”I didn’t even think about returning to television at all.”
It’s been a long time since TV WEEK has had the pleasure of chatting to Australia’s sweetheart Kate Ritchie on the phone. After all, since leaving Home and Away in 2008, television hasn’t been her first priority, like it is ours.
Although Kate has appeared in numerous guest roles and even hosted shows, it has been years since we have seen her regularly on television. Now that Kate has returned to Australia’s Got Talent, we are beyond thrilled to see her.
“I’ve been eager to talk with you guys! It has long overdue, “44-year-old Kate tells TV WEEK.
The two-time Gold Logie winner left Summer Bay and transitioned into radio, where she built a very successful career hosting the national drive show on Nova. She delighted in the chance to broaden her horizons and pursue a job unrelated to her beloved childhood figure Sally Fletcher.
“I was content for a long time just to work hard, pick up new skills, and have a job I enjoyed going to every day. Not everyone can afford that luxury “says Kate.
I never even considered going back to television, but during the past 18 months, other fascinating opportunities have presented themselves. I really believe that things take place when they are meant to.
Kate jumped at the chance when she was first asked to join the AGT judging panel in 2019, but filming couldn’t start until this year because to COVID. The reality of her return on television finally hit Kate at that point.
“I definitely had the jitters,” she admits.
“The nerves weren’t about being back in front of a camera though, it’s something I grew up doing. I was nervous about being the newbie, the rookie judge. It was a whole new experience for me and a kind of television I’ve never done before.”
Thankfully, her fellow judges, Aussie actor Shane Jacobson, British pop star Aleesha Dixon and comedian David Walliams, always had her back.
She explains, “I was in fantastic hands that supported me, and they genuinely welcomed me into the fold. “Actually, working together was a really great experience. I relished every second of it.
But for Kate, spending time with her daughter Mae, who is seven, while working on AGT was the highlight of the experience.
Kate remarks, “It’s nice that my return to TV is something my daughter can see.” “I believe she is excited because she feels like she is a part of it in some ways.
She went backstage with me, got to know the cast and a few performers, and played with Alesha’s children. She assisted me in selecting my outfits and was present in the area where my stylist, Lily, did my makeup and hair.
In contrast to merely telling her about my career, it was a really great experience to share with her and demonstrate what her mother does.
Kate and Mae are prepared for the premiere because they have a strategy in place already.
“I’m simply incredibly excited about it. We’re planning to have a small gathering at home and watch it together while munching on a large box of popcorn,” she says.
While the former Home and Away star still loves her afternoon radio show with Tim Blackwell and Joel Creasy, she admits she’s ready to get back into acting.
“I am eager to resume acting because I miss it. I was raised doing that. Naturally, it gives me emotional and creative satisfaction, too.
I hope to be able to speak with TV WEEK shortly about something that is in the works “She trolls.
Fans of the Home and Away television series may not realise it, but it has been more than 14 years since Kate and her character Sally Fletcher permanently left Summer Bay.
But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have good memories of that period in her life. Kate recently visited Palm Beach, where the soap opera is filmed, and it was there that she went down memory lane.
“There’s something really comforting about it because it connects me very much with my childhood, regardless of the fact that it’s so many years down the track now,” she says.
“The Northern Beaches and the Peninsula feel like my home even though I’ve never lived there. I believe this is the reason I keep going there; it’s like I’m a little homing bird.”
Kate is glad to be in a very different chapter of her life after spending so many years on the show and having her own life intertwined with Sally’s. She hasn’t stopped, though, from adoring the programme or the significance it holds for Australians.
The fact that so many people are connected to the show, she adds, “is really fantastic. It’s opened so many opportunities for me.”
“I can’t leave the house without someone saying ‘my goodness, I remember when you were eight years old’ or share a memory about when they used to watch the show with their nan. I love that so much.”
“It has a really special place in my heart. I’m a sentimental old thing, and that’s not going to change any time soon.”
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