nenehcherry2

In no true order... To be clear, this is not a list of my favourite characters but my anecdotal sense of which 10 characters seem to come to mind the most when non-fans discuss the show based upon their general knowledge and / or previous light viewing (perhaps the best definition of "iconic" status). So, really thinking objectively from the perspective of the (sort of) general public of all ages... Both versions of Pippa (the head switch itself adding to the iconic status) Alf Donald Ailsa Sally Bobby Shangel (more inconic as a couple, though I preferred them as individual characters before they got it together) Irene Marilyn Shannon (perhaps because of Isla's later fame?) Leah (for later viewers at least) Knocking on the door somewhere would be, in my experience of chatting H&A, Sam, Colleen, Morag, Sophie and Selina. And Michael and Tom more in their links with Pippa (they're always usually discussed in the same sentence as her). I'd say that longevity, being around when the show was most popular (both watched and creating headlines in printed media) and a strong sense of characterisation (or just having big storylines) are the biggest determiners of iconic status.

Agree (although I think that Laura took the "badboyification" of Curtis to another level).

Soaps always tend to give stronger storylines to female characters. At least, especially in those days. Jack was a true breath of fresh air in 1994 and (to a slightly lesser extent) earlier 1995 but he lost his spark as that year went on (and the show shifted back to high drama from comedy). In that first 12 months or so, he literally lights up the screen whenever he appears. I love watching his scenes from that time and it fits so well with the comedy tip H&A was on at that point. This is the Jack that people remember the most (pretending to wear Ailsa's dresses, three timing Selina, getting into bed with Don, the mice in the Diner etc) but, as with evil era Roo #1 or bad girl Karen, that only lasts for like 50% of his actual tenure. I actually think he (unlike Selina) started to suffer when Shannon and Curtis arrived. He was much more purposeful when he was being the younger, unwanted pest to Shane, Tug and Damo or crushing on Angel. As the rest of the teen gang arrive, then really 1995 progresses into the darker side and Curtis is given the bigger storylines with Laura, the alcoholism, etc, Jack initially becomes pretty conventional really for a while (with a slight "bad boy" edge maybe), like during the racist storyline with Chloe & Max (and a spare part otherwise). But the bushfire arc, as great a story as it was, destroyed him for good and he becomes sullen and difficult right up until Michael dies. Daniel Amalm's acting range seems to have also declined in parallel with the above. He just doesn't have the same energy as he did in his first 12 months. He's said in interviews that his gained weight during his time on the show which severely affected his self-confidence.

Many of the teens and 20something characters provided more in the sense of eye candy than big storylines or strong characterisation. 2 - 3 years of topless male torsos carrying surfboards or (for some of the girls / ladies) wearing a bikini was considered a significant contribution alone (and, from the little I've seen of the modern show, that's hardly changed for the better!). Whilst Nick was as dull as dishwater in the final half of his tenure, Bruce was still seen by many older teen, 20something and even older viewers as easy on the eye. We're talking Home and Away here, after all and not Coro!

I have a soft spot for 1994. There's very little high drama, especially mid-way into the season, but the comedy's great and the writing, however light-hearted, is true to the characters' natures and to the actors' ranges. The contrast with the how the show evolved 12-18 months later is like night & day!

I agree with all of this (although, I think in Ailsa's case, it was also to do with how her lines were written and how Judy delivered her performance). Even though they have less storylines in the non-dramatic 1990-94 period, they still have that "every couple" feel as supporting characters and their marriage seems very warm and happy for the most part.

I also feel that Alf lost his sense of humour in the 1995 revamp and smiled a lot less for circa 6 years. They overplayed his long-standing hot temper and disciplinarian stances from then on until Duncan first left, meaning that the poor likes of Aaron, (especially) Curtis, Mitch and Duncan copped it a lot. They also ruined his friendship with Michael too and had him thumping Don one, two of his best mates (no doubt, Tom would have copped it if he'd still been alive!). Pre-95 Alf had the hot temper for sure but that was balanced with liking a dirty joke and a good laugh over the store counter with the right character (well, as far as Home and Away could go with that) and making "Dad jokes" (like when he started singing Christmas carols in 94 just before the tree burned down). And loyalty to mates was one of his most obvious values. Alf becoming moodier from 95 also coincided with Ailsa becoming more judgemental and unbalanced herself (which took the previous warmth away from their rapport as a couple). These changes, in turn, made them more isolated within the community. They seemed like detached, much older, embittered, cold, conservative Grandparent figures towards the late 90s teens, as opposed to the Uncle / Aunt figures they were to the earlier kids. And their marriage seemed less happy. He also lost his store in 96 (and it barely appeared in late 95). This didn't do him any favours either as we stopped seeing Alf as the centre of the community store server and employer (the bait shop was too specific in its purpose to compensate) and he seemed to spend a lot of time hanging around the Diner counter with Ailsa without actually working there! All these changes meant that, by the time Pippa left, much of her role was given over to the conveniently much softer by then Irene (I am sure one of the Ross kids even mentions that they wouldn't want to live with the Stewarts in a million years). Whereas I think pre-95 A&A would have been natural successors as the central foster family. Alf definitely softened once Duncan went to live with Morag and, to the earlier point, he morphed into the Grandfather of the community figure (losing much of his hot temper but never really getting back his earlier qualities either). Now he's just a brand to represent the show.

