Kylie Minogue’s surprise TV return alongside Asher Keddie in Binge dramedy, Strife

She got her start on Neighbours, and went on to become a global music superstar. Now, Kylie Minogue returns to the Australian small screen with a new acting job. Here are the details.

It has been the biggest secret in Aussie TV for months – Kylie Minogue will make a guest appearance on new TV drama, Strife.

And in a case of art imitating life, Minogue plays a character who is just like … Kylie Minogue.

She joins lead actor Asher Keddie, playing website editor Evelyn Jones, in the series that will premiere on BINGE on December 6.

Minogue’s character is a pop star named Gwen, who unwillingly features on the website when untouched images from a shoot that were never intended to be published resurface.

Evelyn and Gwen come face-to-face at a charity fundraiser.

Kylie Minogue’s cameo in Binge TV’s new dramedy, Strife. Picture: Kane Skennar

The surprise casting came to pass as Minogue and Keddie are friends and share the same manager in Australia.

“For Evelyn to go head-to-head with Gwen, we knew straight away we wanted to offer the role to Kylie,” Keddie told The Daily Telegraph.

Asher Keddie and Kylie Minogue in BINGE TV series, Strife. Image: Kane Skennar

Kylie Minogue in the video of her recent hit, Padam Padam. Picture: Instagram

“With her fierce intellect, I knew it’d be suitably challenging, yet with our simpatico friendship, I felt sure it’d be the perfect storm. When her response was a resounding yes, we were all overjoyed.”

Strife was shot in Sydney earlier this year. The story is based on the turbulent world of publishing with the likes of Jonathan LaPaglia, Alex Dimitriades, Emma Lung, Lincoln Younes, Bebe Bettencourt and Tina Bursill also in the cast.

Minogue got her start as an actor on Neighbours before becoming one of our biggest singing exports ever.

She has irregularly appeared on the small and big screen over the years, most notably in films including Moulin Rouge, Street Fighter, San Andreas and Swinging Safari.

Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan reprise their roles as Scott and Charlene for Neighbours more than 30 years after they originally debuted.

Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan as Scott and Charlene on Neighbours.

BIT OF A RELIEF TO BEBE IN STRIFE

Actor BeBe Bettencourt isn’t used to doing comedy, which is what makes her latest gig so exciting.

The daughter of Aussie music legend Suze Demarchi is one of the stars of new BINGE TV ‘dramedy’, Strife, alongside Asher Keddie.

“Normally I am playing quite heavy characters, they are used to seeing me running away, crying, covered in blood in disastrous situations, so it was sort of a relief to get to play something else,” Bettencourt told The Daily Telegraph.

“But I did find it a lot harder because I think with drama, you spend more time in your feelings rather than in your head,” Bettencourt told The Daily Telegraph.

“With comedy, you have to be on all day, ready to go, and we were allowed to improvise and I was in incredible company of people who come from comedy.”

Aussie actor BeBe Bettencourt stars in new BINGE TV ‘dramedy’, Strife. Picture: Richard Dobson

Bettencourt is previously known for her breakout role in the Eric Bana drama thriller feature film, The Dry, and Chris Hemsworth’s Spiderhead.

The 27-year-old plays millennial journalist Opal in the series that is based on the world of magazine publishing and digital media. All eight episodes premiere on BINGE on December 6 and the series also stars Lincoln Younes, Jonathan LaPaglia, Emma Lung, Alex Dimitriades and Tina Bursill.

BeBe Bettencourt in new BINGE series, Strife, with co-stars including Asher Keddie (right). Photo: Kane Skennar / BINGE

“Opal definitely exists in a different space than the last characters I’ve played,” she said. “I relate to her in the sense that she is a young woman trying to find herself and cementing herself in an industry. I relate to being that age and not really knowing who I am and what the heck is on and still trying to find yourself while being thrust into situations where you are already expected to know what to do.”

Bettencourt’s mum is frontwoman of the band Baby Animals while her dad is American guitarist Nuno Bettencourt of hard rock band Extreme, meaning she grew up in the entertainment business.

“My mum has always just been super encouraging, she is my hype lady,” she said.

BeBe Bettencourt. Picture: Richard Dobson

Baby Animals frontwoman Suze DeMarchi. AAP Image/Paul Miller

“Even when things get kind of rough, she’s always just like, ‘chin up, you’ve got this. She has given me so much advice, and also I am lucky enough to see her work ethic. I have grown up watching her work so that is inspiring enough, especially with her being a woman in rock music. She is a legend but at the end of the day, she is still making me tea in her PJs.”

With a dearth of new content in the wake of the recently ended Hollywood writer and actor strike, there are high hopes for Strife to go global.

Made Up Stories, the production company behind big international hits Nine Perfect Strangers and Big Little Lies, executive produced the project.

“All I know is that when we were making it and shooting it, it felt pretty magic in there,” Bettencourt said. “There’s just an edge to it that is really interesting. I hope people all around the world love it. I think it is so relatable – you see every character just be real and likeable, unlikeable, it is a very human story.”