Kath Day-Knight

Kath Day-Knight
Kath & Kim character
Jane Turner As Kath at the film premiere of Kath & Kimderella
First appearance	Fast Forward
Last appearance	Kath & Kim 14 October 2007 Episode 32
Created by	Gina Riley Jane Turner
Portrayed by	Jane Turner
Information
Species	Human
Gender	Female
Occupation	House Wife Tafe Student (completed 34 adult education diplomas) Real Estate Agent Entrepreneur Actress
Family	Epponee Raye (granddaughter) Brett Craig (son-in-law)
Spouse(s)	Gary Poole (?-2004; divorced) Kel Knight (2002—2003 annulled; 2004—present)
Children	Kim Craig (daughter)

Kathleen "Kath" Darleen Day-Knight is a fictional character featured in the Australian television series Kath & Kim and is portrayed by Jane Turner. Her character has appeared on multiple Australian comedy series including Fast Forward, Big Girl's Blouse and Something Stupid before appearing on Kath & Kim'.

Molly Shannon portrayed her American version in the short lived American series.^[1] Kath's character is considered an Australian Comedy Icon. Kath was featured in Kath & Kimderella in 2012.

The Idea for the series was originally grasped during the nineties while successful Australian shows such as Big Girl's Blouse had skits on them with identical characters of the same name. Kath & Kim aired first on 16 May 2002,^[2] and become a hit in Australia and Internationally. The series ended in 2007; Turner returned to screens as Kath in 2012 with Kath & Kimderella which premiered in cinemas September-2012.^[3]

Jane Turner works with Gina Riley exclusively on Kath & Kim, as they are both credited as script writers and creators of the show itself.^[4]

Personality

Physical appearance

Kath considers herself a strong foxy and successful mother who embodies the stereotypical housewife/urban mother personality. Kath's appearance is notable; mostly her hair, a large blonde perm. Kath wears flamboyant clothes sometimes, and normal clothes as well. She dresses in a style which resembles 80s fashion, with Tussles, Shoulder Pads and tight metro colored-pants all included in her wardrobe.

Personal outlook

Despite being a smoker, Kath is extremely proud of herself and her looks. She is confident; in fact the opening of Kath & Kim episode one features just Kath, herself, reflecting on herself and how proud she is of her looks and calls herself "high maintenance". Kath's daughter Kim is the opposite to Kath, overweight, lazy and rude. Kath has had her fair share of wild escapades throughout the show's episodes and has had a wide range of careers, ranging from an actress to a real estate agent. In addition, during the season finale, Kath & Kel make their house into a Bed and Breakfast named Kath & Kel's Kountry Kottage. Apart from this, she has failed to have a full-time job. Despite never having self imagery problems, Kath suffers feelings of sadness as she is four months older than husband Kel, feeling conscious of her age.

Background and short story lines

Kath was born in 1954, and was married to Garry Poole from the late seventies. She lived in Fountain Lakes with Kim for year alone before meeting Kel, and the arrival of Brett and Epponee to the family. It was revealed during the series (after her marriage to Kel in a big wedding) that she was still married to Garry. They officially divorced and she married Kel legally this time after a two-year invalid stretch. Other than this, little is known about Kath's life (however a portion of Kim's past has been shown such as her stealing Brett from Sharon as a teen). While sorting through old family pictures, Kath realizes that she is of Aboriginal Descent after taking a DNA test which proved it in the episode "Roots". She is also of Manx and Chinese descent. Kath also experiences problems with her age; feeling too old at sometimes as she is four months older than her husband Kel. Kath was a Tafe student graduate, and did a course in Real Estate. By the end of the series, Kim and her dramas got to be such a trouble to Kath, that Kath opted to move into Mandy (her next door neighbour's house) which was up for auction. She failed to auction off their own house, with Brett purchasing the house for $400,050. Kath is rarely seen being busy with Work - which can be anything for her. In season three Kath found work with Kel becoming actors for a 'High and Dry' commercial. They were later dropped because sales plummeted. In 2005, Kath and Kel got given a franchise called The Da Vinci Code Tours. Kath is the tour guide. Kath is a strong supporter of the Richmond Tigers.

