Itโs hard to imagine Australian TV without Erik Thomson. Who would have had a tragic romance with Georgie Parkerโs Terri in All Saints? Who would have headed up the beloved Rafter family with Rebecca Gibney? As for Aftertaste, that most likely wouldnโt have existed at all.
The unimaginable nearly happened. Erik had only been on All Saints a couple of months when he got the call that could have changed his life.
โI got offered an audition for Lord Of The Rings and I turned it down because Iโd just signed a two-year contract with All Saints,โ he tells TV WEEK.

Erik played an off-the-rails chef in Aftertaste.
(Image: ABC)โIn retrospect, I should have done the test, and if I got it, I probably could have got out of All Saints, because I would have been doing Lord Of The Rings, and that would have launched an international film career.โ
Of course, sticking with All Saints turned out pretty well for Erik.
โMy chemistry with Georgie and the Mitch and Terri thing set up my career here in Australia. But I look back at that moment where I said to my agent, โOh no, I wonโt put [an audition] down,โ and I go, โI wonder what would have happened if I had?'โ
Growing up in New Zealand in the 1970s, Erik didnโt dream of becoming an actor.
โI loved doing school plays and reading things out loud in class, but I never really thought, โOh, Iโll make it a career.'โ

Growing up in New Zealand in the 1970s, Erik didnโt dream of becoming an actor.
(Image: TV WEEK)But, after doing a bachelor of arts, he decided to go drama school. He kept getting roles, including a stint as Hades in Xena: Warrior Princess.
โIt just kind of happened. I wasnโt driven to be an actor.โ
Moving to Australia, his first major role was as a gigolo in Pacific Drive, which was Australiaโs answer to Melrose Place.
โI think Pacific Drive wasnโt a great TV show,โ Erik, 55, admits. โIt wasnโt really what I expected it to be.โ
Pacific Drive led to All Saints, and from there he went on to The Alice โ where he co-starred with his wife Caitlin McDougall โ Packed To The Rafters and 800 Words.
Last year he got back together with Rebecca and the rest of the gang for Back To The Rafters, but he wonโt be playing Dave Rafter again.

Erik played Steve in the 2022 comedy How To Please A Woman.
(Image: Feisty Dame Productions)โRafters will never come back,โ he says. โI was really proud of what we did, with the difficulties that we had with Jess [Marais] not doing it at the last minute and COVID in the middle of it.
โI think we made a really good show, but I think it was just evident that time had moved on. It was hard to recapture the magic that we had.
โPersonally, I wonโt be involved in any more. I think itโs done. Done, completely.โ
Last year marked the beginning of a new chapter in Erikโs career, when Aftertaste, the first series he produced, made it to air, with him starring as bad boy chef Easton West.
โBeing my age and being at my stage in the industry itโs a natural progression to want to tell stories and be more part of that side of things,โ he explains.
For Aftertaste to get a second season was โreally excitingโ.
โThen we had to go about the process of writing it,โ he adds. โAfter the initial elation you suddenly go, โOkay, we gotta do this again.โ Itโs the classic difficult second album.โ
Despite his long-lasting success, Erik still isnโt sure how โdrivenโ he is to be an actor.
โSome actors work it really, really hard,โ he says. โI live away from the mainstream. Iโm not on the red carpet all the time. I have a fairly low profile and a fairly normal life.โ
Erikโs โfairly normal lifeโ is lived in Port Willunga, just south of Adelaide, with Caitlin and their children Eilish and Magnus.
Although work takes him away for weeks at a time, he tries to make up for it when heโs home, volunteering at school like any other parent.

Erikโs โfairly normal lifeโ is lived in Port Willunga, just south of Adelaide, with Caitlin and their children Eilish and Magnus.
(Image: Supplied)โLast year we had the school fair and I knew I was going to be there so I thought, โWell, Iโll cook all the wood-fired pizzas,โ and I cooked 240 pizzas. I did that knowing that I might not be able to do anything for the rest of the year.โ
Eilish, a talented violinist, is 14 and Magnus is 11. Erik says theyโre reaching the age where he needs to โlet goโ.
โYouโve got to accept as a parent that the majority of your work is done. I look at my kids and I go, โTheyโre both good people, theyโve got consciences, theyโve got hearts, theyโre nice.'โ
Caitlin, who starred in Always Greener as well as The Alice, has established a new career as an artist. Erik says sheโd like to get back into acting but โthe same womenโ tend to get the roles for women of a certain age.

Erik would still love to work overseas or star in a โmassive international blockbusterโ.
(Image: TV WEEK)โItโs very difficult if youโre not in that inner sanctum of the Miranda Ottos and the Rebecca Gibneys and the Claudia Karvans. If youโre not those people itโs hard to get in there because theyโre the ones that people will sign off deals on.โ
As for Erik, heโs got a role in a new series he canโt talk about just yet, plus a few other ideas for shows โbubbling awayโ.
Heโd still love to work overseas or star in a โmassive international blockbusterโ. But he doesnโt want to say he has any regrets.
โIf you say you regret something then it means you might not be happy where you are. Iโm happy where I am.โ