THE STORY OF US
A PLACE TO CALL HOME’S REAL-LIFE COUPLE TALK LOVE AND MARRIAGE
Adecade of happy wedded life is a milestone to be celebrated. And in the case of Sara Wiseman and Craig Hall, the special anniversary was certainly marked in unforgettable style.
Ten years after the pair wed in 2006, the actors found themselves tying the knot on screen – as A Place to Call Home’s beloved couple Carolyn and Jack. “It was a bit crazy and weird,” laughs Sara. “Having an entire rent-a-crowd come in and cheer as you get married again!
“It was quite a surreal thing ... our own [wedding] was very intimate, small and very understated, so to have a full-blown, traditional wedding dress, veil – the whole lot – in a church was quite extraordinary and a weird moment to be sharing very traditional vows with your husband!”
Growing up just a suburb apart in Auckland, Sara, 46, and Craig, 44, met while working together on a short film in New Zealand some 18 years ago.
Over the past two decades, the travel-loving couple based themselves in Sydney. “We’ve done holidays where we’ve gone off by ourselves, so it’s been a balance of solo trips and as a couple,” says Sara. “I have a lot of friends who take sabbaticals when they can, and I think it’s really important to refresh on that. Craig is a passionate biker – I have a huge passion for it too – but he’s been motorcycle riding since he was five, so obviously that’s a big thing for him. I’m an ambassador for [not-for-profit organisation] Outward Bound and I come from a sailing and skiing family, so I’ve always been attracted to being in the outdoors. We’ve had biking holidays together and we’ve just had a hiking holiday – it’s been a wonderful balance.”
And there are many more adventures in the pipeline. “We’re going to Europe at the end of the year,” says Craig, with Sara adding, “We’ll hopefully see Italy and Paris for the first time!”
Ironically, however, A Place to Call Home producers were initially unaware that Sara and Craig were a real-life couple.
“They didn’t know we were together when I joined up,” says Sara. “We’ve thoroughly embraced the opportunity. It’s been an absolute joy to have that shorthand that we can throw ourselves head first into each scene that we have together – and that support.
“Very often, acting couples will be in different towns and different time zones, so to actually be working on the same project has been a wonderful thing.”
As for those times when their TV alter egos have been at loggerheads, that’s never been an issue for the couple either.
“Sara just sends me to the doghouse,” quips Craig, to which Sara says with a laugh, “Or we go out and have a nice red wine and discuss!”
With the much-anticipated series finale of A Place to Call Home just weeks away, Sara and Craig could be forgiven for feeling a little nostalgic about their stint on the cherished period drama.
Certainly, they’d relish the opportunity to work together again on another long-running series. “Yes, absolutely,” says Craig. “Some people say it would be their worst nightmare to be working with their partner,” says Sara. “But, for us, as cheesy as that is, it’s been an absolute joy and we’d jump at the chance to do it again. They’re rare treats.”
A PLACE TO CALL HOME AIRS SUNDAYS AT 8.30PM ON FOXTEL’S SHOWCASE