Martin Dibble?

If I remember correctly, Cry by Ballarat band The Mavis's was being played in the Diner during episodes that aired in 1997, yet the single was not released until months later, in 1998, along with their second album. It was a top ten single in Australia, and hung around in the charts for quite a while. It should go without saying, but they were signed to Mushroom at the time. Brilliant song too, by the way!

Absolutely loved reading this discussion, thanks for all your comments. Providing H&A is still on the air in 2028, does anyone think it will honour its past, in any way, for its 40th anniversary? You just know Neighbours will do something special for its 40th anniversary next year, as it does for every milestone. But even if Neighbours didn't, its whole existence is already based around respecting its past. Could Channel Seven perhaps convince Bevin Lee to come back for one last hurrah? Maybe Sally wins a holiday though a competition, allowing her to choose any destination in the world to celebrate her 50th birthday in style. She chooses Summer Bay, obviously, and invites everyone she ever had anything to do with, including all he foster brothers and sisters. Maybe it coincides with a separate town-wide Summer Bay event? Maybe Selina has become a successful podcast host, and is doing a new podcast about the history of Summer Bay? It could also coincide with something like Marilyn's 60th birthday, Irene's 75h, Alf's 85th, or Don Fisher returning to die in the place he grew up in? So many possibilities if those calling the shots wanted it to work.

Thanks for this. I have just chased up the episode, and I am listening now. Very interesting.

Typical of them to recast Duncan – a legacy character – once again, and treat him in that manner. I think you would be right about Debra and Kate. It's clear to everyone how little regards the show has for its history these days. Long gone are the days when much of the legacy cast would reunite every so often for important storylines. You're spot on about the modern-day cookie-cutter characters. You would never get an Alf, Irene or Marilyn these days, much less a Martin, Lance, Fisher, Morag, Celia, Colleen, Joey, Vinnie or Edward. Lynne McGranger said in an interview that the actress who played Finlay, Tina Thompson, has given up acting, so unlikely she will ever return. Her oldest son (until the Mick Jennings revelation) was already recast, last appearing in 2002. Matt Doran (Damien) could be a candidate, since he is still acting, however there must have been opportunities in the past 28 years for him to return, and yet he hasn't. Tempany Deckert (Selina) and Adam Willits (Steven) would be perfect returnees, and not just to dump one of their kids on Irene. Surely Stevo would be cashed up enough to buy the Summer Bay Caravan Park! I don't watch the show nowadays, but they actually showed Alf and Martha's wedding on-screen?!? That's absolutely mad to have no returnees and just feature the current cookie-cutter blow-ins on their 1-3 year contracts. It would have been the perfect opportunity to bring back a bunch of former cast members, but I guess making believable television and respecting the fans is not on the current producers' to-do list. I believe that. It's crazy when cast members don't seem to know their characters' on-screen properly, too. But then again, even if they did pick up on inconsistencies in the writing, it's not necessarily in their best interests to mention it when they have to film the equivalent of a feature film each week. I reckon a bit of improv could work wonders, though.

Great analysis, and thanks for the intel. Do you happen to remember where Debra said this, and do you have a link?

