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Fergie to fly helicopter around Australia in new show Duchess Down Under
Sarah Ferguson has revealed she is brushing up on her flying skills in preparation for a television show to be filmed in Australia.
Sarah said she will be piloting a helicopter in the program that will feature her talking to residents about the country's culture and natural world.
Interviewed in the latest edition of Saga magazine published this week, the duchess said: "I'm working on a screen venture that is a bit like Challenge Anneka, if you remember that 1990s BBC reality program. Mine will be called Duchess Down Under.
"Instead of being in the helicopter, as Anneka was, I'll be flying it - I'm retaking my helicopter test and renewing my licence. I'll be talking to people in Australia about the culture, the flora and fauna of their nation."
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Sarah Ferguson has visited Australia many times and her sister, Jane, has been living in Australia since the late 1970s.
In 1988, Sarah and her now ex-husband, Prince Andrew, were pictured greeting fans at Darling Harbour as they toured the country for the bicentennial celebrations.
Fergie visited Westmead Hospital during her 1990 trip and was spotted at the Melbourne Fashion Festival in 2003 watching as her niece took to the catwalk.
"Oh, I love Sydney," Fergie told the Sydney Morning Herald in 2009.
Speaking to the publication at the time about her plans for turning 50, the duchess said: “I'm going to run down a beach in Australia in a black bikini and I'm going to be football fit.
“I got on to Beckham's manager and asked him to find me the finest football trainer there is, and I've got him: Neil Lewis. He's cool. I decided on Australia because my sister's there and I can go see her at the same time. We can celebrate together. She won't run, but I will.”
The duchess has published her debut Mills & Boon novel and hopes it will be adapted into a TV drama because "everything that's written she can already see," her co-author has said.
The Duke of York's ex-wife described the book - Her Heart For A Compass - as a "sweeping, fabulous, historical novel" set in the 1870s and said her heroine Lady Margaret is "a very rebellious lady".
The book, which draws on Sarah's own life journey and incorporates research into her ancestry, is a fictional account of the life of the duchess's great-great-aunt Lady Margaret Montagu Douglas-Scott.
Sarah co-wrote the book with Marguerite Kaye, who has written more than 50 novels for Mills & Boon set in a variety of historical eras.
During an appearance on ITV's Loose Women, Sarah described how she and Diana, Princess of Wales would discuss the impact of being in the public eye.
She told the presenters: "I do address the eating disorder issue with Lady Margaret in the book. Diana and I used to talk about it a lot, what it is to be on the front pages and people judging about the size you are.
"I speak openly that it's okay, just be who you are, keep fighting on and don't give up. I'm still a work in progress, too."
Talking about who would play her novel's lead male, Sarah said: "I think Colin Firth is just phenomenal as Darcy... coming out of the lake. I love James Norton but Aidan Turner takes the top spot for me. I thought he was brilliant as Leonardo and Poldark."
With extra reporting by AAP
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