Home and Away’s Most Popular Character 2024 revealed
Home and Away fans have crowned the show’s Most Popular Character for 2024. Just a few weeks before the show celebrates 37 years on the air, we reveal fans’ favourite characters from the show’s history.
We have run the Home and Away Most Popular Character poll every two years since 2004, making this the eleventh time we’ve asked fans to vote for their favourites.
With voting open for just over a month, people were asked to list a total of five characters. We then allocated five points to their favourite, four points to their second favourite and so on.
Home and Away began on Australian screens on 17th January 1988, starting on UK screens just over a year later on 11th February 1989. With nearly 37 years of characters to choose from, fans voted for a total of 190 characters, and only a handful of votes separated the top two…
The results are split over multiple pages. If you want to see the top 20, keep reading, otherwise click the links below to view the rest of the results:
You can discuss the results with other members in this dedicated thread on our forum.
Now it’s time to begin the final countdown, as we count from 20 to 1 and reveal the most popular Home and Away characters, as voted for by you.
Without further ado, here are fans’ Top 20 Home and Away Characters:
20. Dean Thompson (477 points)
Played by Patrick O’Connor
Dean finished second in the last poll, this time he only just made it into the Top 20: Incredibly, given the numbers involved, he’s only got one more point than Kirby.
Still, it’s a pretty good showing for a character who hasn’t been seen in over a year. Viewers were disappointed that his promised visit to sister Mackenzie didn’t play out on screen. Could that change before the next poll?
19. Xander Delaney (551 points)
Played by Luke Van Os
Another current character who’s received a huge surge in popularity after not even cracking the Top 30 last time.
Since Xander quit as a paramedic and started working at Salt, he seems to have spent a lot of time being a combined confidante and whipping boy for Felicity and Mackenzie, so maybe the sympathy vote and being a genuinely nice guy has landed him here!
18. Harper Matheson (568 points)
Played by Jessica Redmayne
The third debutant to appear in this update. Harper came in last year as a feisty social worker determined to prove her sister’s innocence.
Some would say she’s become a lot less interesting since her character traits have been reduced to “is in love with Tane”, but maybe her support of him got her some votes!
17. Darryl Braxton (580 points)
Played by Stephen Peacocke
Brax has fallen back out of the Top 10 but is the highest-rated, and one of only two, character in the Top 20 not to have appeared this year.
The oldest of the Braxton brothers, Brax’s influence is still felt by the fact that new bunches of River Boys keep turning up. Where they all were when he was running things is anyone’s guess.
16. Remi Carter (653 points)
Played by Adam Rowland
A big rise from Remi who was in the lower fringes of the Top 40 last time.
The show has put some meat on an initially rather shallow character by letting us meet his parents and having him prove to be a good friend to Eden, Theo and sometimes Justin. Now he just needs to stop ending up in hospital around the end of the season.
15. Leah Patterson (716 points)
Played by Ada Nicodemou
Leah’s fallen out of the Top 10 since last time round but remains one of the most consistent performers both here and on the show.
She cemented her position as the show’s most married character this year by getting married for the fourth time. Even the fact she’s still working in the Diner hasn’t slowed her down.
14. Justin Morgan (750 points)
Played by James Stewart
Justin keeps his place in the Top 20 even though the forum hasn’t always agreed with his choices. He’s now racked up eight years on the show, which virtually makes him a veteran.
He finally had his first wedding, to long-term partner Leah, this year and, unlike her other three husbands, may actually stand a chance of making it to their third anniversary!
13. Theo Poulos (766 points)
Played by Matt Evans
Theo’s climbed six places from last time round to continue to be one of the more likeable members of the current cast.
His family unit with Justin and Leah provides a welcome alternative to all the households where everyone’s the same generation and he even proved a good friend to fellow lost soul Perri.
12. Levi Fowler (788 points)
Played by Tristan Gorey
Well, this is a surprise. Levi was given a debut story that seemed designed to make people hate him as he instantly started cheating on his wife with one of his patients.
Maybe it’s the fact he’s stuck with Mackenzie or him looking out for his sisters or just the relief of him being a consistently competent doctor but turns out he’s pretty popular!
11. Mali Hudson (887 points)
Played by Kyle Shilling
Mali arrived a few months after our last poll as a friend and business associate of Dean who ended up taking over the whole business.
