The foxy ladies of Fountain Lakes are back, with the cast of cult comedy Kath & Kim reuniting this week to film a special to mark the 20th anniversary of the show.
Jane Turner and Gina Riley will return as mother and daughter duo Kath and Kim, alongside co-stars and fictional husbands Glenn Robbins and Peter Rowsthorn. Magda Szubanski will also be playing best friend Sharon.
The cast has been spotted around Melbourne, sparking rumours about an anniversary special. They are believed to be filming for a week in the nearby NEP studio complex.
There has been no date or broadcast named yet, although it is believed there are a number of contenders including Netflix, ABC and Seven. The show has had a complicated broadcast history, beginning as part of a sketch show Big Girl’s Blouse on Seven in 1994.
Turner and Riley later developed the sketch into a potential full-blown comedy series for ABC but the comedy division decided against picking up the pilot. It was instead commissioned by ABC’s drama unit.
Kath & Kim hit screens as a stand-alone show in 2002 on ABC before moving to Seven in 2007. A telemovie was released in 2005, Da Kath & Kim Code, that later rose to popularity in Australia. It became the most-watched movie on television that year with an average audience of 2.1 million views.
At the time of its premiere, the fourth season of the show consistently topped 2 million viewers on each episode, numbers inconceivable in the present streaming age.
New fans have continued to discover the show on Netflix. The streaming platform has picked up all four seasons, the telemovie and the 2012 feature film Kath & Kimderella. It brought the show to a global scale with audiences falling in love with the camp performances and cast.
The show has remained prevalent in pop culture, with new memes being sprouted and keeping the spirit alive.
Viewers have speculated that the reunion episode will be similar to the Friends special, featuring exclusive scenes from the original show for some nostalgia accompanied by brand-new sketches.
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