Sarah Ferguson draws out Kevin Rudd. Credit:ABC Ferguson herself is a pleasure to interview. Her answers are concise and interesting, and when she doesn't want to answer a question, she says so, and explains why, rather than answering a different question and requiring you to put your original question again. Here's a sampling of our conversation. Q. Do you think Kevin Rudd has learnt any capacity for self-analysis? A: What a terribly good question. I'm not going to answer it, quite. The point of this series is for them to tell this narrative themselves. Of course, I make choices in which bits of their story I have them tell, but nonetheless, it's a question for the audience rather than me in the end. Q. Does he engage with the possibility that he might have been at fault in any way?

Julia Gillard concedes to some errors on the mining tax. Credit:ABC A: I've reflected on this question, not just about him but in relation to Julia Gillard and Keating and Howard and Hawke and they all share one thing, which is: it's very rare to hear a concession of fault from any of them. Gillard has one refreshing moment when she concedes to some errors on the mining tax. But it's something to do with their psychological makeup, the mettle required to be in that position, that it doesn't seem to be accompanied by too much self-examination. Q. Did you think Rudd and Gillard were trying to get revenge, in what they were saying to you? Sarah Ferguson. Credit:ABC A. They would both absolutely say not, but it looks like it to me. Their vehemence to have their narrative win the day, that's what's driving them now. It's not as simple as revenge, it's bigger than revenge. They want a bigger victory than just to beat the other one. They want their version of those years to be history.

Q. Did they allude to your reputation as an interviewer? Before the leadership challenges, they even smiled. Credit:Andrew Meares A. Yes, there was a lot of alluding. They took some convincing that it was not the 7.30 style. Even though these politicians grew up with these documentary series, what they're accustomed to is the combat. They are very good at the combat. You have to keep reminding them that it's not necessary. The boring bits are when they forget and go into politician mode and go back to repeating lines. That's of no value to anybody. I had to remind them that there's no point in giving up your time and taking up our time if you're not going to be somewhat reflective. Q. Did you talk to Bill Shorten? Michael Connelly (left) and Nathan Fillion meet in Castle. Credit:Richard Cartwright

A. Mr Shorten declined to participate. A great shame, because as he's said to a number of people, if the Australian people are going to vote for him, they've got to know who he is. This was his moment to get a fair telling of his involvement in the events of 2010 and 2013 – in context, no combat, explain what you did, why you did it, there's a huge audience for you, take your opportunity. Instead we have other people explaining Mr Shorten's role. Q: Did Shorten and Penny Wong give satisfactory reasons for not talking to you? A. I never think any no is satisfactory, unless a member of your family is going to be hurt. I think they have a duty. This is a history that belongs to the public, and they should bloody well front up. Q. Will this series have a political effect – on the party or on the voters? A. I haven't had time to think about that. People have very fixed ideas about who the heroes and villains were – either the lot of them or one versus the other. We had to approach every event with an open mind, and that's what I want the audience to do. They can sit down with their popcorn and their prejudices, but when they've finished with the popcorn, their prejudices should be put aside too. If I've done my job.

The Killing Season starts on Tuesday, June 9, at 8pm on ABC1. Meta madness Tonight's episode of Castle, Seven's lighthearted crime series, was written earlier this year at a time when the writers feared the show was about to be axed, so it was designed to give fans a satisfying conclusion to the whole series. The central character, a novelist named Richard Castle (played by Nathan Fillion), receives the Poe's Pen Career Achievement Award from the International Society of Mystery Writers. The award is presented by the (real-life) crime writer Michael Connelly, who has been seen in previous episodes playing cards with Castle, along with the other novelists James Patterson and Dennis Lehane. Connelly was in Australia recently and told me about his moments of stardom: "I think it's a way for the makers of Castle to anchor him to a real world, to show him playing with real writers. I was asked to do it, I thought it would be fun and I liked some of the other writers, so I did it. I'm supposed to be playing myself, and I get asked if that is what my life is like, but it's definitely a comedic exaggeration of what a crime novelist is like and does. For me, that's what makes it kind of funny." Fortunately for all concerned, the network has just renewed Castle for an eighth season, so tonight will not be the final farewell. But Connelly might be too busy to do any more cameos, because he is producing his own TV series, called Bosch, based on his tales about a tough Los Angeles cop. It starts in two weeks on SBS.

Because Bosch has a grimmer tone than Castle, Connelly is unlikely to ask Fillion to do a guest appearance. In any case, he has bigger fish to fry. Another of his characters, the unscrupulous lawyer Mickey Haller, was played by Matthew McConaughey in a 2011 movie called The Lincoln Lawyer. Since then, McConaughey has won an Oscar and starred in True Detective, a mini-series with a similar mood to Bosch. Connelly's fantasy in series two of Bosch is to give viewers a glimpse of McConaughey. "What I love doing in the books is mixing all these characters, but when you move to the level of Hollywood, you end up with all these rights issues. We've talked about whether we could get Matthew McConaughey to just walk through the courthouse hallway. Wouldn't that be fabulous?" Perhaps, just to make the whole thing even more meta, McConaughey could also play True Detective's Rust Cohle, and arrest himself. The season 7 finale of Castle airs Sunday, June 7, at 9.30pm on Seven. For more, go to The Tribal Mind.