Just wanted to express how disappointed I am in the way the current powers that be have destroyed the show over the past 15 or so seasons, disrespecting and abandoning its proud history in the process. I would love to see former iconic characters return, but realise that ship has sailed, and can't even imagine how it would work in the modern era, given the current writing team's apparent lack of understanding of previous eras. Bringing back Bevan Lee might be the show's only hope. Aside from the occasional recast (Roo, Olivia), can anyone name one character from the first 20 years of the show to have returned over the past decade and a bit? Up until 2008, former characters would return en masse all the time (Sally & Kieran's wedding in 2000, Summer Bay's 150th Anniversary Celebrations in 2002, Alf's 60th Birthday Party in 2005, Sally's Farewell in 2008). And prior to 2000, we had the full-time returns of characters such as Steven, Marilyn, which kept the continuity of the early years, as well as the likes of Finlay, Hayden, Carly and Adam popping up now and then. Back then, we also had Ailsa, Donald, Pippa, Michael, Sally and Sam to keep the show grounded in its history. And in the 2000s, we had Sophie, Blake, Lance, Steven, Pippa and Floss returning on occasion, which gave the fans a link to the show's origins, not to mention the full-time return of Colleen, beginning in 1999. Since 2013, the show has been unrecognisable, featuring a rotating cast of unknowns interacting with Alf, Irene, Marilyn, Leah, John and a re-cast Roo. The only returnees since Sally's farewell have been Kane and Kirsty in 2008-09, Shelley and Pippa in 2009, Will and Gypsy in 2010-2011, Celia in 2012, Sally in 2013, and Morag over a few stints (the last being 2017). So since Sally's six-week guest stint back in 2013, a couple of guest appearances from Cornelia Frances (R.I.P.) has been it. It is as if they enacted a policy to never feature any former cast ever again. I'll stress it again, it has been more than a decade that anyone from the first 21 seasons of the show has returned. Let that sink in. With the show's incredible history over 37-and-a-half years, this is an absolute shame, and makes no sense, especially given the way Neighbours has respected its beginnings and its fans. Since 2013, Neighbours has featured the return of literally dozens upon dozens of former characters from every era, making it feel like the same show and giving the fans what they want. They're even brining back Harold to their opening credits next month at the age of 85! But I won't hold my breath that H&A will ever bring back someone like Don, Colleen, Floss or Celia, even for a guest stint. Not to mention the huge amount of other characters they could mine from. I understand that many of the show's cast have since moved on from acting, and some are unattainable (Dannii Minogue, Julian McMahon, Melissa George, Simon Baker, Isla Fisher, Ryan Kwanten, Tammin Sursok, etc.), but I'm sure so many other former cast members would jump at the chance. Give the fans something! Anyway, those are my thoughts. What do you all reckon? Who would you like to see return to the show full-time?

I wouldn't blame Helena one bit if she never wanted to return to H&A. She seems to be doing a great job with something she is passionate about. But the way the current producers have absolutely destroyed the show over the past 15 or so seasons, abandoning its history in the process, would only result in the return of Lynn making no sense whatsoever. I wrote a whole lot more, but decided to make it a new post instead, since it goes off the topic of Helena Bozich.

Thank you for this, Ash, that's fantastic to hear! Good luck to her!

Yeah, fair enough, makes sense. A lot of characters do get destroyed by writers who have no proper understanding of them. Neighbours generally does things very well where this is concerned, and as long as Bevan Lee was at the helm H&A would do it well too.

Huh? So never bring a former character back because history is messy?

She was very much the Sue Parker prototype from Neighbours - both recurring teenage bitch characters in the early years of their respective shows. Interestingly Neighbours brought back the character of Sue a few years ago for a couple of guest stints, played by the original actress too. Unfortunately TPTB at H&A have zero respect for legacy characters or the history of the show, and haven't since around 2008. Along with being Vinnie's cousin, I think Alison's aunty was also Sally's first primary school teacher. Has this been confirmed?

Woah, so after all these years the mystery of Helena's whereabouts has finally been resolved? How did I not hear about this in any of the other threads in the forum? Perhaps I didn't look hard enough? But there didn't seem to be any mention of this revelation in any of the 'Where's Helena?' posts I have scrolled through, only that someone claimed she was now living in New Zealand. And providing this is definitely her (it sure looks like her), how were TPTB unable to locate her for so long, especially since she has been practising for at least 18 years in the professions listed in her bio, presumably under the same name she was credited on H&A as? She even works in the Sydney CBD, so was hardly in witness protection or living overseas. I'm genuinely confused as to why the likes of Bevan Lee were unable to locate her. Either way, she looks great and I'm so happy to hear she is doing great things for people these days. I thought her character of Lynn was an important one, but sad to hear her tenure ended when it did. I'd love for her to return to the show more than anyone else, even just for a cameo, but we don't know the circumstances surrounding the situation and am content to know that she's happy and seems to be doing what she loves.

Anyone else think TPTB took things a bit too far when they gave Craig McLachlan's character the same surname as his original Neighbours surname? Bit cheeky I think!

Does anyone remember a storyline from around 1996 or 1997 about a middle-aged artist named Gabe Farley (or something like that?) who stayed at the caravan park. He was an alcoholic and Shannon was looking after him. I'm unsure how they me or what their relationship was. I think he ended up drinking himself to death after tricking Shannon into giving him some of his money (that she was looking after) to buy alcohol? I haven't seen these episodes since they aired and never seem to see them discussed or mentioned anywhere. Can someone shed some light on the storyline? I'd love to see some clips, but I realise that is unlikely.