She has appeared in Home & Away on and off for 19 years as Alf Stewart's sister Morag Bellingham, hosted the Australian version of The Weakest Link and written her autobiography. Actress Cornelia Frances' character Morag has has just signed up to star in Summer Bay for the next six months.
Digital Spy chats to the 66-year-old her about forthcoming storylines, the gap that long-running star Kate Ritchie (Sally Fletcher) will leave when she exits the show later this year and how it feels to be return home - albeit briefly - to England after 15 years.
You're back with Home and Away now after a six-month break - what storylines can we expect to see Morag involved in?
"Are you aware of the young character called Aiden? Well he's a young boy, he's very angry at the world. He's about 16 or 17. He's very angry and Morag wants to know why because she's taken a bit of a shine to him. But he's angry with her because he's like 'what the hell do you want?'. So there's lots of lovely dialogue that goes on between him and I - I take him under my wing and I find out what's wrong with him. We know that eventually he moves into the house I'm living in. So I sort of adopt him in a way.
"And there's another storyline which sees an ex-lover of mine come in as a detective to solve a murder, but it's actually not a murder and Morag becomes Miss Marple and finds out exactly what did happen and solves a mystery. That entails an awful lot and we're just about to film that when I get back to Australia. Beyond that, I honestly don't know. We get [the storylines] about two or three weeks in advance."
After all these years are they still keeping you on your toes with the storylines?
"Oh yes, I mean I've been with Home and Away for 19 years so she's an ongoing character and I've just signed up for six months permanently. I can't tell you how long it's going to last or anything - even I don't know!"
Kate Ritchie's (Sally Fletcher) due to leave soon, after 20 years with the soap. Do you think it will leave a big gap when she does go?
"No, not at all. Well obviously it will for a little while, but there are new characters coming in all the time and the fact that she's been there for 20 years will mean it will leave a hole. But that will be filled and people will take to the newer characters as well and at the moment, they're all absolutely stunned that she's gone because she's been there since she was eight years old and grown up with it. But that gap will be filled... It won't be the same - It will be different, though!
"A lot of people are with Home and Away for a long time and then leave. Soaps are so quick and the turnover of storylines just changes all the time that people do eventually forget and gravitate to other characters. I can't say more than that really...she's such a lovely girl and we'll all miss her very much, but as I say it's very quick and we have to get used to that and move on."
Do you think you'll follow in Kate's footsteps and quit or do you like having the door always open for Morag to return?
"No, no - the longer I work on it the better. There's very little work going on in Australia and you reach a certain age that you have to gracefully retire if you're not after work any more. Morag's always missed when she goes, which is a lovely compliment to me. I really adore playing her and I get a lot of people saying 'when are you coming back?'. I always do go back. If I left, it wouldn't create such a hole [as Kate] but it's nice that people ask you when you're coming back."
Do you have any plans to write another book like you did a few years ago or do some more presenting work?
"Yes, just before I got here I found out that I'd been robbed. So they took everything, including my laptop. I was actually writing, I was doing two different books that were on that laptop that I can never replace. So that's gone. I'll have to start again but there you go, we have to live with that."
So you've got busy times ahead of you then?
"Well I don't know. It depends when I'm next going to get robbed! You can't ever replace what you've written when it's gone. I mean I know the storyline but word for word that you're happy with - that's gone forever. I can't re-do that so I'll have to start on something else. I don't think you can re-write something that you can't go and look back at and change and edit - it's not the same."
You were born in England, how are you finding your visit back here this time?
"Well it's been 15 years since I came home last. It's a very long time. I did two pantos about 15 or 16 years ago. I'm home once I get off that plane and when I get off the plane in Australia, I'm home. So I've got two homes which is really lovely.
"This time, I've met two nieces that I had never seen before. My two nephews have grown 15 years since I last saw them so they're young men now. When I left [for Australia], they were young boys and that's always very interesting to see them. My sister doesn't change, my brother doesn't change. It's lovely to come back. It's been too long and I hope it won't be as long next time. Who knows - it could be the last time, though. There's always a telephone to get on to. I don't feel that far away, really."
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