Although it premiered on ABC TV in April of 2021, season 1 of the Australian psychological mystery series Wakefield was acquired by Showtime and reaired between October and December. Set in a psychiatric ward in the Blue Mountains of South Wales, the story follows Nik Katira (Rudi Dharmalingam), a brilliant nurse who does his best to unravel the mystery brought about by a cryptic song that enters his head.
Along with his intelligent coworkers, patients, family , and casual acquaintances, Nik does his best to treat those at Wakefield Hospital the best he can while uncovering a devastating secret about his past.
Trevor Paulson
As one of the youngest patients at Wakefield, Trevor Paulson (Harry Greenwood) has far more street smarts and creativity as a singer/songwriter than a bookish background. His bipolar diagnosis is worsened by his crystal meth addiction, but that doesn't stop him from using his wits and wiles to manipulate Nik and others.
Despite failing to grasp the concept of cause and effect, Trevor manages to convince Nik to take him to town, where he uses his street smarts to land a date with a shop worker by convincing her he is a nurse. If Trevor can just get out of his own way, the full potential of his brilliant songwriting skills can be realized.
Tessa Knight
At first blush, Tessa Knight (Bessie Knight) is a silent, supremely depressed patient at Wakefield who intimidates people with her scary tattoos. Digging deeper, however, Tessa is revealed to be an intelligent puzzle solver, art enthusiast, and skilled milliner by trade.
Despite her brilliant mind for crafts, problem-solving, and putting things together, Tessa's misanthropic demeanor and penchant for hoarding present a series of issues with her mom, with whom she lives outside of Wakefield. Smarter and more talented than initially assumed, Tessa proves the old adage that a book should never be judged by its cover.
Cath Florakis
itted to Wakefield for OCD, Cath Florakis (Victoria Haralabidou) hails from an istrative background where data collection and collation were her specialties. As such, Cath is highly organized and extremely attuned to the events transpiring in the hospital and the outside world.
Cath keeps close tabs on her fellow patients in the hospital by making files in a giant notebook, monitoring their diagnoses, and concocting her own treatments she thinks will help them improve. Despite overstepping her boundaries quite a bit, Cath eats, sleeps, and breathes information and stores it for what she believes is a benefit for the whole hospital. Unfortunately, she can't quite identify her own underlying anxieties.
Collette Allan
Thanks to her New Age and self-help techniques that radically differ from the practices inside Wakefield, Collette Allan (Felicity Ward) is a dedicated nurse who bucks tradition and shows tremendous ingenuity as a caretaker. She may seem dippy at first, but Collette is really a brilliant out-of-the-box thinker who uses her intelligence to uncover her boss Linda's cryptic past, which sheds light on her bullying ways.
Collette treats Genevieve in brilliant ways meant to stabilize the bipolar patient's mental state, including the way she returns the lingerie items on her behalf, planting ferns to calm her mind, researching her wedding day, and deducing whether or not Raff has a brother, etc. As such, Collete is quickly becoming one of the best TV nurses of all time.
James Matos
Sent for treatment at Wakefield following a near-fatal overdose resulting from a failed business deal, James Matos (Dan Wyllie) is a highly successful hedge fund manager who used his vast business acumen to become a multimillionaire landowner. Matos spends much of his time deg shrewd ways to use a phone inside the hospital to continue negotiating a lucrative property deal, including some wily trade-offs with his nurse, Nik.
As a corporate magnate, Matos prides himself on having the ability to read people and talk them into closing a deal that's beneficial for both parties. The way he wisely manipulates Nik and the other nurses show the savvy street smarts Matos has to go with his intelligent moneymaking mind.
Linda Crowley
Acting as the official Nursing Unit Manager of Wakefield's C Ward, Linda Crowley (Mandy McElhinney) is among the smartest and most authoritative staff in the hospital. Wily, manipulative, and as terrifying as the most memorable movie nurses, Linda shrewdly attempts to have Genevieve seduce Nik so that he will fail to take over her job in the promotion he seeks. Alas, Nik is wise to the ruse.
Despite her nursing education and years of experience, Linda's post as Unit Manager becomes compromised when she's caught vandalizing property, setting Nik up to assume her position. The constant chess match between the two reinforces their strategic gamesmanship and ability to see one move ahead. In the end, the smartest thing Linda did was withdraw from the NUMs position, knowing deep down that Nik was more qualified.
Kareena Wells
The head doctor at Wakefield Hospital, Kareena Wells (Geraldine Hakewell) uses her vast medical knowledge to delegate authority, ensure the hospital runs in an orderly fashion, and makes every final authoritative decision in the hospital's chaotic C Ward. She exudes intelligence and authority, never suffering fools as she presides over every patient in the hospital, rivaling even some of the best movie psychiatrists.
Aside from her superior psychiatric education, Kareena is the one character who senses Nik's profound level of anxiety and uneasiness, uses her experience as his former lover to get in his head to rightly express concern and ultimately steer him toward safety.
Nik Katira
As the series protagonist whose perspective viewers identify with the most, Nik Katira is easily the most intelligent character on Wakefield. The brilliant psychiatric nurse has the emotional intelligence to lend a warm bedside manner to his deeply troubled patients, instinctively knowing what is best for them and what is not. On a professional level, the way in which Nik treats Ivy, Matt, Raff, Trevor, and others based on their specific diagnoses shows how knowledgeable he is in the field of psychiatry.
On a personal level, Nik demonstrates even greater intelligence as he slowly but surely unravels the profound mystery regarding his brother's death that has been plaguing his subconscious for years. It's Nik's story through and through, and he's painted as the smartest and most psychologically advanced character as a result.