GEORGIE PARKER
Home and Away’s Roo Stewart ...faces your questions! “Is it good having Ray as a screen dad?”
S[Laughs] tar Georgie has played the iconic role of Alf’s daughter Roo for a decade now – so we put your questions to her about life in Summer Bay and beyond…
“What’s the best thing about having Ray Meagher play your on-screen father [aka Alf Stewart]?”
The best thing is that he’s always got 20 bucks in his pocket to get a coffee! I always say, “Let’s get a cuppa,” and he’ll go, “I’ll get it!” We spend 12 hours a day working together and still want to catch up at lunch because we haven’t managed to cover all the topics. The
two of us always have an enormous amount of fun shooting together: everything’s good about working with Ray!
“Which former Home and Away star would you most like to bring back?”
It would be great to bring back Alex Papps [who played Roo’s ex-husband Frank Morgan]. I really enjoyed working with Luke Mitchell, who played Romeo, too – he was lovely. I also loved Alec Snow [aka Matt Page], and Kassandra Clementi, who played Maddy Osborne. But I’d be interested to see who the fans wanted back!
“Would you like for Roo to have a little romance in her life?”
Oh, sure I would. Just as long as it was a lovely actor and he was easy to work with! I wouldn’t want anyone difficult because you spend so much time with them. And as long as it was an interesting storyline and the characters were good together, I’d love Roo to find someone.
“Belinda Giblin was recently cast as your mum [Martha]: had you two met before?”
We had, actually – it’s quite a closeknit community in Sydney. We hadn’t worked together, but Ray [Meagher] had worked with her years go, and he always said to me, “If we ever cast someone to be your mum, I know who should play her”. Even though Belinda is quite a bit younger than my actual mother, we figured out that Martha would have been about 17 when she had Roo, so it worked out quite well.
“You’ve won two Gold Logies [Australia’s biggest TV awards] – what was that like?”
It was surreal! The first time I won, my daughter was only seven months old, and I’d gone back to working long hours when she was just four
months. So I felt jet-lagged the whole time and, when I went up on stage, I couldn’t quite get my head around it. I really appreciated it, but I think when I won the second one the following year, I really understood what it meant and how grateful I was for it. My husband is a screenwriter, and he won an AACTA [Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards], so he’s got his award downstairs, and I’ve got my two Gold Logies standing next to it. His trophy is bigger than mine, but I think my two more than make up for his one!
“What do you think of Roo’s style? Is it anything like your own?”
Roo’s style is interesting to me, because she wears a lot of loose clothes. I suffer from scoliosis, a curvature of the spine, which is quite noticeable if I wear anything tight-fitting. On TV, I have to wear something that works in whatever shot is being used, so I typically wear jeans and loose tops or dresses. So Roo’s style is not quite my own – I tend to wear jeans, shirts and jackets – but I’m definitely comfortable in the clothes she wears. I’m glad it’s not formal or glamorous; I like it being more like what someone would wear if they lived near the beach. No high heels for Roo!
“What was it like taking part in The All New Monty Ladies’ Night? Were you daunted about stripping on TV?”
I had a friend who was going through chemotherapy at the same time that I was doing the show, and I felt so much courage from her. My body became almost just a vessel to get people talking. It was a revelation, really. We’ve also done a second one, but I’m not stripping in it; I’m just mentoring the other women. But that was terrific – it was great to take a step back and watch them. It’s such a great concept and so powerful, too.
“Is your daughter, Holly, a fan of Home and Away?”
[Laughs] Not really! She’s more of a Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul person. At the moment, she’s actually watching old horror movies with my husband. Whenever I go upstairs to learn my lines, they’re watching Friday the 13th, Halloween, or Psycho! Having said that, she supports me in everything I do and is very proud of me. Holly came to the set a lot when she was younger, but
“Have you ever met Justine Clarke, who played the original Roo?” …asks reader Alwen Jones from Swansea
Yes! When I was on [Aussie medical drama] All Saints about 25 years ago, she played a doctor. And we did a kids’ show called Play School. Actually, Justine doesn’t live very far away from me at the moment, and we have a lot of friends in common so we see each other all the time. When we do, I take a picture of us and send it to Ray, saying, “Here are your two daughters”! she’s almost 20 now! Although, she does do dance classes with Sam Frost [Jasmine] and is interested in hearing about everyone when I come home.
“Who would you say is the biggest prankster on the set?”
Well, I can tell you who it used to be – Alec Snow and Scott Lee [Hunter King] used to prank each other all the time! They didn’t prank me, though, thank goodness. They used to hide behind walls and doors in an attempt to scare each other. Sometimes, you’d be on set, and they’d be knocking on the door pretending to be a plumber or a fan of the show. But when you hang out with a bunch of actors, there’s always someone doing something!