THE THORN BIRDS - THORN BIRDS LOVERS REUNITE FOR BLACKBEARD TALE

THE THORN BIRDS stars RICHARD CHAMBERLAIN and RACHEL WARD have reunited for a new TV movie about pirate villain BLACKBEARD. Chamberlain, who recently announced he was gay, will play the high seas tyrant in the US TV film, which debuts tonight(17JUN06) and he admits he relished playing the bad guy. He says, "I am a very bad guy in this and it's great fun." Chamberlain reveals he jumped at the chance to star in the film when he heard his Thorn Birds love interest would also be involved with the project. He adds, "One of the great excitements for me in taking this job was because I knew Rachel was going to be on board. "We got to see each other in Thailand, where we were filming, and catch up after all these years. It was wonderful."