CHATTERING CHARLIE A SILLY CHARACTER BUT SHE RATES

Charlie Bartlett might be a right pain for Sons and Daughters viewers, but she is also responsible for the soapie's highest ratings this year.

Thanks to the gushy gossiper and socialite realising Alison was really Pat the Rat, last week's show rated in the high 20s.

Sarah Kemp, the actress who created Charlie, is fond of her character.

Indeed, she is even a little envious.

"I have great fun playing her," Sarah said.

"I get to wear some marvellous clothes and I'm forever chasing young men.

"I'm an outrageous flirt."

Sarah is grateful the writers have given Charlie a personality totally different from anyone else in the cast.

"She does such silly things," she said.

"But I hope I don't talk like her off the set."

A few months ago Sarah took her Maltese terrier Isabella to rehearsals and the producer decided the dog was exactly the kind of pet Charlie should have.

"She was perfect for Charlie but for months she was written into the script as 'Charlie's poodle'," Sarah said.

"Actually, she thinks she's a Great Dane. She's very aggressive to big dogs."

When Sarah isn't working on the set she's pottering in her garden or renovating the single-storey terraced house in the inner Sydney suburb of Newtown which she bought a year ago.

At the moment she is mighty proud of her freesias, daffodils and waiting for the carnations to bloom.

"It is very relaxing after working in the studios," she said.

"I would love a bigger garden and more space for Isabella to run around."

Sarah's contract with Grundys, the producers of Sons and Daughters, is up in January and she hopes to renew it.

"It is a harmonious way to earn a living," she said.

"But it can be painful in the winter when we have to be on set at 5:45am.

"Sometimes I go through the first hour a little unconscious until breakfast time."

Sarah is unmarried and has no plans to change her single life.

She has continued working in theatre while doing Sons and Daughters but when she eventually leaves the show she hopes to do a character totally different to Charlie Bartlett.

"I don't want people to think that's all I can do," she said.

 

By: Ronnie Gibson
Source: Unknown
Date: Unknown