Rebecca's on a real winner | Warwick Art and Theatre | Artists, Galleries and Festivals in Warwick

Australian actress and Gold Logie winner, Rebecca Gibney.

Warwick Daily News

REBECCA Gibney knew she was onto a winner with Packed To The Rafters from the very beginning.

“As soon as I read the script I got tingles,” she said.

“It had everything in it that made a good television show.

“I cared about the family and I knew if they got the casting right, I knew it would be a winner and a show people would enjoy.”

The casting was something that the show's producer took very seriously.

After casting Erik Thompson as Dave Rafter and Michael Caton as Ted Taylor, producers approached Rebecca to see if she would play the role of Rafter family matriarch, Julie.

“When they mentioned Michael Caton and Erik Thomson first up, I knew we had a good start,” Rebecca said.

From there they undertook the process of finding the three Rafter children - Nathan, Ben and Rachel - and, in the process, they made stars out of three relatively unknown actors.

Jessica Marais, Hugh Sheridan and Angus McLaren are now all household names thanks to the success of the show but none of the cast could have anticipated just how successful it would be.

The show regularly reached more than two-million viewers per episode and took out a swag of awards at the 2009 Logies including the coveted gold Logie for Rebecca's performance in the show.

“Winning the gold Logie was completely unexpected,” Rebecca said. “I've been nominated for other awards and I'm used to being the loser, and because the show won so many awards, it didn't quite register that I had won.”

And as special as being voted as the country's most popular actress is, it was the recognition of her peers that really surprised Rebecca.

“When I stood up to accept the award and turned around and everyone was standing up applauding, it was very special. To have a room of my peers give me a standing ovation was incredible.”

Along with Rebecca's gold Logie win, she also won the silver for most popular actress. Matching her in the silver stakes were Jessica and Hugh,who took out the most popular new talent categories. The show won the silver Logie for most popular drama and Jessica added a second with most outstanding new talent.