cymbaline

Which approach has worked better? Neighbours has been cancelled twice and it looked like it was gone forever until Amazon stepped in.

All of the characters you've mentioned are well in their forties or older. If they were brought back for an anniversary special, most of today's viewers would scratch their heads and wonder who the geriatrics were. Home and Away is the ultimate shape-shifting soap, which pivots based on what will keep its audience. If they thought that pivoting back to Braxton-esque gang violence was the way to go, they'd do it in a heartbeat.

Yes, it is an interesting interview. Lee talks way too much though and can overpower some of his guests. Even though Debra over-estimates her acting talent, I like how pragmatic she is about her profession. I wonder did they ever ask her again after that last appearance, or was it understood by everyone that Pippa was done? At least she was wily enough to up her fee for the return

I can't remember where I heard Judy talking about her departure but it sounded like both parties knew which way the wind was blowing before anybody stepped into the room. Even though she was the one who said the "I'm leaving" bit out loud, the producers weren't very far behind. I think everybody understood that Judy would pull the plug on Ailsa herself and that's exactly what happened. You could argue that the producers indulged her for a very long time. She was able to write all those books on company time because they weren't giving her much to do.

How do you know for certain that Judy is the one who decided to leave? The decision may not have been in her hands. Besides, everybody has to leave sometime. She was there for 12 years and I'm sure she did very well financially from it. Debra Lawrance is pretty open about how Pippa paid for the real estate.

Steven and Marilyn are exceptions to the general rule and neither had been trashed to death during their first run. The break definitely gave them the chance to reboot and come back as different people. Steven as a young man who had lost his way a bit, and Marilyn as a divorced woman who had had to grow up. I wasn't watching H&A by the time the 10's came around so I can't comment on Sally's return, nor Heath and Bianca. I thought Haydn Ross was a good returning guest character but he had the luxury of still having some familiar faces around. He exploited his dad's guilt over his shortcomings as a father, and created some long-lasting drama for the Rosses. Then when he came back after Michael's death, somebody remembered his past connection to Marilyn. Some of the returns were pretty bad. They brought Chloe back just so they could kill her off. Donald Fisher's ex-wife turning into a psycho was definitely a WTF moment too.

Bringing a character back seems to be a tricky business at the best of times. Usually, a character has been put through so many things during their time on the show, there isn't much more left for them to do. Or they give long-running characters such as Pippa and Donald a nice exit storyline. Everything is nicely tied up in a bundle until it isn't. The writers seem to want to do something bigger and badder to give the return some impact. Maybe it's part of why a departed actor might like to come back. There's also the issue of who the returnee can hang around with. If their friends have moved on, all they're left with is Alf and his buddies.

You'd probably have to recast many of these old characters, because the original actors have either left acting, live abroad or are retired. That's a solution that'd make nobody happy.

I'd love to know who is watching Home and Away regularly these days, and how long they have been doing so. Would they even remember or care about these past characters? The actors are now in their forties and fifties, which would probably work against them. Home and Away is a soap which has evolved far more than the other main ones I can think of. It morphed from a teenage-heavy soap into the River Boys which is pretty crazy if you think about it. Would anybody following the Summer Bay Bunyip story arc have ever imagined we'd have gang members and people dropping like flies. Personally I don't care for the current format - Martin hit the nail on the head with the description of what it is - but it is a format that seems to suit everybody. The older actors are happy to have a steady job and the newbies think they could be the next Chris Hemsworth or Margot Robbie. The show is a behemoth now (I've heard Lynne McGranger say there's huge money tied into it) and as long as the current format works, I can't see them bothering to do anything radical. I find it to be shallow and rootless but maybe that's all most people want.

