Kate Ritchie teases Home and Away return after 16 years as she reveals producers have already been in touch
Kate Ritchie is teasing a return to Home and Away, 16 years after she left long-running Channel Seven soap opera.
The Nova radio star, 46, hinted that her character Sally Fletcher, who she played for 20 years from 1988 to 2008, could make a surprise return.
She revealed that producers have already contacted her several times to line her up for a return, but teased that she has not closed the door on the soap.
‘[Producers] have stopped calling, but they told me the door is always open,” she told the newspaper Herald Sun.
“The idea of being back there and seeing everyone again and working with all those actors isn’t something I wouldn’t want to do, it’s just a question of whether it still makes sense.”
Kate added that she wasn’t sure if her character would fit in with Summer Bay’s newer residents or if she would still connect with viewers.
‘Of all the new viewers they have, half wouldn’t know who Sally is. I have a lot of work to do for parenting and life in general, let alone another job,” she added.
Kate was just eight years old when she burst into the spotlight in 1988, starring as Sally Fletcher in the long-running soap Home and Away.
Kate Ritchie (pictured) teases return to Home and Away, sixteen years after leaving long-running Channel Seven soap
She starred on the show for twenty years and has since admitted that she found it difficult to find her own identity outside of her beloved character.
Despite winning two Gold Logies while on the show, Kate previously said she still doubted her own worth.
“People wanted to meet me because of Sally, I won awards because of or I was invited to great events because of Sally,” Kate told Stellar in December 2017.
“When you can’t remember your life without it and suddenly it no longer exists, you wonder, ‘What’s so attractive about me?’
Kate eventually sought therapy to deal with the issues, telling TV Week in March 2021, “It really felt like losing a big part of who I was.”
The Nova radio star, 46, hinted that character Sally Fletcher, who she played for 20 years from 1988 to 2008, could make a surprise return. Pictured on the show
Since leaving Home and Away, Kate has focused solely on acting and instead launched a successful radio career.
In 2008, she landed a small role in the second season of Underbelly, appearing in two episodes. She next starred in Nine’s 2010 police drama Cops LAC.
Kate has since devoted most of her time to radio as co-host of Nova 96.9’s popular breakfast show Fitzy and Wippa with Kate Ritchie.