It was mentioned briefly in 1996. Senator Katherine Walker (who turned out to be Shannon's biological mother) visited, booked into the caravan park and Michael commented something along the lines of "wouldn't you be more suited to the Macklin resort?" (yes, that's right, the surname was also mentioned along with the resort itself!).

I agree. Matthew's comic timing was spot on!

Maybe. Although I believe some "nagging" is in response to partners / children who don't take proactive ownership for their actions.

I believe that Pippa, being permanently immensely busy with tea towel folding, cooking, ironing and henpecking, wouldn't have given much thought to Colleen and Gypsy's feud.

Very true. In 1993/4, virtually all of the regular characters had become too "nice" for the most part and lost their edges, which didn't stimulate much in the way of drama. Making the show very dependant on the "guest-itis" disease!

Nick and Roxy did in fact start dating (of sorts) not long after she arrived and several characters commented on the aesthetic and personality-based similarities between Roxy and the Loo . But, they quickly realised that it wasn't going to work and both quickly moved on. From that latter moment on, Nick's only contributions to the show were to play mini Dad to Shane, help Don plant geraniums in the opening credits and to just sit at the Diner counter laughing his head off at nothingness. So many characters had become pointless by about mid-93: Adam (until Bobby's accident), Nick and Fin. Did Roxy and Luke ever bring much value (as fine an actor as John Adam was)? For that matter, was Ailsa bringing in much purpose at that point?

1989 has to be the one "early year" of EE which did NOT "feel" EE. Bunch of strange short-term characters like the old brown owl lady, the northern, the two daft young blokes, hairdresser and Vince. As well as Den, 89 had also seen the loss of Barry, Colin (underrated character played by a great actor), Willmott Brown (evil to the core but what an actor!), Carmel (LOVE Judith Jacobs!), Ali and Sue (what a sad exit she had). And Legg and Ethel started appearing much less. That was on top of losing Ange, Lou and Mary in 88. 1990 cleaned things up again and took EE into a more defined direction which would last for decades.

Haha at the Loxy (or is it Ruke?) credits shots! What benefit did Angel getting custody of Dylan really bring to Shangel's storylines? He wasn't old enough to have a more meaningful role alas Sally and Sam did in their initial years; other than the custody case itself and then his childhood leukaemia (a good a story as that was), did he really add any value?

Completely agree! Mat is a fine actor but was wasted on this 1.5 dimensional character. Adam was initially a very regular boy next door character who transformed into an annoyance just before Marty left (you could count that storyline with them dressing as Maz and Lance in the car as the "passing the baton" moment). As you said, there'd be moments (like when he helped Karen) where we would see those hidden dimensions but they became less explored over time (until the boat accident). I feel like quite a few of the actors who joined as twentysomethings were great, polished, academically trained actors (I'd put John Adam, Bruce Roberts, Ross Newton, Dee Smart and Alistair MacDougall in that camp, all had graduated from Uni with drama degrees) but they were given such shoddy characters to play. Versus the more "raw", fresh out of (or, in some cases, still in) high school talents of the kids who joined the show as teens (Sharyn, Alex, Nicolle, Rebekah, Dieter, etc). There's a difference in the style of delivery between the two types. Emily and Mat (like Isla years later) were somewhere between the two extremes in that they'd acted in soaps before joining the show but had no academic drama training. And then you had the former models with zero previous acting experience (bar commercials) alas Lisa Lackey, Julian MacMahon and Greg Benson. This showed in their performances.

I'm only quoting what Mat said. I agree that Emma/Adam didn't have that vibe whatsoever. Andrew Howie had been impressed with his work on Neighbours and bought him into H&A as soon as Alex Papps' departure left a void and they'd been determined to find the right role for Dannii ever since she'd failed the audition for Marilyn's role. It's interesting that they weren't paired together instantly but Carly and Adam's very confusingly written breakup does happen rather quickly (before you know it, Adam and Emma are an item, then along comes Ben). Clearly Adam/Carly were filler until both Dannii and Julian were on the books. The storyline with Paul was likely written when they knew that Dannii would be leaving. According to her autobiography, she gave them heaps of notice. Adam was never quite the same once he broke up with Maz. We had seen hints of his wheeler dealer side even before Martin left but, once 91 came along, he literally does nothing but annoy the residents with schemes (well, until the Bobby storyline). Before then, at least he had the odd romance as well and was written as a spunk who most of the younger females fancied the undies off. The post-91 twenties female characters like Loo and Roxy seem to perceive him as a bit of a creep and the teenage girls (e.g. Fin, Angel and Sarah) weren't exactly crushing on him.

