Former Home and Away star, Kate Ritchie is making a triumphant return to television when she stars as the wife of gangster Les Kane, in the critically acclaimed Underbelly: The Mr Asia Story, screening on Wednesday March 18th 2009 at 8:30pm on TV3.
The two time Gold Logie winner is returning to our screens to play Judi Kane, the wife of Les Kane (Martin Dingle-Wall), in the second series of the critically acclaimed series Underbelly. Ritchie, who played Sally Fletcher on Home and Away for 20 years before retiring last year, says her break from acting made her realise it was something she loved and missed.
However it was the opportunity to work with the team that brought the original Underbelly series to our screens that made her return to television and take up a character that could not be further away from Home and Away’s Sally.
She says it was “the opportunity to work with Greg Haddrick and Des Monaghan again, and the fact that I had faith in their ability to produce yet another impressive series of Underbelly,” that made her agree to star in Underbelly: The Mr Asia Story.
“This was something that I wanted to be a part of. I feel lucky to have scored such a strong female role in a world that is very male dominated,” she adds.
Richie’s character Judi Kane is the wife of 70s standover man Les Kane, and according to the actress the two shared an intense relationship. “I would imagine life with Les was something of a rollercoaster ride,” she says. “Extreme highs and lows and intense passion, which at first is very attractive.”
The actress also says that she felt a certain type of responsibility to portray Kane as realistically and as true-to-real-life as she possibly could.
“Judi is a strong young wife and mother who despite the madness of the world in which she lives, attempts to maintain a solid home environment for her kids,” she says, adding; “To see photographs of Judi and hear her story certainly brings with it a sense of responsibility.”
But Richie is not the only former Home and Away star featured in Underbelly: The Mr Asia Story, ex Summer Bay resident Dieter Brummer also stars in the series.
Make sure not to miss this reunion of sorts when Richie’s Judi Kane debuts in Underbelly: The Mr Asia Story, screening on Wednesday March 18th 2009 at 8:30pm on TV3.