112-126
Over to Red Ranger 1 to provide our commentary:
So, twelve years after the first BTTB poll, we have my second as commentator, which means I’m having to look back two years to make sure I’m not just repeating what I said last time. As is traditional, we start with those on one point…
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112. Cheryl Braxton (1 point)
Played by Suzi Dougherty
Our first Braxton, Cheryl’s role mainly consisted of popping up when one of her children got injured or jailed to make a few snarky comments and then disappearing again.
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112= Chloe Richards (1 point)
Played by Kristy Wright
Last time round, Chloe was in the Top 40, this time round she’s in the first update, the biggest fall for any character in both polls, although she should take comfort from the fact that two people who polled above her didn’t chart at all this time. This despite the fact she recently turned up on 7TWO and her daughter occasionally remembers to mention her.
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112= Corey Henderson (1 point)
Played by Adam Saunders
A return appearance for one of the mid-00s villains, who is a hot contender for the title of Worst Summer Bay Cop Ever. But then he did poison Irene. Even Charlie, Jack and Kat didn’t manage to do anything that bad.
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112= Freya Duric (1 point)
Played by Sophie Hensser
A two-week guest character from 2009, whose role mainly consisted of seducing a fifteen-year-old schoolboy and then leaving him to be beaten up by drug dealers. Also the only person to kiss both Xavier and Nicole. Unless there’s something Ruby or Geoff isn’t telling us.
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112= Harvey Ryan (1 point)
Played by Marcus Graham
Given his absence from the polls when he was actually on the show, Harvey’s debut is something of a surprise. He managed to be on the show two and a half years without really doing anything, going from Romeo’s rival to a shady businessman to Roo’s long-suffering husband. Then he disappeared at sea, came back and left again.
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112= Joel Nash (1 point)
Played by David Woodley
Talking of long-suffering husbands, here’s one of Harvey’s predecessors as Summer Bay House patriarch. Joel started off as a sports teacher, then became one of the show’s more professional police officers, although he still got a storyline about an old enemy taking revenge on his family. Then he suffered a crippling injury in a disaster storyline and left just a few weeks later…
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112= Joey Rainbow (1 point)
Played by Alex O’Han
A return to the poll for one of the 90s teens. Joey was the quirky one in the, um, early-late-90s teen group, with the result that he’s aged a bit better than the “cool” ones, all of whom are long since forgotten, as well as having a memorable mental illness storyline. He even outlasted all his contemporaries and spent his last months on the show surrounded by younger characters, acting as big brother to the Smiths.
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112= Kat Chapman (1 point)
Played by Pia Miller
One point for one of the more recent additions to the show. As is often the case with Summer Bay cops, Kat started out as professional and by-the-book, then within a few months she’s turning a blind eye to crimes committed by her mates, hanging out with the most questionable people possible and being borderline corrupt. Should have stuck to waitressing.
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112= Ken Harper (1 point)
Played by Mark McCann
One of the show’s longer-serving background cops, Ken seemed to start off as the station chief then get turned into a glorified extra bossed around by regular characters who had been promoted over him. His appearances became increasingly sporadic before he disappeared completely a week or so into 2010.
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112= Lynn Davenport (1 point)
Played by Helena Bozich
And one point for one of the original cast, not bad for someone who left 28 years ago. Lynn fell victim to the curse of the nice character, as after a strong first few months which saw her run away from home and have a crisis of faith, she got reduced to a supporting character while Bobby and Carly got all the storylines.
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112= Meg Bowman (1 point)
Played by Cathy Godbold
Digital Spy recently made Meg the only Home and Away addition to their “13 Soap Deaths That We’re Still Not Over” article, although as Number 2 was some annoying bint in Coronation Street whose death provoked more cheers than tears, it shouldn’t be considered definitive. Her relationship with Blake, one of the most doomed of doomed couples, ended with her much-copied death on the beach at sunrise.
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112= Millicent Staples (1 point)
Played by Julie Haseler
And you thought Freya was obscure… How about a two episode guest star from 20 years before that, who conned the resident lovable rogue and stole his boat? No, I don’t really remember her either.
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112= Rachel McGregor (1 point)
Played by Kelly Glaister & Sara Mumcu
Jesse’s cute as a button daughter, who was so popular that she stayed on after his departure and was fostered by Joel and Natalie. Made a cameo appearance during Jesse’s second stint, was adopted by Will and Gypsy off screen, and last mentioned as being at boarding school. Maybe she’ll turn up on Irene’s doorstep and it’ll turn out she’s now younger than Olivia?
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112= Sophie Taylor (1 point)
Played by Bridgette Sneddon
Last poll, we were in the middle of Sophie’s stint as the extremely stressed out principal of Summer Bay High and she didn’t get a sniff of a vote. Two years on and she’s got, well one. Maybe another two years of watching Nate mess women about has made people a bit more sympathetic?
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112= Tug O'Neale (1 point)
Played by Tristan Bancks
It seems like quite a while since we waved goodbye to Tug on 7TWO, safe in the knowledge that he’ll somehow end up getting married off-screen to a girl he dated for a few months a decade or so previous. Tug was one of the earliest bad-boys-turned-good and as a result one of the first to find that judges are curiously lenient when you’ve still got time left on your contract.
So, keeping up a new tradition, this time there are two current regulars who didn’t get any points, making them officially less popular than Kat. See if you can guess who they are (a clue: neither of them have the surname Stewart).