With Kym, Ali and Dzelde:
Dzelde: Time to catch up with our next guest. She appears on Channel Ten's Rush as Inspector Kerry Vincent, but if you're a fan of Water Rats you might remember her as Goldie!
Kym: Goldie!
Dzelde: She joins us now for a chat about Rush, would you please welcome, Catherine McClements. Good morning Catherine!
Catherine: Good morning everyone!
Ali: Catherine, we often speak to male actors and you know, they always have people yelling out at them their character's names on the streets. Do you still get Goldie?
Catherine: No, they sort of yell out, 'Water Rats'!
[all laugh]
Kym: Because Ali hears 'Goldie' frequently through the wee hours of the morning. Her partner, Matt - Matthew Clarke - who was a very, very good AFL footballer for Brisbane, St Kilda and the Adelaide Crows, has had a crush on you for a long time. So just randomly in the middle of the night, he'll be yelling out in his dreams, 'Goldie! Goldie!'.
Ali: I'm serious Catherine, it's absolutely ridiculous. You know, some couples have their celebrity let-offs, so that if they actually get to meet that celebrity, then it's okay if they try to give you a kiss. You are his celebrity let-off!
Catherine: Oh God!
Ali: Yeah, it's a bit like that!
Dzelde: How does that make you feel, Catherine?
Kym: Dirty?
Catherine: Very special.
Dzelde: Very special! So, you've got to the second series of Rush which is a great thing for any Australian series to get to these days, isn't it. You must be enjoying the writing of the characters you get to work with on the show.
Catherine: Look, it's a really interesting character. I'm really enjoying that challenge. She's a real rough nut, you know, and, everyone says 'how do you feel about playing another cop?' but they're almost at opposite ends of the spectrum. Rachel Goldstein was a very sort of pristine, you know, top-shelf cop. And this one's sort of really rough around the edges, and doesn't mind bending a few rules. So I'm enjoying that character very much.
Ali: Do you enjoy it so much that sometimes you find it hard to switch off when you go home? You think, 'geez, I'd like to pull her out right now'?
Catherine: [laughs] Yeah, it doesn't stop me! But you know, that sort of stuff... you really do feel... I remember after Water Rats I went overseas and someone stole my bag. And I chased them through this Asian market, and grabbed him and threw him down on the ground and wrestled my bag off him. And then I realised, oh God, this is actually real life. But it worked, I got it back!
[all laugh]
Ali: I just love that fact that if you were an Aussie backpacker, and you're standing in this bazaar, or where ever you were, and you've seen Goldie run past chasing a criminal... that'd just be the biggest trip ever!
Catherine: I think you'd feel very safe in the world, wouldn't you?
Ali: Yeah!
Kym: Now Cath, I'm not trying to date you at all here, but did you ever think when you attended NIDA - the National Institute of Dramatic Art - back when you were a 17-year-old, that you'd manage to, you know, eke out a career?
Catherine: Yeah, well... I didn't really know what was the future, I live so much for the present. It was just, you know, drama school... who you could go out with, that sort of stuff.
Kym: Who'd you go out with? Who'd you go out with?
[laughs]
Kym: 'Cause you actually attended NIDA with Baz Luhrmann, didn't you?
Catherine: Yeah.
Kym: Anything happen there?
Catherine: Oh yeah.
[laughs]
Kym: Oh you did! Hey! We've got a scoop! [laughs] What happened?
Catherine: [laughs] Look, how long have you got?
[laughs]
Kym: We've got all the time in the world!
[laughs]
Ali: Stop it!
Kym: Well, considering you had a bit of a tête-a-tête with Baz, you could whack into one of his next upcoming movies, couldn't you? You ever give him a ring?
Catherine: [laughs] I don't think I fit his... what... um...
Dzelde: Genre?
Catherine: His ideal woman.
Kym: Oh okay.
Dzelde: In fact, I heard a rumour Catherine, that if you look really closely at the movie Australia you can see Goldie running through, across a big pile of cattle!
[laughs]
Ali: Well, Catherine, you may not be Baz Luhrmann's ideal woman, but you're certainly all of ours, thanks so much for having a chat to us.
Catherine: That's very kind. Thanks very much.