One of the best loved end of season episodes in Neighbours history is the 1997 triple cliff-hanger, when Karl Kennedy kissed Sarah Beaumont, Ben Atkins had a huge car crash and Billy Kennedy was the boyfriend of Anne Wilkinson but being chased by Caitlin Atkins.
We’ve been speaking to the actor responsible for bringing Caitlin to life, Emily Milburn, about her life and her time on the show.
Hi Emily, thanks for taking the time to speak to us.
Thank you so much for reaching out to talk with me about my time on Neighbours. It’s been a nostalgic journey for me to look back and recall so many fond times. I had a really good time on the show and I’m so grateful that Caitlin is remembered after all these years! And it’s now so cool to have it back on Amazon Freevee!
Can you tell us a bit about your childhood? Were your family creative and did they encourage your creativity?
Yes, my family is definitely on the creative side, so I was probably influenced by my exposure to the arts as a child for sure and I’m grateful for that. My mum is an art teacher and potter and one of my Dads (I have two) is an artist so I was around galleries, studios and exhibitions a lot growing up.
The truth is I wasn’t allowed to watch Neighbours at all and I was pretty much exposed to classical music and art books my whole childhood. On the upside I was shown a lot of films. Films were a big thing at my house. Family friends would often ask me what my art was; I didn’t paint or draw very well and I didn’t really like the pottery studio very much. I think I knew it was performing of some sort [that I wanted to do] so after I started my first role I would say “actress”. That was my art.
I was also really into dance, ballet and performing at school making up shows with my friends at lunch time and performing them for school assembly. I spent a lot of my spare time doing that and loved it, so from early on that looked like it was going to be my thing I guess. Good or bad. My drama teacher at school, Mr Bell, encouraged me a lot and planted the seed in my head to get an agent. I was very much into that idea but my Mum refused for ages because she assumed it would be a bad environment for kids and she never wanted to push me into being a ‘showbiz kid’. My mum just wasn’t into that.
Anyway it was important to my parents that I focussed on school and didn’t get too carried away with a dream that seemed like an impossibility or even a danger. I appreciate that a lot and understand where he was coming from, but I was so determined that I made it happen. Mum agreed eventually, but only after attending various drama courses to see if I actually enjoyed it. I did; those courses were some of the best training I’ve had at the best schools so I was keen to make the next step.
In Melbourne at the time there were some excellent courses for kids, so my Mum researched and picked ones at the VCA, NIDA and at a course called Drama With A Difference, where I was luckily scouted by an agent and that was it. I was lucky that they signed me after a performance I did. I was so excited. I remember how it used to feel to get a script faxed over to my school and I’d have to learn it over a few days and get to the audition during school time.
They became more and more frequent and I loved the process of learning the lines and going into the casting agents where they became very familiar places to me, I was definitely in a loop of child actors at the time, I remember seeing Jacinta Stapleton who played Amy on Neighbours at the casting agents a lot too; we became friends and worked together on an earlier show together before Neighbours. My mum would get out of teaching to drive me to Middle Park for the castings.
Eventually I started to get closer to being cast in more roles, I’d get call backs a lot and eventually landed my first role in the BBC/ABC co production comedy children’s series Genie From Down Under. I played mean girl Marcia Huntly who was a posh English school girl so I had to be coached in a proper posh English accent. It was such a great show to work on, I learnt so much and it was such a fun character to play, I had to do all sorts of crazy things like get full face prosthetics to make me look ugly for one episode, I also had to run in a steeplechase and fall in cold watery mud. Lots of funny scenes. The cast was great too, lots of Aussie actors and comedians so I got to learn the ropes from some of the best in the land. Very lucky start on such a great production before entering the cast of Neighbours.
So to answer the question my parents of course encouraged my creativity but I was certainly not pushed into it, it was entirely my drive for sure. I also loved Kylie Minogue. I’ve been a big fan ever since my 6th birthday party, I danced the day away to Locomotion with all my friends. I never dreamed I’d make it to Neighbours like she did.
Was it clear from a young age that you wanted to pursue a career in acting?
Yes I think it was pretty clear from a young age that I wanted to pursue a career in acting. I was performing at school as much as possible in dance groups and school plays. I was definitely encouraged by my drama teacher who was a TV actor himself. He really was the first person who recognised my interest and nurtured my talent.
You were cast as Caitlin Atkins in Neighbours in 1997, but it could have turned out quite differently, as you originally auditioned to play a different character. Can you tell us about that?
Yes you’re right, I did get called for an audition for the role of Anne. It’s a bit of a funny story because I remember not being happy with my audition – I might have messed up some lines or something – and I was pretty sure that I had blown the biggest audition of my life. So when I got a letter from Jan Russ the casting agent saying how much they liked my audition and liked meeting me and that they will keep me in mind for a role in the near future, I just assumed it was a generic letter sent out to all the actresses that were going for the part so I totally dismissed it and carried on with auditions and school work.
But they were actually being honest and did in fact come back to me 6 months later with a new role for me to audition for Caitlin Atkins. I thought it was going to be a long process of elimination but when I arrived at the studio for the audition it was just the two of us there. We both confidently recorded our audition and wished each or the best of luck. As you know I ended up getting the role of Caitlin and the other girl there was given the role of Caitlin’s best friend Mandy.
You got to work with some amazing actors and talented crew during your time on the show, who did you most enjoy working with?
Yes I was lucky enough to work with many great actors on the show. Of course, Anne Charleston and Ian Smith (Madge and Harold) were fabulous! All of the show’s favourites were kicking around the green room when I was there! Maybe most of all I loved having the opportunity to work with friends, especially when Sullivan Stapleton was cast as one of Caitlin’s boyfriends [Josh Hughes]. We had been friends for years so it was really fun to work together. Sullivan is a really great actor. Even back then in the early days I remember how passionate and dedicated to the craft of acting he was. Just being around him and watching how he worked was inspiring and I learnt a lot from him as an actor. So that was pretty cool. We’re still friends, we had a really fun catch last year in LA. But I enjoyed working with all the cast members!