This might be the interview you're thinking of

They hadn't decided to put the focus on the teenagers yet, so they might also have decided she was one kid too many. Which is ironic when you look at how many youngsters were living in Pippa's house just a few years later. The return of almost anybody from that era would make no sense now. They're all middle-aged now though ironically that's closer in age to many of the cast now lol. Certainly, there were many occasions in the past when Lynn could've come to visit. One that springs to mind is the family reunion from 2000 when Sally was marrying Kieran. Pippa, Frank, Steven, Carly, Floss, Lance, Martin and Jack all came back for that one and it was lovely to see. It would make you think that she wasn't on good terms with the producers, but I doubt we'll ever learn the truth. It is great that she found another career and is doing something fulfilling. Even if she had stayed for longer, she'd probably have ended up in much the same place anyway. Many of the young actors from that original cast left the industry a long time ago and now have normal jobs.

Adam was a victim of his own reputation when it came to that accident. Apart from Marilyn and Matt, he never really had any friends in the Bay. Plenty of people liked him to a certain extent but they also knew that he was self-centred and untrustworthy. That was why his rare bouts of integrity stuck out like a sore thumb - they rarely happened. I don't think Luke or Nick would've got such a hard time if they had been the one behind the wheel. They really trashed Greg in the last couple of months of his time, didn't they? First, he cheated on Bobby and was probably only taken back by her because of Sam. Then when he tried to parent Sam on his own, he was pretty horrible to him. And then as a final coup de gras, he dumped the kid with Uncle Donald and took a job that would take him far away from home.

Adam had a rough time after Bobby died too. Did he deserve it?

Anything after that?

Did they have anywhere for gatherings before the Surf Club was introduced? The school had a hall but I can't remember for sure if we ever saw that. The school had to use the Surf Club for its Romeo + Juliet reworking and the No Justice gig.

She wouldn't be wrong either

If Celia had been around when Pippa started going out with Michael, she would have had something to say. Tom was probably not long enough in the ground for her liking.

Good heavens, I never noticed that. That head change must have been more traumatic than we thought

Maybe she was the type who fell for men more easily than you'd think. By the time the first anniversary of Tom's death rolled around, she was getting ready to tie the knot with Michael. At least the months between Michael's death and hooking up with Ian could be measured in double figures. Using Ian as a way to write Pippa out was perfectly fine, because they needed a way to move her on. She had more ties than most people, what with the foster kids and owning property etc. The other two guys are a bit creepy. Simon gives me the ick for all sorts of reasons and his English accent is straight out of stereotype hell. Phil was a more straightforward smarmy middle-aged bloke who couldn't believe he'd pulled... Angel and Marilyn didn't need these blokes as reasons to leave the Bay. Young people tend to be more transient and if either had simply decided that it was time to move on, nobody would've batted an eyelid.

Same here. It wouldn't surprise me if a lot of people hold a similar view. We've all watched TV shows where they switched actors and we got on board with it. The Pippa head switch was a step too far. I don't know whether it was the actresses being so different, or because of all the changes which occurred over a few short months. Tom and the original Pippa both left within a relatively short space of time and that left a big void. When they brought Pippa 2 in, it took a while for her to settle. Then when they introduced Michael, that brought a completely new dynamic to it.

After being widowed twice and having to go through the turmoil (and the paperwork) Pippa probably thought she'd best not get ahead of herself the third time around... Debra Lawrance probably preferred to be Pippa Ross anyway, for obvious reasons.

I've read online that Sally went to the wedding but who knows how reliable that info is? One piece of bad information can be replicated indefinitely. On the other hand, sending Sally away to attend the wedding would have been a very straightforward way of writing Kate Ritchie out when she wanted to take some leave.

I think I remember that line, though I wouldn't have remembered who said it. Still, Yabbie Creek had moved close enough by 1991 that its flash new supermarket could kill Alf's mini-mart.

Did Pippa and Ian ever marry? Last night I watched a 2008 episode on Channel 7's rolling "live" channel. It was an episode from just after Sally was stabbed and saw Tom. Pippa is in it and in the end titles, she's credited as Pippa Ross.

I can't help but think Chernobyl would be the place getting the worst end of that particular deal!