Brooke Satchwell opens up on surviving the 'wild circus' of Australian television
The former Neighbours star has reflected on how her three-decade career has created a unique family bond with Australian viewers as she prepares for her new Stan series.
Having graced our screens for more than three decades, Brooke Satchwell knows many Aussies see her as an extended family member.
It was a very different time when the much loved actor got her start playing Anne Wilkinson on now defunct TV soap, Neighbours, in the mid-1990s.
“It was pre the kind of digital revolution, so analog TV days where it was a little bit more like campfire mentality of everyone gathering around to watch and share together,” Satchwell told The Daily Telegraph.
“It’s a different alchemy, a different energy and we’ve kind of become family members because they’d hang out with us every night together. It wasn’t like people watching separately, the multifaceted industry that we have now with people watching screens in all different directions.”
Satchwell added: “It’s really beautiful actually, I think it is one of the most powerful things I have got in my career, it is amazing. It’s like we’ve all grown together so it never feels like a fishbowl moment. It always just feels like catching up with someone.”
Satchwell on Tuesday attended an event to launch her new television show, Stan’s Dear Life, in which she stars alongside Ryan Johnson, Daniel Henshall and Ben Lawson.
It premieres January 1 and will tell the story of a woman (Satchwell) seeking to find the beneficiaries of her fiances organs after his untimely death.
“I’ve noticed that particularly in the last few years that kind of synergy has led to me doing work that I know has a purpose and a value and a meaning, because I mean, this is a crazy industry, it’s a bit of a mugs game,” explained Satchwell, who won the Logie Award for Best New Talent in 1998.
“You wouldn’t be in it if it didn’t set you on fire. You only do it because it’s passion … there’s no stability, there’s no reliability, it is not a comfortable place to exist but the wild circus is a great environment.
“I’m just really honoured that I’m still standing and that I am still part of this industry because I love storytelling and I love the team sport of it all, that’s actually my favourite thing.”
Satchwell’s other credits include White Collar Blue, Mr Inbetween, Packed to the Rafters and Play School.
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