Sam Atwell, a former star of Home and Away, is now an Irish citizen and has worked on productions like Kin and Smother.
In 2013, the soap star moved to Dublin from Sydney and Summer Bay.
He also received his Irish passport earlier this year, making it official.
“It was a thrilling experience.” It took a long time because I applied at the end of 2019, and it’s a difficult process where you have to verify you’ve lived here for five years and have all the necessary documentation.
“Well, that took some time to put together…
The passport office was thereafter closed due to Covid.”
“It’s extremely lovely to have the passport and it’s terrific to have the passport,” he continued. “I’m also looking forward to voting…”
Because there was no ceremony because of Covid, I received a wonderfully lovely letter from the Minister in the mail.”
Sam played Kane Phillips on and off for years on the programme, and was at the centre of a contentious storyline in which he sexually raped Dani Sutherland before marrying her sister.
He subsequently went to work behind the scenes.
“I was there for 13 years on and off,” he told the Irish podcast Tis Yourself. I was an actor, then a director, and then I went into the writing department, where I was a writer who also wrote scripts, so I got to see everything.”
He enjoyed working on the soap opera. Sam stated that he had itchy feet and that an opportunity had presented itself to him.
“Basically, I wanted to tour the world… I had always intended to visit London, as do so many Australians, and I came to Dublin and fell in love with it. I met Brigie DeCourcy, the Executive Producer of Fair City, and I told her I’d be back in a month, which I was.”
“It was through a familial link, a relative at Fair City,” he explained. ‘Can you tell me about the industry over here?’ I asked. ‘Why don’t you come meet Brigie?’ she said.
“So that’s how it went down.” So I was a director, and then the script producer moved on to another show, Red Rock, and they needed a script producer, so they asked me if I wanted to do it, and I said yes, and it was a four-year gig.”
Despite living so far away from The Bay, he was able to reconnect with some of his old co-stars.
“For a while on Fair City, a lot of them would come over and do promotional stuff, like opening nightclubs and everything like that, and I got to see a few of them when they were coming over, which was really lovely.”
“When they arrived, they exclaimed, ‘Oh my God, it’s incredible.’ People are lined up down the street for this nightclub.'”
Sam is presently employed by RTE in the Drama Development department.
“We work on programmes like Hidden Assets, Kin, Smother, and all of the RTE One shows.” They’re excellent to work on, and reading all of the scripts is a joy.
“And we’re also assisting with the organisation of how the programme will be managed and work for RTE, and we’ve got 15 more shows on the go right now, in addition to the large shows that we’re already working on.”
“We have 15 more in the works that might air on RTE One or RTE Two, so that’s incredibly exciting.”
