Kate Ritchie has finally revealed that she has no plans to return to Summer Bay.
The 47-year-old, who rose to fame on Home and Away in 1988, playing the character Sally Fletcher, quit the series in 2008.
Ritchie, who has long been rumoured to make a return to the long-running Seven hit, made her shock confession during Nova 96.9’s breakfast show on Friday.
‘The show is doing so well, it doesn’t need Sally anymore,’ she said during the Fitzy & Wippa with Kate Ritchie program.
Adding that her character, Sally, has a ‘nice life somewhere’, Ritchie said she still loved Home and Away, but the show has ‘moved on’ without her.
At one point, Kate teased her co-hosts and listeners, saying she would return to Summer Bay ‘if asked’ – but she quickly reversed herself.
Ritchie, who has long been rumoured to make a return to the long-running Seven hit, made her shock confession during Nova 96.9’s breakfast show on Friday. Pictured: The 47-year-old rose to fame on Home and Away playing the character Sally Fletcher
‘That’s a chapter of my life that’s done,’ she said.
Ritchie said that producers have asked her to appear in the soap ‘numerous times’ since she left 17 years ago to ‘gauge her interest’.
Elsewhere in the chat, Ritchie revealed that while she was a fan of the series, she does not watch it regularly.
‘I think I sat down maybe about five years ago and watched one episode, but I couldn’t bear seeing other people living in my house and sitting on my couch for a while,’ she joked.
It comes after the radio star revealed back in October last year that she was weighing up a return to the soap.
‘[Producers] have stopped calling, but they have told me the door is always open,’ she told the Herald Sun at the time.
‘The idea of being back there and seeing everyone and working with all those actors again is not something I would not want to do, it is just whether it makes sense anymore.’
Kate added that she was unsure whether her character would fit in with the newer residents of Summer Bay and still connect with fans.
‘All of the new viewers they have, half of them would not know who Sally is. I have my work cut out for me and parenthood and life generally, let alone throwing another job,’ she added.
Ritchie was just eight years old when she entered the spotlight in 1988, starring as Sally Fletcher on the beloved series.
She starred on the show for 20 years and has since admitted she found it difficult to develop her own identity outside her character.
Despite winning two Gold Logies while she was on the show, Ritchie previously said she was still left questioning her own worth.
Since leaving Home and Away, Ritchie has only dabbled in acting and has instead launched a successful radio career.
In 2008, she landed a small role in Underbelly’s second season, appearing in two episodes. She went on to star in Nine’s 2010 police drama Cops L.A.C.
And in 2023 she starred in the Seven miniseries The Claremont Murders.
These days, the one-time child star, who shares daughter, Mae, 11, with ex-husband Stuart Webb, dedicates most of her time to radio as a co-host of Nova 96.9’s popular breakfast show Fitzy and Wippa with Kate Ritchie.