I think the gap was smaller than that... Emma was said to be 17 and I think Adam was only supposed to be about 19 or 20 (although his age was never directly confirmed). The actors are only 2.5 years apart in age. Whereas Sophie/David were 9-10 years apart and Shannon/Alex about 7. PS Mat Stevenson said in a recent interview that Andrew Howie had bought Adam and Emma in to the show to be Home and Away's answer to Scott and Charlene but Dannii's music career took off, meaning that she left much earlier than expected.

Agree with all points made. I've always seen any character between the ages of high school and earliest 30s as in the "20s" group. With regards to the pre-95 twenty something characters, I think it hit an all time low from late 92 / early 93 onwards... Suddenly, most of them were firmly in "junior parent" roles to the teens and never in conflict with the middle aged characters - which made them seem a bit too perfect: Nick (who'd previously had little to do with the teens other than arresting them the odd time!) was suddenly Shane's guardian (with little else going on), Roxy was suddenly a teacher (as happened with Rob further down the line), Luke came in as a teacher and, by the start of 93, the only thing which Bobby seemed to live for was housing the Bay's latest strays. And (Greg and Adam aside) none of them were in conflict with their middle aged employers or line managers (except for Luke/Don for about 2 episodes!). So they seemed to essentially all be mini parents before their time and, if anything, younger & sexier reinforcements for the oldies. Pre-93: Marilyn was constantly sulking with Alf, Greg was pissing Michael off with second jobs, we rarely actually saw Loo teach and she had a bit of conflict with teen Sophie. And Bobby still acted 20 something when the storyline called for it until Maz left (albeit, still seemed a bit older than her actual age). In fact, Greg seemed to be the only age appropriate 20something around come 93 (well, in any episode he was in which didn't feature Sam) with his reluctance to have Sarah or Tug living with him or awkwardness about the prospect of being the new soccer coach. And Adam just seemed downright creepy by the time the 93 gang arrived. Ben and Greg had some similarities, I think (although Ben was emotionally abusing Carly); both were bought in purely to marry the "outgrowing" Carly and Bobby and both also had some conflict with Michael as their boss (which put Pippa in a difficult position). What I liked about the 88-90 era twentysomethings was a bit more of a spread in age. So you had Frank, Lance and Martin (then Adam & Maz) at one end, aged about 19/20 (soon joined by Bobby, Carly and Matt), Brett around the 22 mark, Stacey around 24/5, Philip 26/7 (Grant would later fill that void) and then Andrew Foley in his earliest 30s. By circa 91, all 20somethings seemed the same age (even if they may not have been). You also had some non-taboo "intergenerational" dating with the teens (most notably Adam and Emma), which would have been unthinkable come 91.

I agree RE Chloe. Though I do feel that she'd ran her course by the start of 1999. There were times when, except for when she's having a drama with James or Diana, you could forget she was even still living in the Bay. Even her (forced) friendship with Sal had, from memory, been largely forgotten.

Oh yes, that's right! I always forget that Matt was at Summer Bay High in the little we see of him in 88.

All good points RE teenage characters being played by older actors. Trying to think of examples of actors in their twenties playing teens from the 90s (all less extreme than the more recent ones shared):- Richard Norton was almost 21 when he started playing Simon. Isla Fisher was 20 when Shannon was in Year 12. Similar with Kimberley Cooper as Gypsy. And, as someone else said, Cameron Welsh was significantly older than Mitch. I'm sure there're some others...

Given that Shelley was a social worker and they were fostering Brodie, it's highly likely they were setting down seeds for them to become longer term foster parents... Although, perhaps unnecessary given that Irene was firmly established in more of a "fostering" (well, of sorts) role by then. Of course, we don't know what went on backstage, as that can influence TPTB's longer term strategic planning. Were Kip and Paula happy in their roles? They both seem like very transient actors. Did they get on with their co-stars? We shall never know. Whilst it's a fact in the show's history that most of the actors over 30 have preferred to stay longer term, I recall reading an interview with Paula whereby she said she wouldn't want to be in a show like Home and Away forever. I also heard a podcast with Kip a few years back where he essentially stated that he didn't enjoy working on the show (nor with many of his co-stars). IF the Producers were aware of these feelings, it's unlikely that they'd have invested in their characters for the long term.

Shelley was very unlikeable in that return storyline too. She'd never exactly been a favourite of mine (though I did think Paula was a good actress) but was written as relatively "nice" in her regular stint; she was hard-faced as anything when she got back together with Rhys, very out of character.

Season 3 was 1990 and Season 4 was 1991. Gypsy arrived in 1998. Are you thinking of Bobby? She very gradually went from dark reddish brown to blonde over the course of mid-92 to mid-93. From memory (and I could be wrong), Gypsy went red not long after the start of 99 (Season 12). Pretty sure she was still blonde when their house burned down.