Maggie says: 'His name is Bill and you'll get no more out of me'

Former Prisoner star Maggie Kirkpatrick is determined to bury "The Freak".

Maggie has finished this year's filming on the Network Ten series Richmond Hill and is now starring in melbourne at the Playhouse in a return season of the hit play Emerald City.

"Reg Watson from Grundy wrote the Ivy Hackett part for me in Richmond Hill," Maggie says. "She is a contrast to Prisoner's Joan Ferguson and, hopefully, "The Freak" is gone forever.

Maggie and the other Richmond Hill cast will return to Sydney in the new year to resume filming.

"I hadn't expected to be back on the small screen so soon after finishing Prisoner," she says.

"I wanted to wipe Joan out forever, and playing Ivy gives me an excellent chance.

"She is a wonderful character. Very nouveau riche, very up market. She really does fancy herself. Believe me, there are a lot of role models around for me to learn from." Maggie, who has had a hectic year in the theatre, adds with a laugh.

"It ws a terrific relief to go back to the theatre after four and a half years of Prisoner. it was nice to know that I had not lost the skills.

"It was also nice to be just me again. I really am sick to death of being referred to as Maggie 'The Freak' Kirkpatrick. I think it's time to lay that one to rest. The media and other people owe me that courtesy, I think. I have paid my dues in this business."

Richmond Hill will air in late January.

"It will be two hours a week at 7.30pm. We are contracted until June but I think in April the situation will be reviewed, depending on how it is going," Maggie says.

"My husband frank os played by Robert Alexander, who is wonderful. He is the local alderman and involved in real estate, which I think is still a bit shady.

"There is room for a lot of comedy in our relationship."

Other Richmond Hill stars include Paula Duncan and Amanda Muggleton.

"They are all interesting characters but you never know what will or won't work," Maggie says.

"I have every confidence in Ten, knowing they will promote it. I think it's an interesting show."

One area of the new series that does not particularly please Maggie is the constant attention of make-up and hairstyling people.

"In Prisoner everyone looked pretty plain. Now they are constantly fussing around me," she says. "I have told everyone not to take it personally but I am always thinking, 'Oh, just go away and leave me'."

Back doing two hours of television a week, Maggie has a few words to say on the subject of working in soaps.

"I hate to call them soaps but I don't really know what else to call them. I do want to defend actors who work in a series. It makes me very angry when the so-called purists in this profession look down their noses at people doing popular television.

"It is a valid form of entertainment and anyone who puts in 60 hours a week without cutting corners, and with no room for sloppiness, is an absolute professional in my book."

At the end of Emerald City, Maggie is looking forward to a four week break.

"I want to lie on a beach and read a tacky novel and maybe go and see Frank Sinatra. That would be my idea of heaven."

With yet another move back to Sydney, Maggie is a little unsure of her living arrangements.

"I have people in both cities who are very special to me," she says with a smile.

Pressed, Maggie hedges.

"There is someone in Sydney who is more important than most. It's a change to have someone who looks after me and spoils me. He also makes me laugh."

She adds laughing, "He is totally out of the business and his name is Bill - and you'll get no more out of me."

By Amanda Zachariah
TV WEEK
19th December 1987

Thanks to Declan.