Home and Away Olympic Return – Who’ll Survive the Plane Crash?
With Australian viewers on tenterhooks as they eagerly await Home and Away‘s return next week, we take a look at what we already know about the fate of those on board the doomed plane.
To give a bit of background for those who haven’t been paying attention, on Duncan Stewart‘s recent return to Summer Bay he revealed that he was a qualified pilot. As a treat for Tori Morgan’s 30th birthday, Duncan arranged to borrow a mate’s plane to take a charter flight to a winery in Lightning Peak for Tori and a group of friends.
Meanwhile, Morgan family enemy Spike was continuing his naughtiness as he sought the book that the siblings father had compiled on the syndicate. Despite Justin tracking down the book and giving Spike what he wanted, Spike had already sabotaged the plane in an attempt to take the Morgans out and cover his tracks. When the federal police, who unbeknownst to Justin had been tracking Spike, swooped down and arrested Spike, he gave some chilling parting words to Justin – “Say goodbye to your sister for me”
Finding paperwork concerning the charter flight back at the house, Justin realised what was about to happen and tried to contact his family members to no avail. Racing to the airfield, he chased the plane down the runway but could only watch in despair as it took off.
As the group get into the spirit of things, little do they realise that carbon dioxide is being pumped into the cabin, which will inevitably lead to the plane crashing.
When Home and Away returns to our screens, Justin desperately tries to get in touch with those on the plane – after racing to a radio room he’s able to speak to Duncan, but the signal is weak and he can’t make himself understood.
Speaking to TV Week, actor James Stewart (Justin) said “He’s just trying to get Duncan to get out of the sky or do anything he can to not be up in the air. That’s all he can think about.
Whilst Justin is finally able to get in touch with Brody in an attempt to find out the plane’s coordinates, it seems like it’s already too late when the radio cuts out again – “He tries to get them from Brody and Duncan but they’re passing out. Justin thinks ‘That’s it, the next call I get will be telling me they’re all dead’. Until he has an answer, there’s always a moment of hope. But he’s prepared for the worst.”
In the promo for the return episode (below), we can see that most of the passengers seem to have survived the impact, but the danger is far from over when the plane wreckage topples and punctures the fuel line, with Billie and Leah trapped inside. Even if our favourites survive the resulting explosion, they’re still stuck in the middle of nowhere with arid conditions to contend with.
So who does make it out? Well with filming taking place so far in advance and paparazzi snapping the actors at work on a weekly basis, it’s pretty hard to keep secrets about who has and hasn’t departed nowadays. Turn back now if you don’t want to know the likely outcomes…
Leah?
Poor Leah, apparently the odds on someone being in a plane crash are around one in 11 million, though we imagine those numbers are considerably different in Summer Bay. Despite having survived another sabotaged flight caused by stalker Zoe McCallister in 2005, here she is back in the same situation again. To be honest, we’re surprised that husband Zac was not also on the plane, given Leah’s track record he’d have been a goner for sure. Members on our forum even wondered whether the plane would land on Zac and make Leah a widow three times over.
Given that the plane crashes in the middle of nowhere, and both Leah and Zac were spotted during the filming of VJ & Billie’s wedding ceremony two months ago, we think we can mark them down as safe for the moment… (or continuing to live on borrowed time in Zac’s case)…
Nate?
After drunkenly confessing his feelings for Tori earlier in the week, Nate decided it would be better to not go on the flight. However after a pep talk from Marilyn, Nate turned up at the airfield at the last minute with a bottle of bubbly. And what a good job he did – with no less than two doctors on board, the passengers could be in with a fighting chance if one or both survive.
It seems fans of Dr Nate’s topless surf kayaking (it seems there’s a few out there) can breathe easy, he’s been spotted filming at Palm Beach on more than one occasion over the past few months.
The Morgans?
It sure would be a shame to introduce the Morgan siblings only to kill three of them off after only a couple of months! It would certainly appear from the promo that Brody in particular could be in danger after apparently going off on his own, precariously standing near the edge of a cliff.
Luckily it would seem that they make it through intact. Orpheus Pledger (Mason) was spotted filming at Palm Beach only this week, Jackson Heywood (Brody) filmed scenes alongside guest star Anna Bamford (Jeanie) in May, and Tori has also been seen filming as yet unaired scenes with Benedict Wall (Duncan).
Duncan?
Again we can’t help but be reminded of Script Executive Dan Bennett‘s last stint on the show, when he brought back Chloe Richards in 2005 only to kill her off a few weeks later. In true Home and Away fashion, Duncan and Alf had a blazing row shortly before he left on the plane. As the residents desperately wait for news on the lost passengers next week, Alf breaks down as he struggles to come to terms with the fact that he might have lost his son for good.
With Duncan only being a guest character, that would normally be a death sentence in itself on a plane full of regulars. We also learned a while back that Duncan’s ex-wife Caroline is to be introduced into the show at some point in the near future, played by Nicole Shostak, so could she be turning up in Summer Bay with their son Bryce for Duncan’s funeral?
Well as we’ve already alluded to, we do know that Benedict Wall filmed a scene at Palm Beach where Duncan kisses Tori, which is yet to air. Both he and Tori are also mentioned in the upcoming spoilers. So unless he’s playing Patrick Swayze to Tori’s Demi Moore, it’s probably safe to say that the pilot survives this time round.
Evie?
As the plane descends, Evie is convinced that she sees a vision of her deceased twin Oscar, which she takes as a sign that everything will be alright. We only catch a small glimpse of her in the promo however, so does that mean she’ll be going the way of other members of the MacGuire family in recent times?
Thankfully it appears not, as the weekly spoilers reveal Evie will continue to grieve for Oscar following her safe return to the bay. Additionally, Philippa Northeast has since been seen filming scenes on the beach with Alec Snow (Matt) in recent months.
Billie & Irene?
Could VJ be harbouring some of his mother’s powers and about to start a lifetime of partners being killed off? If so, it would be a double tragedy for the guy, given that VJ believes that Billie is carrying his unborn child. In the promo, we see Billie concerned that there’s something wrong with the baby, as well as being trapped in the plane before it explodes.
Well from our other spoiler stories in recent times, including the filming of Billie & VJ’s wedding ceremony, and Billie also being involved in dramatic scenes filmed with Irene and a certain baby last week, it’s pretty safe to say that Billie, Irene and the baby will make it through.
Chris?
Wait…what? Chris wasn’t even on the plane?! Exactly. With Johnny Ruffo’s departure approaching, certain “spoiler” pages on social media decided to spread the news around that Chris would definitely be dying in the plane crash.
Given his absence from the party flight (unless he’s snuck himself into the luggage hold as a birthday strip-o-gram), and the fact he is mentioned in the second and third week of post-Olympic spoilers, we can safely call false on that one.
So it would appear everyone is accounted for…? Well, we can speculate all we like, but technically we never can be 100% sure until the episodes air. Plots can be twisted, scenes can be cut… or even used as previously unseen flashbacks.
Perhaps one or more of these characters could continue being seen in ghostly visions by their loved ones for months to come?
Maybe the plane crash is nothing more than a hallucination as one of the group slips into unconsciousness?
Or perhaps the plane crash could be a decoy from where the real tragedy will lie? We can see in both promos that there are scenes on a clifftop in the middle of the bush during the search. This isn’t just any old filming location, many a character have found themselves clinging onto or falling off this particular cliff over the years…
Meanwhile, Lynne McGranger has also put forward her own theory…
Home and Away returns to Australian screens at 7pm on Monday 22nd August. The same episode will air on Channel 5 in the UK on Monday 26th September.
Click here to see details of upcoming episodes.