Kate Ritchie on Australian Story

Next Monday Kate Ritchie is the subject on the ABC’s Australian Story.

For four months she has allowed ABC cameras to follow her around as she makes the transition from network personality to breakfast radio.

We will see her watching her final Home & Away episode with family and she talks about how hard it was to say goodbye to Sally -again. I really hope there’s something new to add to this familiar subject, hopefully something that tells it like it is rather than the publicity machine that drove the network farewell.

In fact it’s a bit of a surprise that after twenty years of being before the cameras she agreed to this at all. Still, this documentary series always manages to sparkle, the trick will be to move beyond making this a fanpiece, and putting this portrait into some show business perspective.

Australian Story airs 8pm Monday on ABC1.

Press Release:
For someone who’s been on our TV screens every night for twenty years, little is known about two-time Gold Logie winner and Most Popular Actress, Kate Ritchie.

Australians know more about the coming-of-age, the turmoil and the triumphs of her Home and Away character, Sally Fletcher, than the girl who portrayed her.

For the past four months, an ABC Australian Story crew has gained unprecedented access to Ritchie at pivotal moments in her life and career.

She shares how agonising it was saying goodbye to Sally, and reveals the challenges of living an unscripted life, as just ‘Kate’.

This is a portrait of the real Ritchie as she steps into the spotlight, on her own terms.

• See her at home with her parents for the emotional viewing of the final episode of Home and Away.
• Join in private celebrations with friends including Rebekka and Lote Tuqiri to toast the life of Kate’s ‘best friend, Sally’.
• Travel in the back of a limo with Kate as she drafts a ‘just-in-case’ acceptance speech, before taking out her second Gold Logie.
• Go behind-the-scenes at her new radio job with Merrick and Rosso.

Ritchie opens up about growing up on TV, why she needed Home and Away in her life for so long and what helped her decide she ‘didn’t need it to hold her hand anymore’.