Australian Story: Aug 30

Monday’s Australian Story profiles legendary actor Michael Caton (Packed to the Rafters, The Sullivans, The Castle), who reveals he is starting to lose memory and vocabulary, but still has causes he wants to fight.

“Home Straight” will be introduced by Rebecca Gibney and features Jack Thompson.

Iconic Australian actor Michael Caton lives life to the full and makes no apologies for it. But he is very aware the clock is ticking.

“My lifestyle and all the cigarettes and booze and everything else I’ve had over the years does not make for longevity,” Caton, 78, says. “I just think that I’ve had a really good innings up to now.”

In a candid interview with Australian Story, Caton talks about the highs and lows and feast and famine nature of his work and the challenges of ageing.

“I just really notice that I’m losing memory, vocabulary,” he says. “You’ve got to work twice as hard, probably three times as hard as I used to, especially if you get a big page of dialogue.”

Caton is best known for the 1997 comedy The Castle about a working-class man fighting to keep his home from being compulsory acquired by the government.

Life is now imitating art as Caton joins a campaign with farmers who are fighting a coal seam gas project in the Narrabri and Pilliga region of northwest New South Wales.

Caton says he wants to make a difference with what time he has left.

“I think the whole thing is to do as much good as you can while you can,” he says.

Also featuring best friend and actor Jack Thompson, Australian Story joins Michael Caton on a road trip through northwest New South Wales.

Producer Janine Cohen

8pm Monday on ABC.