She may have swapped Bali for the afterlife, but Australia’s favourite spirit is back on our screens. Mandy McElhinney, who became a national treasure as Rhonda in AAMI’s iconic ads, has returned for Ghosts Australia, a supernatural comedy where history, heart and hilarity collide.
Speaking with B&T ahead of the season premiere, McElhinney said the show is a playful mix of past and present.
“It’s a great concept that some people may recognise. It originated in the UK sitcom surrounding the adventures of a group of ghosts who live in a very dysfunctional housemate kind of situation,” she explained. “They’ve been living like that for years and years, and then a lovely young couple come and inherits the house, and one of them gains the ability to be able to see and communicate with the ghosts”.
That mix of past and present is something many of us feel while watching her in her latest role. McElhinney was immortalised as Rhonda in 2012 when she said the iconic line “kiss me, Ketut” that instantly became a part of Australian vernacular.
McElhinney admitted that her time playing Rhonda in these iconic commercials has really connected her with the general public. “Not everyone is a drama consumer or a comedy consumer, but most people knew that ad,” she said.
To this day, she still gets fans shouting the name “Rhonda” out to her from across a room – a reality that she said only cements the lasting impact that character had on Australia.
“Rhonda was such a personable, approachable kind of character and relatable to so many people… it connected me with strangers in the street, and they’re always very positive and warm and lovely about it.”
“It’s been an important part of all the lexicon of characters that I’ve played,” she said. “And yeah, I’ve got a soft spot for her.”
And while she’s technically playing a 19th-century Irish ghost this time, the warmth and wit that made Rhonda a household name are still very much alive.
McElhinney as Eileen in Ghosts Australia
“She was escaping the Great Hunger in Ireland, the 1800s, which killed over a million people,” she said. “She was a poor Catholic girl who came to escape the effects of colonialism in Ireland, and she’s come to another colony in Australia and developed, lived a life here and had 13 children, and worked her fingers to the bone. And she’s not at all bitter about that, of course,” she added with a laugh.
Through Eileen, she explores how far women’s roles have evolved. “To be able to interact with young Kate, who is the living, breathing human, who is emancipated, who has grown up with feminist ideals, it’s really exciting for my character, because she sees the way that women’s roles have developed and how more is expected of them now, rather than just being a mother or not having a say or a vote,” she said. “It’s really, really fun to play those generational kind of shifts in the show.”
Filming in her hometown of Perth made the project even more special.
“It was a really wonderful thing for me, it’s a very personal project for me because I had the opportunity to film in my hometown, where I grew up, where I started my career on the stage here,” she said. “The character is very much a tribute to my own heritage… my dad is from where Eileen is from, so I felt very connected to the character”.
Even the wardrobe became a bridge to her ancestry. “The clothes she was wearing were sourced from textile factories that still exist today, but existed when Eileen would have been there. So I was able to wear clothes that my ancestors would have worn and to pay tribute to my dad and his history,” she said.
While her latest role is a far cry from Rhonda’s Balinese love affair, both characters are truly ordinary women made extraordinary with a little bit of heart and a dash of witty repartee.
Ghosts Australia is produced by BBC Studios Productions Australia for 10 and Paramount+ with major production investment from Screenwest and the Western Australian Production Attraction Incentive. Based on the original UK series Ghosts, produced by Monumental Television in association with Them There for BBC One. Distributed by BBC Studios.
Ghosts Australia floated onto screens last night with a double premiere episode at 8.30 pm on 10, and all eight episodes are now available to stream on Paramount+.
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