Ask any Home and Away star past or present what it’s really like to call our most iconic TV seaside town home and the response will likely be a positive one. Certainly, for seasoned actor Rick Donald, who this week moves into Summer Bay as Martha’s long-lost and deeply troubled son Kieran, it truly is a gig he’s relishing.
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Having previously starred in Home and Away and everything from Wentworth to 800 Words, House Husbands and A Place to Call Home, the talented performer – also a busy writer-director – concedes he was “instantly keen” when the producers gave him the lowdown on the important new role.
“There’s a lot of layers to the character of Kieran,” reflects Rick. “He’s not just a bad boy. He’s struggling with some mental health issues and he has some addiction problems. He’s largely just a human being with flaws and a bit of a terrible past.
“He’s trying to turn it all around, so that was pretty exciting for me – the fact that there’s a real three-dimensional character in Kieran.
“And then,” he continues with a grin, “there was also the fact that I’d be part of the Stewart household, which meant working with Ray Meagher (Alf), Georgie Parker (Roo) and Belinda Giblin (Martha). I was pretty excited about that, too!”
Safe to say, there will be drama galore ahead for the entire Stewart clan.
“I knew Kieran was going to come in and be a bit of a tornado in the Stewart household,” says Rick. “He turns up when he was told not to, and is very keen to put things right with his mum.”
Meanwhile, long-time viewers may recall that this isn’t Rick’s first stint in the Bay.
“I was on the show [almost] 10 years ago playing a small part – a different character called Dean, who was a bit of a bad boy as well,” says Rick. “At the time, I was fresh out of drama school and it was one of my first gigs.
“I’m now living up in Palm Beach, which is where they shoot the show, so being able to literally walk to work has been pretty amazing – especially during all of this coronavirus madness.”
Away from the cameras, Rick shares his world with his actor-director wife of four years, Catherine Mack-Hancock, who has also notably appeared in Home and Away – in the Logie-nominated role of Natalie Davison.
“The show is an amazing place for a lot of actors to learn the craft, and then also it’s a great place for actors to come in, like I am with the character of Kieran, and to really stir things up,” says Rick.
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