Home and Away stars Kate Ritchie and Chris Hemsworth are rumoured to be reprising their iconic roles for an exciting new project. Photos: Instagram/kateritchieofficial
Kate Ritchie has sparked rumours that she is set to reprise her iconic role as Sally Fletcher and return to Home and Away. On Monday, the two-time Gold Logie winner revealed on Fitzy & Wippa with Kate Ritchie that she had caught up with some of the cast and crew from the Channel Seven soap the previous night, including Ray Meagher and Emily Symons.
Michael ‘Wippa’ Wipfli was convinced this meant Kate was returning to Summer Bay and had been secretly filming scenes, although she attempted to shut down the conversation and said: “You’re actually trying to blow an exclusive!”
Wippa then revealed that regardless of whether or not a secret project was in the works, he had his own plans to stage a reunion between herself and a former Home and Away cast member and would write a script so they could film a scene together. Throughout the week he’s been teasing the special guest involved, and on Friday morning he played a disguised voice message from a mystery celebrity who was keen to take part. “Look mate, I’ve read through that script you just sent and it’s insane,” they said, with their voice manipulated by a voice decoder. “That stuff, that storyline, that’s a Bay bombshell. And I love it, and I love the idea of you guys, you know, just sort of getting into it.”
The unnamed star went on to say that they will need more time to get into character and “settle in” because they “respect their craft”.
“So is there any chance you could just give me a little bit longer to perfect the character so I can, you know, do the scene justice? Because I think we’ve got something good on our hands here, and I’d love for it to go out properly,” he continued. “Call me back Wip.”
Kate guesses ‘big name’ star
After listening to the audio, Kate guessed that the celebrity guest is her former co-star Chris Hemsworth, who played Kim Hyde on Home and Away from 2004 to 2007.
“I know who I think it sounds like,” she said. “It’s a man with quite a deep, husky voice… He doesn’t work on Home and Away anymore. It’s not Chris Hemsworth, is it?”
“I can’t answer your questions,” Wippa responded. “It’s a big name. You’ll find out when the scene’s on.”
The voice message comes shortly after Kate read a potential script for her Home and Away comeback written by Wippa on-air. The scene involved Sally, now known as Sister Fletcher, returning to Summer Bay to get her habit altered because she had found god and become a nun.
“I think I need a better option than this because I think it’s a big deal,” Kate said after acting out the scene. “I mean, I can’t believe I’m even saying this. It’s a big deal when Sally goes back to the Bay I think the storyline needs to be just perfect.”
Kate played Sally Fletcher on Home and Away from 1988 to 2008, becoming the show’s longest-running original female cast member. She then reprised her role in 2013 for a three-month story arc and went on an acting hiatus until appearing in Channel Seven’s miniseries The Claremont Murders last year.