Ex-Home and Away star talks potential Hugo and Martha return
Bernard Curry is up for reuniting with Jodi Anasta now she's left Neighbours.
They were one of Home and Away's most memorable couples, but a decade after Hugo Austin (Bernard Curry) and Martha MacKenzie (Jodi Anasta) were forced to flee Summer Bay from people trafficking gangsters could a return be on the cards for the pair?
In an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com, Curry, currently starring in hit Australian drama Wentworth Prison, which returns for an eight season on 5STAR on Wednesday 5th August, reflects on his Home and Away stint and reckons it's time to find out what the dangerous duo are up to now, especially as co-star Anasta has just quit her role as Neighbours' Elly Conway and is available again.
"I still see Jodi every now and again," he tells us. "It's always great to catch up with her. I do wonder if our characters, Hugo and Martha, are still together after they went on the run. They certainly had a great connection.
"He faked his death to go into witness protection, then came back to find her and they escaped together - they shared something quite deep with each other. I'd like to think they're still happy!"
Curry has enjoyed a successful career since his breakthrough role on rival soap Neighbours as Luke Handley in the mid-1990s, and has reached a global audience as Wentworth's sadistic officer Jake Stewart. As the jail-set drama heads to a ninth and final season, the actor says he's up for a return to either Ramsay Street or the Bay, but admits which would be his preference.
"If I was given the opportunity I would certainly consider going back to both shows, Neighbours was a long time ago but it was a great experience and a huge learning curve.
"But I had great fun playing Hugo, for similar reasons why I like playing Jake in Wentworth Prison: he had that duplicitous nature about him, and as any actor will tell you it's always more interesting to play the villain - but one who has some redemption and becomes the hero. Hugo had that redemptive arc."
Anasta told us earlier this year she'd love to return to Home and Away so she could work with on-screen mum Georgie Parker, who was recast as her character's mum Roo Stewart just months after the future Elly Conway left in 2010.
"That's right, Jodi and Georgie never crossed paths on screen," muses Curry. "We need to make it happen! That would be amazing.
"I really enjoyed being on Home and Away. I was living with my wife in Sydney up at Bondi Beach at the time, and it was lovely to drive to the Summer Bay location at Palm Beach, go the catering truck and have lunch in the sunshine. It cheered up an ordinary afternoon at work!"
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Visit our dedicated Home and Away page for all the latest news, interviews and spoilers. Season eight of Wentworth Prison starts Wednesday 5th August at 10pm on 5STAR. If you’re looking for more to watch check out our TV guide.
