34-48

This update: Ten to thirteen points!

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  34. Amanda Vale (13 points)

  Played by Holly Brisley

  The “likeable criminals” of this decade had nothing on Amanda, who sort-of-killed two people and scammed her way to owning the big house on the hill. A long-lost daughter and marriage to a local policeman saw her turn herself around a bit, and the town turned out for her farewell party to pretend they hadn’t hated her a week or so earlier.

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  34=Brody Morgan (13 points)

  Played by Jackson Heywood

  Brody seems to be shaping up to be several people’s favourite Morgan, despite the fact that he doesn’t really seem to have done anything except obsess about his restaurant and be the one to come off worst every time someone tries to kill the family. Actually, not having any random hook-ups or pointless fisticuffs probably puts him ahead by default.

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  34= Noah Lawson (13 points)

  Played by Beau Brady

  One of the perennial favourites in this poll, Noah’s managed to stay in the top half despite it being over a decade since they built an Olympic Cliffhanger out of viewers guessing whether or not he’d just been killed (he had.) May also be one of the earliest examples of the show giving its characters obscure names.

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  34= Selina Cook/Roberts (13 points)

  Played by Tempany Deckert
  

  Another of the famous mid-90s teen group, currently getting exposure on 7TWO. Selina took Irene’s surname after moving in with her and nearly having her grandchild, and was last seen getting engaged (for a second time) to her former teacher. Who she then split up with off-screen. Then got back with off-screen. Then…

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  34= Shane Parrish (13 points)

  Played by Dieter Brummer

  Shane continues to be more popular than his one-time screen wife, although a quick look at the 1995 Discussion thread could tell you that. Starting out as the small-time crim who wrecked his brother’s love rival’s car, Shane grew into a responsible citizen before making the fatal error of being the half of the golden couple who quit the show first.

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  34= Vinnie Patterson (13 points)

  Played by Ryan Kwanten

  Which leads us to Vinnie, the character so popular they had to kill him twice. After a few years as the jack-the-lad who managed to romance Sally among others, Vinnie settled down with Leah to be the new golden couple. Ryan Kwanten reportedly promised when he left that he’d be back for Leah’s exit. Fifteen years later, he’s still waiting for the call.

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  40. Angie Russell (12 points)

  Played by Laurie Foell

  The mother of all psycho women, Angie slowly turned from an apparently nice if slightly scary school teacher, into a bile-filled nutcase who delivered a massive public putdown to half the town before turning up dead. It eventually turned out that a likeable young character had done it by accident. Er, hang on…

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  40= Belle Taylor (12 points)

  Played by Jessica Tovey

  A relatively high showing for the half of the golden couple of the late 00s who made the fatal error of being the first to quit the show. Belle had already worked her way through the rest of her peer group so it was perhaps inevitable she’d get round to Aden eventually. Her death just two weeks after their wedding makes theirs the shortest marriage so far. Will it be beaten?

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  40= Charlotte King (12 points)

  Played by Erika Heynatz

  And on the same number of points as Angie is her 10s successor. Charlotte seemed to really want to settle down and make apple pie with her son and his father, it’s just the father preferred to be with someone sane and she kept needing to kill people to keep the son out of trouble. Ended up making the same mistakes as Angie and leaving a whole heap of suspects for killing her.

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  40= Colleen Smart (12 points)

  Played by Lyn Collingwood

  Colleen seemed in danger of slipping off the bottom of the poll last time round but has picked up a few extra points here. The long-standing town gossip, Colleen was part of the cabal of characters who were stuck in the Diner until the day they left, which in her case involved a lottery win and a trailer park the other side of the Pacific.

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  40= Flynn Saunders (12 points)

  Played by Martin Dingle-Wall & Joel McIlroy

  Among Flynn’s achievements was going across to the States as a vaguely bohemian guidance counsellor and coming back as a rather wholesome clean-cut doctor. Fortunately, no-one seemed to notice. After marrying Sally and joining her in returning her old home to being the local foster house, he ended up quitting the show before her and…

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  45. Kit Hunter (11 points)

  Played by Amy Mizzi

  You get the feeling there was a rebellion going on when the show was ordered to axe Kit in early 2004. “Yep, sure, Mr Channel 7 Executive, see, no longer on the opening titles. We’ll just bring her back for lengthy guest stints about three times a year, okay?” Three and a half years later, with the high-ups apparently having forgotten they didn’t like the character, she got a sunset ending…although not with Noah, as some forum members had hoped.

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  45= Roo Stewart (11 points)

  Played by Justine Clarke & Georgie Parker

  A bit of a surge in popularity for Roo, who was languishing down in single figures last time round. It seems people finally warmed to her surrogate mother relationship with Maddy (or maybe it was the lose-the-daughter-keep-the-boyfriend set-up with Matt), plus she’s had her relationship with near-bigamist James to get her teeth into.

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  45= Tasha Andrews (11 points)

  Played by Isabel Lucas

  An appropriate placing for Kit’s one-time bestie turned sister-in-law. Tasha was the long lost daughter of Angie who never actually shared a scene with her (well… not while she was alive anyway), instead hanging out with her doppelgänger cousin and Irene. Finally married local geek Robbie after a lengthy courtship before going to live with the doppelgänger cousin.

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  48. Kane Phillips (10 points)

  Played by Sam Atwell

  Another one back in double figures, Kane has the distinction of being the lowest character not to have the same number of points as someone else. Kane seemed to keep turning up to have the same storyline with Dani over and over again until he finally married Kirsty and everyone more or less accepted it, until he found out the hard way that going on the run doesn’t pay. At least not until they let you out after just a few months, having apparently forgotten you put a security guard in hospital…