The iconic 1997 season finale is currently available to view on Amazon FreeVee in the UK and US and Amazon Prime Video in Ireland, Australia and other countries. Your character’s love triangle with Billy (Jesse Spencer) and Anne (Brooke Satchwell) came to a head with the cliffhanger of Anne arriving in Sydney as Caitlin was kissing Billy. What do you remember about filming those scenes more than 25 years on? Were you aware of how big your story was as the season came to an end?
That was a big budget cliff hanger! We had my brother Ben in a possibly fatal car accident too I’m sure? Yeah it was a big one for sure and we had a great time creating that. As you know Caitlin and Billy’s kiss was set and filmed in Sydney. My memory of it was that we were young teenagers away from home, in Sydney for the week, we had a great time!
I think we all managed to go out one night but we did get a bit too much attention especially as Jesse Spencer was a screaming heart throb at the time and super popular with the fans, so I remember it was always an adventure to say the least heading out of the hotel with him. I always looked different to my character Caitlin when I was going out as myself, so people often wouldn’t recognise me for a while which was good in some ways. People were always surprised how different I looked in real life and also assumed I was a bitch like Caitlin. Unfortunately I was the opposite – I wish I was more like Caitlin sometimes! Maybe I’ve grown into her a bit more now, more confident and possibly still like to get the man I want haha!
It was great for Caitlin to finally pin Billy down for those last episodes, poor Anne!!! Everyone on set was a bit nervous for Jesse and I, I think Jesse too. We shot the scene quite a few times, there were lots of jokes and laughing between takes. Jesse and Brooke were going out in real life haha! I think if we could go back and do it all again now I’d really go to town with the chemistry, we were all just kids then. It would be so much fun to play Caitlin again, I’d love to create her character again. We all had a great time filming the cliff hanger, especially the scenes on the water, really fun, a beautiful sunset and a great team/crew experience.
Your departure from the show came during the 1998 season. Do you wish you had been able to stay longer on the show? Do you think Caitlin had more stories that could have been explored?
Of course I wanted to stay on the show, I really didn’t want to leave, I felt like I was just getting into it but that’s how things turned out. The scriptwriters went in a different direction after the actor who came in to play my dad resigned to go to another show. It broke up the family storyline they planned for us. I had a really good stint on the show though, it was a solid time and I learnt a lot. I know there was a lot more for the character to explore, Caitlin was definitely not ready to leave Erinsborough.
After the show, you spent more time studying and were in a few short films and the feature film ‘One Perfect Day’. How does the rigour of filming at the pace of Neighbours compare with longer form productions? Do you have a preference?
The pace on the show is fast and making so many episodes a week it has to be, but it works. Film and other types of productions still have time limits and crews are always pushing times and keeping the day moving along so things on a film set can feel rushed sometimes too. Learning the pace on Neighbours has been a really good education and now being on set feels like a very familiar place and I have never worked so hard as I did on set at Neighbours. The dream for most actors is probably lots of rehearsal time and as many takes as you like but that’s a luxury.
You’ve travelled a lot since leaving the show. Where has been your favourite place to visit?
I have travelled a lot since the show. I’m so lucky to have been able to do that; moving to the UK really opened up the world to me. I spent a lot of time in Greece, on an Island called Kefalonia, it’s a special place to me and an absolutely beautiful island. I love Copenhagen as a city and France is one of my favourite places to visit and explore too. England is beautiful and the UK has so much natural beauty as well.
You’ve been living in the UK for 15 years now – what led to your move to England?
I came over to London 15 years ago for an adventure and I’ve never looked back. I just knew I needed a change and I felt stuck in Melbourne. I knew I wanted to travel and that’s what I did. I ended up staying here for good. It was the best decision I ever made.
What have you been working on recently?
I have been working on some films and auditioning regularly, I recently worked on a music video for The Damned and have some film opportunities coming up. I will be attending the Cannes Film Festival again this month which I’m looking forward to. Look out for the films Bystanders, It’s The Blackness and Punch all coming out soon, you might spot me 🙂
How did you feel about the sad cancellation of Neighbours in 2022 and then the shock revival by Amazon?
The build up to Neighbours ending was really sad and shocking but it was wonderful to see how much love and support came through and it was celebrated so much which was heartwarming. I celebrated with TV Soap magazine at their end of show event, so that was special, the magazine are real supporters and fans of the show and it was nice because I met people there who interviewed me back when I was on the show. Hilarious. It really felt like a loving family that night. Very sad too. I loved the last episode! I can’t believe it’s back on Amazon! It’s great news and I’m very happy about it. Thanks Freevee!
If you were ever asked to return to the show, would you take the opportunity to do so? How could you see Caitlin fitting in in 2023?
I’d love to be asked to come back to the show as Caitlin, even just for an episode or guest role one day. I had a scandalous idea that she could come back with Billy’s love child who would be 25 now! Maybe the truth was Caitlin really split Ramsay Street because she knew she was pregnant, but didn’t know what to do and decided to go back to Adelaide to deal with it with her mum and family there. I would hope she eventually became a successful career woman, got married, moved to the UK and had a good life. Now she could come back for the Kennedy family to connect her son back to his roots haha I think that could be exciting! I see her to be very successful, confident, sexy and still a spicy character. That would be so explosive and scandalous. Maybe her son is an Olympic standard swimmer!
Thanks so much for taking the time to speak to us.
Thank you so much for the interview! It’s so good to share some memories with you and know you all love the show. We’re like family x