nenehcherry2

Absolutely... "what, with Aoulf away... Two businesses, Duncan, Curtis, this place, Irene, the babysitter, the hairdresser... (Rolls hands)... Oh, really, Pip... There's just so much to do!"

Them fostering Curtis was the biggest suspension of belief for me and I think a major contib to their later 90s moodiness. With the others, they'd either had some kind of previous link (Emma, Blake & Karen) or already knew them without formerly fostering them (Simon, Sarah). Curtis was their first "cold case", sent by the department and had no history with either Alf or Ailsa. So it was all the more unpredictable for them, hence her reluctance and how poorly she dealt with Curtis and Laura. Alf and Ailsa didn't self-identify as "career foster parents" in the same way that Pippa did so weren't ready with the patience and the hugs, only the irritation, breakdowns and snappiness.

It always surprises me that Kelly as a character wasn't referred to as Kiwi. Katrina Hobbs' Kiwi accent was so strong and very obvious to those who can distinguish New Zealand English. Whereas Roger Oakley sounded like he'd lived in Australia for many years (he'd occasionally deliver the odd "fush" instead of "feesh" but was the exception rather than the rule), so there was no need to explain Tom's "accent". I don't think there's ever a mention of Kelly being New Zealander? Yet Jesse was supposed to be, in spite of Ben being (and sounding) true blue Aussie.

You're always bang on with your trademark analogies! He was always bad tempered and had certain views RE behaviour but earlier Alf could also be funny and crack some Dad jokes when he felt like it (even very blue ones sometimes!). He just always seemed stressed out in the late 90s. As Ailsa did. That combo along with her holding him hostage every five minutes conveyed an unhappy marriage to me for their final few years, exacerbated by the Duncan recast!

I feel that the "grouchification" of Alf began with the 95 revamp. He seemed to lose his sense of humour after that point. Losing the store didn't help.

Pretty sure you've created this very same topic several times over the years now My own view: No (capital "N" intended). An entirely new foster family happening to coincidentally move into the very same house that another foster parent owned for 10 years wouldn't have been realistic. It wasn't as though the DOCS owned Summer Bay House. Whilst Pippa was at the heart of the show, we'd seen other adults move into fostering (of sorts, at least) within the first couple of years. Some of whom were original characters themselves or had significant tenure (i.e. Irene). Another foster family wasn't needed, in my view, and would have felt too forced. Besides, I personally enjoyed watching Trav & Rebecca making mistakes and realising it wasn't the best decision; I can imagine that happens all to often in reality. "if it ain't broken, don't fix it". Digression alert: TPTB have always been so determined to keep Summer Bay House on the show. The Beach House would appear to be only other "home set" which hit similar degrees of iconism. When both Maz and then Bobby / Greg left the show, they could have just let it disappear into the ether (as so many others did). But, no, they showed a third consecutive established Bay resident purchase it and hence it remains, 30 years on.

Fully agree with all of this. I suspect that the writers / producers started giving Ailsa more powerful storylines again from the 95 revamp to get a better ROI on her $300K AUSD salary after 5-6 years of nothing but "you can have a coffee on the house!", "could you look after the place for half an hoauar, Love?" and "ssshhh, you'll wake Duncan!".

What an actor says in interviews doesn't always necessarily match the behind-the-scenes reality. "Official lines" and all that.

I do find those two interviewers annoying. Whilst I appreciate that their focus is on Prisoner and they're contributing their own time to ask H&A questions, when they then do choose to interview non-Prisoner actors like Lynne, their obvious lack of personal knowledge about H&A really shows up. All I took away from Lynne's interview was her constantly repeating how hard the actors work on the show ("we all work bloody hard" was said about 7 times"), that she loves doing panto in Ireland etc and there was no in-depth questions about her overall time on the show, the actors she worked closely with like Tempany etc. A missed opportunity and a poor end result.

In an interview from around the time, Ross said he enjoyed playing a "semi-baddie" and those couple of months helped prevent him being typecasted from his prior 2 years as a goodie-goodie. As much as it made no sense character wise, perhaps the writers (axing him) wanted to do him a good turn as an actor by letting him show those other layers before he left.

