Justine Clarke flying high

Incisive actor, Play School veteran, cabaret singer and now documentary TV host. Justine Clarke talks to Juliet Rieden about her child-star beginnings, finding her father, the seismic shift of approaching 50 and why family will always come first.

- Juliet Rieden

Justine Clarke has been on our TV screens and in our theatres in an impressive array of roles for four decades. It would be age inappropriate to call her a national treasure – she’s not yet 50 – but it’s tempting. Justine can switch from Ibsen on the New York stage opposite Cate Blanchett, to searing Aussie TV dramas – think Tangle, The Time of Our Lives, Hungry Ghosts – to Humpty Dumpty’s sidekick on Play School, not to mention a musical career that takes in sing-alongs for cheering kids as well as cruisy jazz standards in cabaret clubs. And hold on … just when you thought there was nothing Justine hadn’t mastered, her latest outing is factual TV presenter.

Sporting an enviable wardrobe of outfits representing every decade – mostly fabulous air-hostess uniforms – Justine heads up the three-part SBS documentary Come Fly With Me. As it turns out the series unintentionally evokes a hanky-wringing aura of nostalgia and poignancy, for as Justine declares: “Since we started filming there’s a whole new world order.”

2020 marks a century of civil aviation in Australia and also potentially the year the industry faces devastation thanks to COVID-19 travel restrictions. No doubt when the show was first mooted it was intended to be a celebration of an industry reaching for the stars, but with the Flying Kangaroo, Qantas, pretty much grounded, Come Fly With Me is a reminder of what we used to enjoy – the wonder of travel.