The Canberra Times - Mark Juddery column

Granting her immortality

May 14, 2007

Remember the Logie Awards? It’s hard to believe that it’s a whole eight days ago that, amidst all the glitz and the glamour, the Gold Logie (“officially” naming Australia’s most popular personality) went to Kate Ritchie, who has played Home & Away’s much-loved Sally Fletcher since she was eight years old.

            Strangely, the Logies people managed to ignore her for 18 years before finally nominating her for something. Previously she had been in the shadow of whichever young spunk from the show was appearing on TV Week covers at the time. She has witnessed hundreds of her co-stars move on, some to greater success, a bulk of them to obscurity (including the original H&A cover girl, Nicolle Dickson – no, Celebrity Survivor does NOT count as “hitting the big time”). On a show that seems like the television equivalent of Sizzler, employing countless youngsters with dreams of getting a real job (like hosting Australia’s Funniest Home Videos) or moving overseas, Ritchie has been as steady as a rock. Except that she’s gotten older.

            Such loyalty has been rewarded. Sally must be Australia’s best-loved TV character since Humphrey and Mr Squiggle were cancelled. Indeed, she’s immortal! Yes, she really is. In a series where you can generally expect to be shot dead by a maniac, killed in a freak accident or succumb to a rare disease before you turn 30, Sally is indestructible.

            Remember last year’s cliffhanger, which left Sally at death’s door, leading to speculation that they were killing her off? I don’t regularly watch Home & Away (honestly!), but I was still pretty sure that she’d survive. Many TV characters are popular, but only a few of them are unkillable. And just as well! This isn’t a Shakespeare play, where favourite characters can ponder the meaning of life, then die philosophically. Most television is escapist fare – reassuring us that, unlike real life, certain characters will live forever. Many fictitious characters have that advantage: James Bond, Superman, Noddy, Harry Potter…

            OK, even Harry is rumoured to die in his next (and last) book, but it would be a mistake. He should be unkillable. Not invincible, just unkillable. “But kids should become aware of the reality of death!” some might argue, presumably believing that Harry Potter books are renowned for their gritty realism. Others might suggest that these books are escapist fantasy, in which the hero lives.

            Some television heroes are like that. They even survive the death of their actor. Remember the lovable Tosh Lines (played by Kevin Lloyd) in The Bill? When Lloyd died, the producers allowed Tosh to walk away safely, never to die. Every ensemble show should have a few such people whom they couldn’t possibly kill. Heroes might well kill off most of the characters before it’s over, but you can bet that they would never kill Hiro or Claire. (Conveniently, Claire is literally indestructible.) Neighbours has Toady (who has been on the show so long now that he is almost Ramsay Street’s answer to Sally). Blue Heelers had Maggie Doyle, and Blake’s Seven had…

            Oh hang on. Maggie Doyle? Maggie, of course, won FOUR Gold Logies (which were all accepted, for some reason, by Lisa McCune). Surely, that many Logies would be enough to (literally) immortalise a character. But no, they murdered her anyway! How could they do something so callous?! She wasn’t even 30! She might have been fictitious, but she was real enough!

            Killing off regular characters no longer has the same power as it did when Grace Sullivan or Molly Jones shuffled of this mortal coil. Now it’s just a common story device, as predictable as weddings, romantic triangles, and Rowena Wallace characters going insane.

            But it could never happen to Sally. If Ritchie decided to (gasp!) leave the show, Sally would doubtless ride away with the man of her dreams, or go out to become a success in the big city – unless the producers went collectively insane. When I interviewed Ritchie a few years ago, she told me that she was prepared to die… on television, I mean.

            Still, I imagine Sally will live forever. Outside of Blue Heelers, who could possibly kill a Gold Logie winner?