He had a big blip this year as he went around picking fights, hanging around with criminals and giving Rose more attitude than she deserved but seems to have picked himself up in the last quarter of the year.
Now onto the Top 10…
Spoilers in your inbox every weekend!
10. Irene Roberts (916 points)
Played by Lynne McGranger
Irene slides down from her Top 5 position last time round but is still one of the most memorable faces on the show.
The last couple of years have seen her gain another pair of 20-something lodgers, make yet another court appearance and have yet another alcohol relapse. And hand out over a hundred Diner takeaways.
9. Dana Matheson (1016 points)
Played by Ally Harris
Our highest new entry.
Dana seems to be a somewhat divisive character but some would say she’s one of the few new characters to have much of a personality, with a quirky attitude being bolstered by being a capable nurse, a nice double act with John, and she and Xander being one of the few genuinely happy couples, even if she only seems to be able to show compassion to one person at a time.
8. Eden Fowler (1118 points)
Played by Stephanie Panozzo
A huge increase for Eden, who’s risen twenty-eight places to join her estranged brother’s girlfriend in this update.
Until the last few months, Eden was one half of one of the show’s most stable couples and maybe the way Cash broke up with her for reasons that only make sense to him has earned her some sympathy. That and the fact years seem to end with someone trying to kill her.
7. Mackenzie Booth (1368 points)
Played by Emily Weir
Mackenzie, meanwhile, is up seven places to claim a Top 10 spot.
Her romance with Levi continues to be a sore point with some forum members, but her forming a makeshift family with the popular Tane and Mali has probably earned her a place in some fans’ hearts!
6. John Palmer (1412 points)
Played by Shane Withington
John has risen five places to crack the Top 10.
While he still ends up on the receiving end of Alf’s sharp tongue more than he really deserves, his status as one of the show’s elder statesmen seems to have been confirmed by him being one of the first people the younger characters turn to for a shoulder to lean on. Sometimes he even offers it without them asking.
5. Marilyn Chambers (1476 points)
Played by Emily Symons
Holding onto her place in the Top 5 despite dropping a position, Marilyn continues to be popular, likely because of her long history than because of anything she did this year, where she barely seems to have left the Diner.
She, um, ordered too much food at one point? Yep, I think that was her big storyline of the year.
4. Felicity Newman (1488 points)
Played by Jacqui Purvis
Rising four places from last time round, Felicity is the highest-rated character not to be a member of the present cast, although it’s largely a technicality since it’s a matter of months since she did an Alan Fisher in the middle of Salt.
She didn’t seem as popular with those making the show as those watching it, being raped, kidnapped, gassed, nearly burnt to death and finally having Harper take over her life.
3. Cash Newman (1845 points)
Played by Nicholas Cartwright
And rising seven places to third is Cash, the police officer who is slightly less straight than Rose.
His occasionally destructive grief in the wake of sister Felicity’s death and harsh treatment of long-term girlfriend Eden have been rather divisive but it’s all been played rather well however hard it is to watch. His luck when it comes to the end of a season may not have changed though…
2. Tane Parata (2910 points)
Played by Ethan Browne
Up four places from two years ago, Tane getting to within 150 points of Alf is pretty impressive, given Alf finished over 800 points clear of second and over 2000 clear of Tane last time round!
Tane seems to have replaced Dean as everyone’s favourite pseudo-criminal (we won’t mention the baby kidnap thing) and people are probably hoping he’ll stick around longer than Dean did after having a baby!
And the winner is…
1. Alf Stewart (3045 points)
Played by Ray Meagher
Even without all the people who voted for Alf Roberts instead, the godfather of Summer Bay gets the top spot for the second year running.
It’s hard to imagine Summer Bay without Mister Stewart, hanging around the Diner and the surf club dispensing friendly advice…or complaining about the kids of today, depending on how the mood takes him.
And that’s it for another two years. Will Sergeant Bob Barnett triumph next time?
Please note that any characters who made their debut after Episode 8336 were not eligible for this year’s poll, as those episodes were yet to air in the UK when the voting opened.
Thanks to everyone who voted in Back to the Bay’s eleventh Home and Away Most Popular Character poll.
To view the full list of winners, use the links below:
Thanks to Red Ranger 1 for the commentary, and to Chris Jenkins, Dan Foster and Matthew Williams for design, publishing and compiling the votes.
Home and Away returns to Australian screens on Monday 6th January, and UK screens on Monday 13th January 2025.