It’s news that calls for barbecue shapes and a bottle of Baileys: Kath & Kim are returning to Australian screens for a two-part special to celebrate their 20th anniversary.
The special, Kath & Kim: Our Effluent Life, will air over two nights later this year on Channel Seven and its streaming service 7plus. It promises to provide a glimpse into what the beloved duo have been up to since they were last seen on TV more than a decade ago, as well as a host of previously unaired moments and guest appearances.
Over its initial five-year run, Kath & Kim became one of Australia’s highest-rating television series. Its first three seasons aired from 2002 to 2004 on the ABC before it was picked up by Channel Seven for a final season in 2007. The final season premiere was the most watched episode of television in Australian history at the time, a record broken two years later by Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities.
The show has also spawned two feature films – Da Kath & Kim Code in 2005 and Kath & Kimderella in 2012 – and an ill-fated US adaptation which ran for just one season.
An airdate for the upcoming special is yet to be announced.
“It’s fascinating and delightful to see audiences around the world still loving Kath & Kim after 20 years,” said the special’s executive producer Rick McKenna. “It was great fun getting the team back together, plenty of laughs all around.”
Filmed in Melbourne, Kath & Kim’s Effluent Life will reunite Jane Turner and Gina Riley as Kath Day-Knight and Kim Craig (and, of course, Prue and Trude) – as well as a cast of familiar faces including Magda Szubanski and Glenn Robbins.
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It remains to be seen whether Kath and Kim’s famous Fountain Lakes abode has made the cut. The house used for filming – located in Melbourne’s Patterson Lakes – was demolished earlier this year after undergoing renovations in 2019.
“It was a weird house,” said Peter Rowsthorn – who played Kim’s husband Brett on the show – in an interview with the ABC. “If I bought it I’d probably pull it down too.”