He played rural vet Matt Tyler on A Country Practice between 1988 and 1992. But when Woman’s Day caught up with John Tarrant, he was a long way from Wandin Valley.
“I’m in Karratha,” the 60-year-old told us as he was preparing to start night shift in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
John spent the previous seven years at NSW Ambulance, and recently relocated to Australia’s north-west coast to become a fly-in fly-out paramedic.
“It’s a lot different to being an on the road paramedic,” he explains. “It’s a lot quieter but the two-weeks-on two-weeks-off really suits me and there are big financial gains, too.”
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So, just how did Wandin Valley’s handsome veterinarian who married popular nurse Lucy Gardiner, aka Georgie Parker, go from saving animals to saving lives in real life? “When I left ACP, I wasn’t really able to sustain an acting career so I started doing other things,” he admits.
From working at a zoo to camera work on Home And Away, John says they were “all meant to be survival jobs until my next gig but that never really came along”.
It wasn’t until he reached his mid 40s that John realised it was time to start a new chapter. “That’s when I decided to do my nursing degree and become a registered nurse,” he says.
MEMORY LANE
John admits he never wanted to give up acting.
“I thought that after four-and-a-half years on a show like A Country Practice, I might have created a better pathway for myself but when I left it didn’t really mean much at all,” he continues. “Without sounding big-headed, when I was cast in the show, I was getting a couple of other offers at the same time from Home And Away and Neighbours so there was a little bit going on… or so I thought.”
John says he doesn’t know why the offers stopped rolling in, but he always thought he would still be on our screens today. In fact, John was so loved by ACP fans he was even nominated for a TV WEEK Logie in the Most Popular Actor category back in 1990, only to be beaten by Craig McLachlan.
“It definitely took me a long time to get over but now I look back on that time in my life with great fondness.”
GREAT MATES
John originally auditioned for a different role on the iconic Aussie series, which ran from 1981 to 1993 on Seven. “I went for a guest role as a rugby player and I remember thinking at the time, ‘What the hell is going on? How did I not get that role?’”
Turns out, producers had bigger plans for John. “Three weeks later they rang up and said, ‘We would like you to audition to play the local vet’.”
John’s character Matt Tyler would go on to have some of the most unforgettable storylines in the show’s history. But none would be more memorable than his TV wedding to Georgie Parker’s character Lucy, which saw Matt having to rush through a funeral procession to make it to the church on time.
“I remember it was a hot and long day of filming,” John recalls. “I also remember Georgie’s mum turning up. She was quite a character and was joking around saying she wanted to watch because she didn’t think her daughter would ever get married.”
John says it was the cast, which included Shane Porteous, Penny Cook and Lorrae Desmond, and crew that made ACP the success it was.
“The people are what made that show so special. They were magnificent humans. Everyone got along and it was pretty much d***head free from what I can remember,” John laughs. “Georgie was just always really impressive on set. We didn’t socialise too much outside of the show but at work we were really good mates.”
And while they’re not in constant contact these days, the former onscreen lovebirds do touch base with each other every now and then.
REBOOT INCOMING?
“We are still in contact mostly via social media even though we live completely different lives,” John continues.
Georgie was even one of the first people to congratulate John on his new fifo job. “I hope this is a brilliant experience for you. They’re lucky to have you,” she wrote on Instagram.
Fans of ACP no doubt remember Matt and Lucy’s final days in Wandin Valley. The couple left in 1992 following a bitter custody battle over their foster child, Jason.
Now, three decades on and John says he wouldn’t say no to returning to the small country town that made him a household name for a reboot.
“If it had the right script, the right people and all that, I wouldn’t turn it down,” he teases.