Technically he was at fault as he had a duty of care to his "passengers" and wilfully ignored the speed limit BUT it was truly an accident. Who'd have reasonably expected a lone piece of driftwood to be floating in the harbour? He did own it in the end, yes, although he also initially tried to get Luke to change his story. He was fearful of going to jail, it's perfectly understandable, however wrong.

In my opinion, no. It was an unexpected piece of driftwood. Yes, he turned around for a split second to chat to them and was speeding a little but it was a reasonably unforeseen accident. It was in character for some of them to react the way that they did towards Adam. Particularly Don and Alf. And... Why didn't she wear a lifejacket? Given that she'd worn one in her earlier joyride with Adam and Greg? Given that she hit her head hard, it probably wouldn't have prevented the outcome. But it showed an element of "accepted risk" from her side.

That was a Dad joke and a half from the school of Michael Ross lines!!!

It was very out of character for Bobby to not give him a job though. Ailsa, on the other hand, had become very judgemental and prissy by then.

I'm always wondering "what would Celia say?" when I watch any controversial (to Celia!) scene after she left! Especially as the show ramps up in the later 90s... "Oh Pippa Dear, I'm so glad I caught you..." (Typical wooden response from Pippa 2): Oh, Hi Celia. "yes, hello indeed! Anyhow, I just wanted to tell you that I saw Young Shannon walking with that dreadful writer woman again!" Pippa: Mandy? Celia: Yes, that's who I'm referring to! I believe she has.... modern.... well, let's just say she's very modern. Not to worry though, I've already called an emergency meeting of the Women's Auxiliary with a view to get her removed from the district with immediacy!

I literally had Celia's voice in my mind as I read your "good heavens!".

In anticipation for William's answer, gotta love those "exit device" guesties in the 90s who whisked off Bay stalwarts into the sunset for their "happy ending"... Phil Bryant (Mazza's 1st exit), Simon Broadhurst, Ian... probably more I'm forgetting. Handsome, boring, Prince Charming, one dimensional strangers. Cheese alert!

Great points but totally disagree RE Corrie. The Brian Park revamp in 97' really changed the feeling of the show in many ways. I think Deirdre's court case was the climax of that shift. Put it this way, prior to then it was seen by most youth as a "Grandma programme" and I knew kids who were (literally) picked on for watching it. Within months of those days, everyone was talking about the Battersbies, Hayley's trans secret and Deirdre's imprisonment!

How did Pippa not notice that a) she married Michael within days of Tom's first death anniversary and 2) she then lost Dale on the same day 3 years later.

I'm not sure I agree with H&A being more "straight" and down to earth than Neighbours. Well, definitely the case at times but not consistently through their histories. For example, 1996-99 Home and Away was very out of this world and "mystical" at times whereas Neighbours was incredibly down to earth. Yes, more dramatic than 95 Neighbours (what isn't?!) but we didn't see many reincarnations, haunted caravans, refrigerator hallucinations, natural disasters etc in late 90s Erinsborough, did we? (I'm not counting Harold's return from Tasmania of course!). I agree. The Bayside Diner may not have been original but it was sure more iconic than say Lance and Martin's mobile home.

So true, very Simpsons like! In 1989, Alf implies that Summer Bay is south of Sydney when Palm Beach and its environs are some distance to the north. In fact, the only early giveaways to it being set in NSW are the "New South Wales Police" cars and uniforms or the kids sitting for the HSC (as opposed to the VCE etc). As @Homeandawayfan. or @j.laur5 would put it with one of their trademark analogies, "Summer Bay was the Springfield of Australia!".

Great times!!

! "Yeara?!"... Love it, might use it myself sometime if not copyrighted by CaptainHulk 1997 was great too. Helen made no impact in 97. In fact, she's hardly there for most of that season, prior to her death episode (presumably Anne's operations or whatever it was that she had). I didn't even notice her absence.

I'm glad it didn't end when old Granny Helen died.... 1998 was one of Neighbours' best ever seasons for me!

I've become middle aged, Mate!