IDENTITY MYSTERY OVER PAT THE RAT

Sons and Daughters has done it again.

Just when fans thought they had Pat the Rat worked out, that femme fatale of the TV screen is undergoing another identity crisis.

And the woman responsible, Sydney actress Christine James, is loving it.

Christine plays Sarah Hunt, the lonely traveller who winds up in a Rio hospital and is mistaken as Patricia Palmer (Belinda Giblin) in a bizarre identity triangle.

"Sarah is a very, very nice person; that was the attractive thing about playing her," said Christine, who recently appeared in the controversial Ray Lawrence film Bliss.

"She brings out the nice side of Pat the Rat."

Latest developments in Sons and Daughters have seen her character Sarah taken back to Australia by David Palmer (Tom Richards) who mistakenly believes she is the real Patricia.

Despite having as many twists as a bowl of spaghetti, Christine believes her situation carries a bottom line stupidity.

"It was a very strange one but in a way it came down as pretty simple in the end.

"Someone came along and saved her and loved her and let her know what it is like to be happy," the pretty blonde actress said.

Christine, who started acting as an 11-year-old with Brisbane's Little Theatre, likes to combine stage work with TV and movie performances.

Her recent TV roles include a social worker in A Country Practice and a nurse in the mini-series Return to Eden.

She is now working on a new film about a group of militant women factory workers.

According to Christine, her Sons and Daughters portrayal of an enigmatic character in peculiar circumstances was her best acting challenge yet.

"They have been talking about her for three months but she's actually on the show for one month and I think they will be talking about her for another three months," she said with a laugh.

Christine said the highlight was working with her old pal Belinda Giblin.

"I absolutely adore Belinda; we have worked together before but on the screen we are actually hissing at each other."

 

By: Greg Kerr
Source: Scene
Date: November 9-15 1985