She has become one of the most iconic actresses in Australian TV, but TV WEEK readers will always remember Brooke Satchwell as Anne Wilkinson from Neighbours.
With no prior acting experience but pure talent, she first appeared in Neighbours in 1996 as schoolgirl Anne. Almost three decades after her breakthrough role, the soap continues to hold a special place in Brooke’s heart.
At the 2024 AACTA Awards, Brooke spoke to TV WEEK on the red carpet about whether or not she reminisces on the show all these years later.
“Of course! I was talking to Bibs the other day, who played my brother (Lance Wilkinson) and some of my best mates are crew from the Neighbours days,” she said.
“I’ve been catching up with my friends who were in the makeup department when I was in Melbourne at Christmas, seeing the family.
“It’s a family that has stuck together and I’ve been really lucky that that was the tribe I walked into on my first job. They’re loyal.”
Sadly, Brooke won’t be reappearing in her other hit shows The Twelve or Black Snow when they return for their second seasons. Though, the reason is clear: her characters were one season wonders.
Brooke jokes she need to work on finding a “returnable series.”
“I’m a baddie so I stay in season one of Black Snow, it’s like The Twelve – I can’t come back for that either,” she tells TV WEEK. “I haven’t really worked that one out.”
However, she did reveal she recently had a career-first by performing in a play at the Sydney Theatre Company which “was a huge experience.”
“As we all are with 2024, we’re a bit like ‘what’s going to happen next?’ So we’ll see,” she concluded.