This weekend Sunday Night has two stories featuring famous Australians.
The Power of Love
She is one of Australia’s most enduring and loved personalities. She’s unstoppable, irrepressible, unbreakable. Until now. Kerri-Anne Kennerley has suffered a shocking blow and it’s going to take all her famous energy and stoicism to keep going. But she knows she must, for the sake of her husband – the love of her life – John. John sustained catastrophic injuries in an otherwise simple fall at a golf club in coastal New South Wales in March. He fractured vertebrae in his neck, suffered profound paralysis and is breathing with the aid of a ventilator. Kerri-Anne is by his side in an intensive care unit in Sydney every day, willing a recovery but she knows their life together will never be the same again. In an emotion-charged Sunday Night special, reported by long-time family friend Mike Willesee, we see Kerri-Anne like we’ve never seen her before, coming to terms with a life inexorably altered, mustering courage and fortitude by John’s side, bravely assessing the challenges of the days, weeks and months ahead, then dissolving into tears and despair as she mourns the terrible injuries to her husband and the impact it has had on their joyous time together. John has been her rock, now Kerri-Anne must summon every ounce of her own strength and resourcefulness to be the rock for John in his time of need.
Lights, Camera, Racing!
“It’s an amazing story. It’s National Velvet isn’t it, she’s our National Velvet”. That’s how celebrated Australian actor Rachel Griffiths interpreted Michelle Payne’s breakthrough win in last November’s Melbourne Cup. And with her considerable Hollywood clout, Rachel set about securing the film rights to Michelle’s story. Rachel says after she ‘stalked’ Michelle at a Sydney race meeting, a warm friendship developed between one of our most-loved and respected Hollywood actors and one of our biggest and newest sporting heroes. And doubtless Rachel will be using National Velvet – the Hollywood classic starring Elizabeth Taylor as a girl who took on the boys and won – as inspiration for Michelle’s big screen story. On Sunday Night Melissa Doyle walks the track with Rachel and Michelle and discovers they have more in common than one might imagine, including the shared experience of being catapulted into the national and international spotlight – Rachel via her performance in the Aussie classic Muriel’s Wedding and Michelle aboard Prince of Penzance in the Cup. Michelle says in a candid interview: “As a jockey you dream to win the Melbourne Cup but you don’t prepare yourself for what might happen after that, and that’s an absolute whirlwind.” Rachel adds: “My first movie was hugely loved and literally, one Friday, nobody ever looked at me and then on Monday I had people double taking. It’s a very strange experience.” On Sunday Night we learn Michelle is keen to get back to racing full time and why she’s pushing Rachel to give her brother Stevie a role playing himself in the Hollywood movie.
Sunday at 8.30pm on Seven.