Relationships

Kim

Kim Craig

Kim Craig, played by Turner's creative partner Gina Riley is Kath's lazy, ignorant, rude and catty twenty-seven-year-old daughter. Kim took large advantage of Kath growing up, due to the fact that they had no male figure (Kath's husband & Kim's father Gary Poole left them to fend for themselves while Kim was an infant) with them. Kim had always been the center of Kim's attention; causing her to always act self-absorbed even to this day as an adult. Kim continues to take advantage of Kath, always living in her house and messing it up (which Kath hates as she is a "Neat-Freak"). Kath, however, acts kind to Kim, her only child. Kath often doesn't take Kim's life and her several problems seriously, such as her brief marriage break-ups (as Kath assumes correctly) that Kim and her husband Brett will eventually get together, despite zero chemistry in their marriage. During the final season, Kim got to be such a bother to Kath & Kel that they opted to purchase their next-door neighbour Mandy's mansion-like house, but were unsuccessful as no one auctioned to buy their own house. Kim and Kath however have always had a good relationship when it comes to agreeing on situations (which usually includes Sharon, Kim's second best friend and a family friend) and gossiping about the latest buzz.

Kel

Kel Knight

Kel Knight Is Kath's metro husband, played by Glenn Robbins. They're relationship has always been fun, with the two "Oldies" feeling liberated. They married and moved in together. Despite an almost picture-perfect marriage, they have had relatively minor downfalls compared to Kim and Brett, such as the times when Kel took over duties as the house woman (cooking, cleaning and maintaining the house) which bothered Kath to the brink; also the fact that Kim hates Kel and has never accepted her mother getting married at fifty years old and having a life outside of her.

Sharon

Sharon Strzelecki

Sharon Strzelecki is Kath's daughter's best friend. During the series Kath and Sharon like each other, Kath is usually the one standing up for Sharon when Kim throws a tantrum at Sharon (usually concerning food). The only time Kath is seen throwing a tantrum at Sharon is when her drink was spiked in the episode "Party".

Brett

Brett is kath's son-in-law, during the series Brett is bombarded with Kath and Kel's sexual relationship (usually when they would just come back from a holiday). In the episode "Holiday" Brett and Kim plan a romantic trip to Queensland, however Brett ends up going to Queensland with Kath and Kel also Sharon, Brett eventually yells at Kath making her upset and their relationship is temporarily ruined, however after returning home they reinstate their relationship.

Other relationships

Kath is very much liked by Kim's husband, Brett Craig and Kim's friend Sharon Strzelecki. Kath appears to be there for the two of them while Kim sits and watches Television or is obsessed with herself. Kath also provides advice to them, Sharon especially. Kath encouraged Sharon to chase her roots in the last season, which led her to meet her obnoxious (almost Kim's reflection) half sister Karen (played by Matt Lucas). Kath is also a loving grandmother to her beautiful infant granddaughter, Epponee Raye, there for her more than her own mother, Kim.

Quirks, personality traits and features

Kath has many different Habits and lines which she continues with throughout the series. She often talks to herself in her mind while making grinning faces; She also says "make a mental note Kath.." and says the mental note out loud. When Kath knows something is going to happen she remarks "I can Feel it in me waters!".

Kath consistently makes references to her courses in TAFE during the series; Several courses that Kath has done are cycling and tennis, real estate, floral design, interior design and business studies. When Kim, Sharon, Kath and others possibly are in a "rough" or "sticky" situation, she will stop and say "Look at me (pronounceable as Look at Moi)" and gets everyone to stare her in the eye. She will then go on to say "I've got one word to say to you", which will often be more than one word. When Kath (with Sharon and Kim) see something they like or something out of the blue, they all say to each other "It's Nice, It's different, It's unusual" all at the same time. These words also appear at the end of each and every show to represent their Kath & Kim slogan/brand.

See also

Other characters

• Kim Craig
• Sharon Strzelecki
• Kel Knight
• Brett Craig

References