edenstreet.net talk to Paul Kelman

We followed him as he went from barman to estate agent, we watched Lisa break his heart and we willed him to find happiness. Then one fateful night we held our breath as he was killed in a carbomb. Who else but Chris Patchett, and E Street.net was lucky enough to get some answers from the man behind him.....Paul Kelman

Which cast members were you closest to and are you still in touch with any of the cast?

It was quite a close cast but I guess I was closest to the original members as I was one of them. Tony Martin and I were good friends and of course AJ Cook. Melissa Tkautz was like a little sister to me, Marianne Howard and I dated for a while and Toni Pearen is still a friend although I don’t really see any of them anymore, which is a shame as they were all good people.

Had you planned to leave E Street at the time you did or would you have liked to stay for longer? What was it like to literally go out with a bang?

I was very lucky as straight after E Street I got a job on ‘The Flying Doctors’. If I stayed I doubt that would have happened. If you are going to leave a series it’s great to leave with a bang. I was there when they Blew up the car and I can tell you it was a mighty BANG!!

Chris and Lisa was the first big E Street romance. How did you feel about their romance?

I was a bit disappointed when the Chris/Lisa relationship ended as we started the show together, but without the twists and turns of a series it would probably get quite boring for the viewers.

One of Chris biggest and ongoing stories involved his wife Megan and her manic tendencies. Was that stuff hard to play and did you or Lisbeth do any research?

I know Lisbeth had page after page of notes on research, she was a very convincing nutcase. I had not done a lot of research myself at that time. I was quite young and very naive about acting. I actually didn’t know what I was doing half of the time. It was a real learning curve for me and I learned a lot from people like Penny Cook and Tony Martin and of course Vic Rooney who I was great friends with as well.

What have you been up to since E Street and are there any interesting projects in the pipeline?

E Street was a long time ago for me so a lot has happened since then. The most important being my marriage and the birth of my daughter Matilda. I am most proud of the films I have dince since E Street including ‘Terra Nova’, ‘Mullet’, ‘A Cold Summer’ and ‘The Honourable Wally Norman’. I do a lot of advertising now and if you go to www.thezeromovement.com.au you will see the latest adverts I did for cocacolazero and a few recent photos of me. I am working on some new film scripts at the moment, which is great.

Chris Patchett played by Paul Kelman

Many thanks to Paul Kelman for taking time to do this interview.