The 44-year-old Kate Ritchie will be featured in the Channel Seven Spotlight documentary on Australian music superstar John Farnham on Sunday.
In the documentary “John Farnham: The Lost Tapes,” previously unseen footage shows the former child star interacting with Farnham in a Home and Away episode.
In the new documentary, Phil Burton of Human Nature, Shannon Noll, and Natalie Bassingthwaighte will all discuss their experiences of Farnham.
The programme includes historical material of Farnham, including a duet with the late Olivia Newton-john, that has been kept from fans for decades.
Rare black and white footage of the celebrity from before his smash song You’re The Voice made him famous is featured in a new show teaser.
In the teaser, Farnham is also seen in clips from a long-forgotten charity telethon that was shot in Western Australia.
Spotlight’s Michael Usher said on Sunrise that this telethon content hadn’t been seen since it was first broadcast decades ago.
‘We were talking in the office when someone said, ‘You know this huge archive of John Farnham singing a telethon in Perth, no one has seen it,” Usher said.
He said that numerous other performances and interviews are also uncovered by Spotlight.
Intriguingly, he continued, “TV embraced him back in the day when radio wasn’t exactly picking him up, so there is this wonderful TV archive of all these lost tapes of John Farnham.”
There are a few magical times. We are remembering one of his finest duets out of all the ones he has performed over the years, with Olivia.
Ritchie was questioned by Usher for the new show about her Home and Away encounter with John Farnham.
The actress made her first appearance as Sally Fletcher in the popular soap opera when she was just 10 years old.
In the enduring episode, Farnham portrayed himself as Sally, a chicken pox patient who is shocked when her favourite pop star “stops by” for a visit and special performance.
The John Farnham: Finding the Voice compelling documentary helped Seven gain a significant ratings victory just two weeks prior to the Spotlight special.
A staggering 866,000 people watched the emotional movie that chronicled Farnham’s life in the major metro areas.
Last month, weeks after the renowned singer was rushed to the hospital, Farnham’s family gave an encouraging health report.
Late in March, the 73-year-old was hospitalised while he fought a chest illness.
Seven months after undergoing extensive surgery to remove a malignant tumour from his mouth, Farnham experienced his most recent health scare.
The adored celebrity has since fully recovered from the chest infection and is currently ‘comfortable’ as he undergoes continued therapy.
