Rodger Corser: ‘I’m a dad, not a heartthrob!'
The rugged actor actor, back on our screens in the hit drama drama-comedy comedy Doctor Doctor Doctor, spills on his sex symbol tag, filming in Mudgee and Hollywood hopes
He plays the hunky lead, heart surgeon Dr Hugh Knight, on Nine’s popular dramedy Doctor Doctor. But Rodger, 45, says contrary to the sex symbol label, he’s just a regular dad, whose family keep him well and truly grounded when the cameras stop rolling. Is it a close-knit cast on Doctor Doctor? Because we travel a lot together, it’s kind of like being on school camp and we’ve become each other’s pseudofamilies. Sometimes we’re away for 10 days at a time, so we’re often having dinner, a drink or a debrief after work, and I think the closeness translates to screen. We’ve done three seasons but it certainly feels a lot longer. You film a lot in Mudgee. How have the locals reacted? They’re supportive of the show and get a kick out of it. Hopefully we’ll be making the show for years to come and maybe someone will do a “Whyhope” tour of Mudgee. It would be a great little weekender… you could do a sightseeing tour, hit a winery and then see another Doctor
Doctor tourist spot. Are you interested in trying your luck in Hollywood? It’s something I consider because there are only so many shows I can do here and it might hit that saturation point when it gets hard finding work in Australia and not be pegged as “the doctor”. Working overseas as part of the mix, even if it was for a little while [would be great] – I don’t want people to get sick of me here! You’re often referred to as a sex symbol. How do your wife and family handle that? With lots of laughter! My wife [Renae Berry] says it’s the he “frontman syndrome”. Anyny guy who fronts a band suddenly enly becomes a sex symbol. I’m ’m the same, only older, but t nobody was calling me that 10 years ago! It’s all l in the character [Hugh] – he’s the bad boy, ladies’ man. In real life I’m a dad of four kids [Budd, seven, Cilla, six, and Dustin, three (with Renae) and Zipporah, 15 (with Christine Anu)]. It makes my wife and I chuckle a bit as we sip a cup of tea and turn the lights off at 9.30pm! We’re the same as any other family. At the end of the day it’s just smoke and mirrors. DOCTOR DOCTOR returns Monday, y, 8.45pm, p , Nine