Nicole Kidman, Naomi Watts and Melissa George

 

‘Brides of Christ’

 

(TELEVISION MEMORIES 10)

 

Yesterday I went to the cinema where I watched a new film called ‘The Invasion’ with the Australian actress Nicole Kidman as the main star. Now, prior to this viewing, there were a number of advertisements for all the new films which were going to be released in the following weeks. Amongst these ads, was a trailer for a new London based Russian gangster film starring Naomi Watts and a trailer for a vampire film that featuring the former ‘Mrs. Parrish’, Melissa George.

 

Now, if I were to ask “What was the connection” between the last two named actresses, I would expect a few people to answer the question by saying that they were both in the film ‘Mulholland Drive’. On the other hand, If I was given that same question and asked for the connection, the first answer that would come to my mind would be that both of these actresses appeared in the soap opera called ‘Home and Away’.

 

Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, my friends and I were avid viewers of these Australian soap operas, we being the kind of teenagers who you would expect to be obsessed with these shows. I remember that we used to joke about the lack of actors in Australia and how each actor seemed to move from one show to another.

 

I remember that a few years before she was ‘Jet Girl’, and many years before she became the Hollywood star of today, Naomi Watts appeared in a show called ‘the Brides of Christ’ with Kym Wilson. This was another show that I watched religiously, which was very apt as the show was set in a nunnery.

 

At this point, I may have given you the impression that here was a show, where Naomi Watts was dressed up a nun for most of the time, as I doubt that anybody else will remember this show. Actually, as the show was made about 17 years ago, Naomi Watts played a schoolgirl at the convent and was dressed throughout in one of those ‘daggy’ Australian schoolgirl outfits you might remember from the early days of ‘Home and Away’.

 

I cannot exactly remember why I ended up watching the ‘Brides of Christ’, but I think it may have been because I watched anything that was Australian on the television at the time. Even though saying that, I never watched ‘Prisoner’ but this might have been because it was on too late at night.

 

I remember that I used to have a teenage crush on Naomi Watts when I was younger, as I was under the impression that she was a cute Australian girl. I never liked Melissa George, who as ‘Angel Parrish’ was always the number one female soap star in the teen magazines of the post-Kylie soap period.

 

On the other hand, even though I remember seeing Melissa George and Naomi Watts in a lot of Australian soaps and teen shows at the time, I can never remember Nicole Kidman being in anything other than the ‘BMX Bandits’ before she became the famous film star.

 

If the ‘BMX Bandits’ was made in the early 1980s and then ‘Dead Calm’ was made towards the end, there must have been loads of shows that featured Nicole in the cast. Maybe she appeared as a character in ‘Skyways’ or The Sullivans’ or in a children’s show similar to ‘Round The Twist’ or ‘Skippy’, does anyone remember her in being in anything on 1980s television?

 

 

Brides of Christ and other CLASSY TV SERIES ( a lot different to soaps) attracted the best of our actors and actresses.

 

Nicole was also in a min-series called BANGKOK HILTON which if you can find on DVD try and get as you will see why at that point in time, that Nicole was rated as highly as she was here.

 

Here is a youtube snippet....

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-_AOi1G_KA

 

Naomi did a few commercials for tv ....

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB_ZCX971aU

 

Naomi and Nicole also co-starred together in an early indie movie called FLIRTING.

 

I think Naomi is lovely and down to earth. I met her once years ago in a shopping queue!! We had a bit of a chat while waiting to have our groceries checked and she just was so nice.

 

Oh yes ‘Flirting’. I forgot all about that film.

 

Did you ever see the previous film called ‘The Year My Voice Broke’? I think both films were directed by John Duigan, the director who also did that odd gated community film with Sam Rockwell as the ‘lawndog’ working from in his trailer. Even though I never got round to watching ‘Flirting’, I liked ‘Lawndogs’ and used to love the first film a lot.