australian television information archive

Kylie tells a secret

KYLIE Minogue last night confessed to her secret tragedy—an unshakable addiction to Australia’s daggiest export.

Pop’s pocket princess admitted she is a Kath & Kim “tragic”—and said her role in the top comedy only served to feed her habit.

“I’m hooked. I’m a massive fan of the show,” Kylie told The Daily Telegraph yesterday.

Kath & Kim stars Jane Turner and Gina Riley pulled off one of the greatest coups in Australian TV history by enticing Kylie to fly home from Europe to appear in the final episode as a grown-up Epponnee.

They got the idea after seeing her on Rove Live telling host Rove McManus she was a huge fan.

It’s true. Kylie admits to getting around in her Kath & Kim apron and oven mitts at home in London and owning the UK’s biggest collection of Kath & Kim DVDs.

And if the Poms don’t know what she’s talking about, tough luck.

“If you enter into our Kath & Kim circle [in London] and don’t know much about the show, you have to be tolerant,” she said.

“We tend to alienate those not into it when we’re having a conversation, because we’re quoting it, acting it out, laughing about things we’ve seen in the show.”

Kylie revealed she had to work hard to overcome nerves when she stepped in front of the cameras to film her guest role, which screens tomorrow night on the ABC.

“I felt truly honoured to be invited to play a grown-up Epponnee and was excited to be a part of it but my overwhelming feeling was, I hope I can do this justice,” she said.

“I was pretty nervous about it. I didn’t really feel true fear until after I’d done it—at which point I was terrified and kept asking myself, ‘What have you done?’

“It dawned on me I’d just been in the most successful Australian television comedy ever, with the best comedians in Australia. If I’ve survived performance-wise among that group, then I’m really happy.”

A smash hit here, Kath & Kim is screening on pay-TV in the US and Britain. It moves to BBC2 in Britain in February, which will open it up to a much greater audience.

When Minogue first walked on to the set in Melbourne and found herself surrounded by all the familiar Kath & Kim props, she couldn’t believe she was about to work with her small-screen idols.

“When Gina and Jane walked up to me, complete with all the make-up and gear, I absolutely freaked. I was laughing before we even started filming,” she said.

“There are so many things I like about the show: the backyard stuff, the wine-time charders, the vernacular, the accents. The girls have captured something so Australian.”

On set, Gina Riley is known as G-bag and Jane Turner T-bag, nicknames supplied by Ted Emery, the show’s director. The morning Minogue stepped on set, Emery immediately tagged Australia’s most successful pop export K-bag.

• Kylie Minogue appears on Kath & Kim tomorrow, ABC, 8.30pm.

November 24, 2004
The Daily Telegraph