australian television information archive

Helen O'Connor…

For Helen, her role in Breakers feels pretty much a home away from home. "As an actress, I've worked in cafes all my life," she laughs. "I worked as the manager of the Tilbury Hotel for quite a while so I know all about the administrative and staff side. The crew on Breakers just watched me pilling plates up my arm" all that work finally paid off!"

Kate has managed, however, to sandwich that in between a huge amount of acting work. In theatre, she's appeared in plays as varied as Great Expectations, Antigone, No Worries and Lipstick Dreams. In television, she's appeared in GP, Medivac, E Street, A Country Practice and Police Rescue. Her films include Spider and Rose, Frauds, Till There Was You and Boys In The Island. She has also worked as a writer on the TV series Lipstick Dreams and Happy Families and the stage production The Herlettes.

"I've run the gamut of work, but I've never done long term television before," says Helen. "So it was perfect timing because I was wanting to settle down and have some stability for a while. I've always been excited by lots of change and wanting to do different things, but now I want to do something regular and sleep in the same bed every night and work with a team."

…as Kate Markham

Kate Markham, 34, is the idealist in the family. Her natural warmth and her ability to always see the best in people until proven wrong, makes her a magnet for people who need support, and a target for con artists and hustlers. But Kate isn't the soft touch people often assume—she just has a higher threshold of tolerance than most people. To the irritation of Eve, Kate will always seek out grounds for compromise, which Eve sees as just a fancy word for cop-out.

Kate's natural warmth makes her the perfect host for the easy-going atmosphere of a trendy café. She is popular, well loved and, as a good listener, she's both a sounding board for dreams and a shoulder to cry on when they go wrong. Consequently, she also knows more about what is going on in and around The Breakers than anyone.

If Kate has a flaw, it is that she tends to be attracted to bastards. One left her pregnant with Danny when she was a teenager and her search for love has since taken her into the arms of Mr. Wrong more often than she'd care to remember.