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The king of spin: Alex Williams tells the story of an Aussie icon, Shane Warne taken too soon

''He was so true to himself''.
Brooke Warne shares a flashback with Shane
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Shane Warne was a cricketing legend, a feared spin bowler who changed the game forever. He was also a true Aussie icon, loved by millions, and his death in 2022 at the age of 52 left a nation in shock.

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โ€œHe was so true to himself,โ€ Alex Williams, who plays the character of Shane in two-part drama Warnie, tells TV WEEK.

โ€œHe was so true to himself.โ€

(Image: Supplied)

โ€œEven with all the fame and being the best in the world, he still felt like that genuine guy who might walk into your living room and have a tea and chat with you and your mum about whatever.โ€

Warnie, which is inspired by real events, begins Shaneโ€™s story when heโ€™s a teenager with a mullet living in the Melbourne suburb of Black Rock and dreaming of playing football for St Kilda in the AFL. Alex says Shane is โ€œpretty one-eyedโ€ at that point in his life.

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โ€œHe loves St Kilda,โ€ Alex, 32, tells TV WEEK. โ€œAll he wants to do is play football. Him being rejected by the club, I think sets up the start of someone who is going to work incredibly hard to be very, very good at something.โ€

โ€œI think because heโ€™s so honest about who he is.โ€

(Image: Supplied)

Shane takes on a string of jobs, including delivering beds, before turning his focus to cricket. Success doesnโ€™t come immediately, but when he makes the Australian team and dismisses Mike Gatting with his very first ball against England in 1993, heโ€™s suddenly world famous.

โ€œI think because heโ€™s so honest about who he is, and so real, it doesnโ€™t bother him too much,โ€ Alex says. โ€œHe probably enjoys that period.โ€

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By then, Shane has already met the woman who will become his wife, Simone Callahan. From the moment she offers him a beer at a celebrity event, the pair hit it off.

โ€œThereโ€™s an immediate sense of familiarity between them,โ€ Marny, 29, who plays Simone, tells TV WEEK. โ€œThey recognise something in each other.โ€

โ€œSheโ€™s the most incredible mum.โ€

(Image: Supplied)

Alex says Shane is โ€œabsolutely besottedโ€ with Simone.

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โ€œI think heโ€™s in love with her very, very quickly,โ€ he says. โ€œAnd it remains that way for a long time.โ€

Simone and Shane have three children in the space of four years. Itโ€™s tough for Simone, with Shane away playing cricket so much of the time.

โ€œSheโ€™s the most incredible mum,โ€ Marny says. โ€œThat just shows what sheโ€™s made of, her strength and her ability to put her kids first.โ€

At the height of his fame, Shane makes some serious errors of judgement. Thereโ€™s the time heโ€™s photographed smoking, despite having made a lucrative deal to give up cigarettes. Thereโ€™s the incident with him accepting cash from a bookmaker. Then thereโ€™s the diuretic he takes, which leads to him being barred from cricket for 12 months.

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Shane Warne's children pay tribute to their late father
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The ban could have been the end of Shaneโ€™s career, but heโ€™s determined to play for his country again.

โ€œHe uses that one-eyed mentality to get back on top,โ€ Alex explains.

Over the years, there are stories involving Shane and other women. Simone canโ€™t ignore them, especially when they tell their stories to the tabloids. It comes to a head when Simone moves with the children to England to be with Shane, just as another sex scandal breaks.

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Soon, journalists and paparazzi are camped on their doorstep.

โ€œThatโ€™s the big crescendo,โ€ Marny says. โ€œFilming it was intense, even just pushing my way through that crowd. Simone is a private person and that would have been really difficult.โ€

Playing Shane was a thrill for Alex.

(Image: Supplied)

Later, thereโ€™s another serious relationship for Shane โ€“ with British model and actress Liz Hurley. Itโ€™s a dream come true for the tabloids.

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โ€œSheโ€™s one of the loves of his life and itโ€™s a really exciting time,โ€ Alex says. โ€œItโ€™s post-cricket, but thereโ€™s a lot of the media circus that comes with that, so they deal with that in their own way.โ€

For Alex, a lifelong cricket fan, playing Shane was a thrill.

โ€œFor me, it all came from a place of love and affection,โ€ he says. โ€œI just hope that people enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it.โ€

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