder if something has happened to him?' I flew into a panic, got into a kayak and tried to find him but couldn't." 

As Lynch came back to the boat, still in panic mode, she was flooded with negative thoughts fueled by worry, wondering if her husband had been hit by another boat or drowned, or had a heart attack.

"Then I looked at these very bleak, remote hills, up behind the water and I thought to myself, 'Has he just gone off somewhere to live another life? — Oh, that's a good idea for a TV series!'

"I probably should have thought, 'What has happened to my husband?' but I didn't. I thought, 'This is a good idea for a TV series, but where in New Zealand could I set this? Somewhere both beautiful and remote, only accessible by water.' And I instantly thought of the Marlborough Sounds, so that was the idea."

Luckily, her husband duly returned having just gone for a very long swim and she told him about the idea straight away. 

"He didn't seem in the least put out that I was so excited he might have died or run away. The next day I fell over and broke my arm in four places. This was a major bummer because we were on a boat and I couldn't swim so once I was out of hospital (Turkish ones are actually surprisingly good), I wrote the idea for The Sounds down on paper."

I knew from the start it was a good idea.- Sarah-Kate Lynch

Sometimes ideas are just ideas and it's not until you dive into them that you can tell if it will make an 80,000 word novel or an eight-part series, says Lynch. 

"Initially, I wrote episodes one and two myself then threw it open to a story table where we hashed out the details."

Geography is a character

Lynch traveled to the Sounds when she was younger and has been back a few times so it's no surprise the scenic location came to mind instantly. 

She explains that the location while beautiful is also a little creepy and made the perfect setting for her story.

I love it when the setting is a character on its own.- Sarah-Kate Lynch

"The Marlborough Sounds is one of New Zealand's greatest hidden secrets," she says, adding that it was a pretty obvious choice when writing a thriller. 

"You've got this area of great beauty, water, mountains, big skies, looming clouds, very remote and hard to get to. It's just the perfect spot."

The director of the series, Peter Stebbings, was mesmerized by the location as well and says: "The land, the sea, the flora and fauna of New Zealand will take your breath away." 

"It was interesting to see it as an outsider. What New Zealanders take for granted left me gobsmacked. It makes you wonder about your own backyard, 'What am I taking for granted here? Is that maple tree exotic or is it just a maple tree?'"

The challenges were real

As with any thriller, maintaining the suspense can be challenging because it's hard to say a lot without giving it all away.

"It's always a matter of what to hold back and what to let out," says Lynch.

You also have to trust your instincts and be the keeper of the vision because "it's easy to get talked in or out of things but following your gut feeling is crucial. That's a lesson I've learned maybe a thousand times in my life but I keep forgetting!"

She explains that having an objective outlook is also very important, which means ensuring you have a deep understanding of the story while also being able to step far enough away and look at the story as if for the first time. All of which is easier said than done.

The key is to have people around you whom you trust.- Sarah-Kate Lynch

Her husband Mark Robins (Power of The Dog, Hacksaw Ridge), who is a production designer and a supervising art director in the film industry, also helped by being "an amazing sounding board." 

And then there are the additional challenges when filming. Director Stebbings says that the weather was the biggest one for him.

"In New Zealand, the weather can change on you in a second." 

He adds that before the first scene was shot, Rachelle had four costumes changes that day because there would be heavy rain one minute and be bright and sunny the next, then again a downpour with ominous skies as far as the eye could see and five minutes later, blue skies with "nary a puff of cloud."

"Oy vey, that was a day. Rachelle was not amused. She was also incredibly gracious about it." 

Stebbings explains that he even considered having the characters in the series talk about how the weather changes quickly, and changing the title sequence to include the idea of the frequently changing weather patterns.

"Your mind goes to strange places when you're in the middle of a downpour and the script is calling for a picnic."

The Sounds premieres on CBC Television and CBC Gem on October 5th. 

Follow @thesoundscbc on Instagram for info and updates about the series, behind the scenes, interviews with the cast and more.