In celebration of its upcoming 50th birthday, TV WEEK spoke to Craig McLachlan, who appeared on the cover of TV WEEK in 1989
Would you ever like to return to Neighbours as Henry?
If I had a dollar for every time fans of that era of the show ask if there's any chance that Henry will go back — even for the briefest cameo appearance! There is part of me that always thinks, "Oh, if I could somehow wrangle it and juggle it in with things, it would be so much fun!" But then part of me goes, "Nah". It would be terrible to go back and... none of the rest of the gang are there.
I think you should...
Everyone does! I guess Smitty's (Ian Smith) still there, so that would be fun. "Harold, I'm sorry I didn't get in touch with you when Mum died, but I was on a Contiki tour in the back hills of Uzbekistan!" [Laughs.] Can you imagine the script you'd have to come up with to hide the fact that Charlene and Henry weren't at Madge's funeral?
Amnesia is always a good reason...
Well, I lay down a challenge publicly in TV WEEK that if the scriptwriters can come up with a plausible reason Henry wasn't there and why he's come to see Harold, we'll do it!
Did anyone keep the TV WEEK articles for you?
Oh, I'm sitting in my management's office at the moment, and right in front of me I've got these huge plastic sealable rectangular bins. I've got six of them and they're almost to the ceiling full of TV WEEK and all that kind of thing. Of course, my mum's got her own stash — we call it the TV WEEK shrine down at her place. [Laughs.] She doesn't burn the candles around them anymore only because paper is combustible and we've lost a few cover shots, but between my management and family, they've all got it.
What do you make of them?
I remember as a kid seeing TV WEEK in my local corner store, and there'd be Paul Hogan on the cover or Graeme Kennedy or Bert Newton. And then there were the soap stars of the day like Pat the Rat and the gang from Cop Shop. I can even remember far back enough to Karen Pini and The Young Doctors. So TV WEEK always figured into your life because you saw it at the newsstands. I would have been 21 when I gave birth to Henry. So to be 21 and on the cover of TV WEEK was unbelievable to me.
Do you remember the first time you were on the cover?
Yeah. When my first cover and subsequent covers came out, I was amazed at how white my teeth were. And the whites of my eyes seemed whiter than I'd ever seen them. I was naive to all things of a publicity nature. I had no idea that certain tricks were employed, so I'd look at myself and think, "The new TV WEEK is out. I look fantastic! The whites of my eyes are dazzlingly white and my choppers... I'd give Donny Osmond a run for his money any day. This is fantastic!" It took until Kylie Minogue destroyed the illusion for me. She said, "Oh yeah, they go in and they..." and I was like, "They what?!" She said, "You didn't think your teeth were really that white, did ya?" and I went, "Well, I've got pretty good teeth so..." and she said, "No baby." So Kylie shattered my illusions about how incredibly white the whites of my eyes were and my teeth!
You also had chart success with...
Craig McLachlan and Check 1-2. Check 1-2 is arguably the worst name in rock 'n' roll history! I just want it known for the record that we didn't come up with that.
Noted. Where’s the weirdest place you've heard one of your songs playing?
It's really funny because you never really know where the records go. I was diving in Israel off the coast at Eilat. I was in a taxi going from town to my accommodation right on the Israeli-Egyptian border. That was a tense place to stay, let me tell you! "Oh look at that AK-47 and the Kalashnikov just beyond that palm tree." I'm sitting in the back and the radio’s playing in the taxi. I can't understand what the guy's talking about, but all of a sudden, I hear the opening beats of "Hey Mona" and I'm like, "You are kidding!" I wanted to tap the guy on the shoulder and go, "That's me!" "Mona" was also huge on the black market in India.
Then you joined "the enemy", Home And Away?
Controversial! To the enemy... and it very much was at the time. In fact, on the day that Sir Laurence Olivier died, Derryn Hinch went on television and he went [puts on Deryn’s voice] , "Shame, shame, shame! What an appalling state of affairs when arguably the best actor of the modern era dies and this man is on the front cover." He lifted up the newspaper that read, "Craig MacLachlan Defects To Summer Bay". Yeah, it was big news at the time. Ray Meagher to this day is a terrific friend. Kate Ritchie... I mean, little Kate... there wasn't a day where she wasn't sitting on my knee telling me a story, and me entertaining her as you do with kids. Then, while I was in Mexico recently doing a movie, I got word that she'd won the Gold Logie, which is fantastic. I always get excited for anybody that wins it because I know what it feels like, but I was doubly buzzed when it was my little Katie.
What are your memories of winning Gold?
So many! To win a Logie is a buzz anyway. To win anything's good! [Laughs.] I honestly, honestly, hand-on-heart figured there was no way I was getting the Gold because I'd just gotten Silver. Then, there's John Travolta standing there with the Gold Logie for me. It was completely surreal and I think I got up and cracked some gag about the fact that my mother wouldn't even make it to bingo or housie the next night because I was so unprepared.
You just finished a film in Mexico and now you're in the UK. What will you be working on?
England has had a very successful version of the musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang produced by a guy called Michael Rose and Barbara Broccoli, who owns the Ian Fleming James Bond franchise. It's finishing its record-breaking English run before it heads off to Japan. So when I'm not speaking to you, I'm in the back room here going [sings], "Oh Chitty, How Chitty, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, I love you..." It was much easier to sing just [sings], "Hey Mona!" because it only had two words in it! That will take me through until January 2008.
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